Practical Tips for an Italian Adventure

 Check out our Jet Travel Skinny Pant 2 featured in Travel+Leisure! 

Much like the rest of your Instagram feed, I went to Italy this summer and it was incredible! I'll spare you my brunch photos from Lake Como, and instead I'll give you my tried and true travel tips for an Italian adventure. 

STAYING CONNECTED

Calling all digital nomads! In order to have great service at all times, my partner and I bought local prepaid sim cards. They key is to get sim cards from 2 different service providers. We got Vodafone and TIM and we spent $30-$60 on each one depending how much data we wanted. Between the two sim cards, we were able to get service everywhere and cover all our bases - I even took a meeting from the car! 

GETTING AROUND

There was a heatwave in Italy when we visited - Florence and Rome were upwards of 108 degrees! One of the best experiences we had was exploring the city by renting e-bikes and downloading guided tour apps on our phones. It was SO simple and allowed us to explore on our own time. Biking around Italy was truly a highlight!

Shoutout to my foldable, reusable water bottle which is lightweight enough to clip onto my backpack and kept me hydrated all day. 

HISTORY BUT MAKE IT FUN

Italy's museums are amazing but can quickly get overwhelming. They're massive and you could really spend the whole day wandering around. To make the most of our time, we used Airbnb Experiences to book a tour guide. Our guide, Elvis (five stars!!) was very knowledgable and we were able to really soak up all of the history in what we were viewing in just 2 hours. We loved our first tour with him at Accademia Gallery so much that we texted him that night and booked a tour for the Uffizi Gallery the next day! 

STAY COOL AND SNOOZE

I recommend checking to ensure that all of your Airbnb's have air conditioning because it is not a given in Italy! My other absolute comfort essentials are my bamboo t-shirts that stay fresh, and my Bose sleep buds for noise cancelling. Also ALWAYS get gelato after the museum! 

Stay tuned for all of my recommendations about where to eat, stay, and explore!