Backpacking in Italy
How’s everyone doing with their life? hope you are all great! Actually, you should, It’s summer, the sun shines (translate to canicule in France), the bright light should cast away all your worries and make you smile. If not, you can always add one or two (the whole bottle?) glasses of rosé wine and (lots of ) chocolate (chocolate works all year long).
Let’s get into the subject of my post. I hope my pictures will soothe the heart of those who did not have the chance to go on holidays this year.
The good thing about living in Europe is Shengen. That means for non-European like me, you can just jump on a plane/bus/train without having to worry about a visa. So I hopped on a bus with my backpack (you know cheap adventures), no overthinking for the destination this time and went back to Italy. Two years ago I already visited Rome, so It’s Milan, Lake Como, Florence, and Venice turn.
Itinerary
Here’s a look to my 5 days trip. From Lyon with Ouibus
- Two days in Milan with one as a day trip to Lake Como
- Day trip to Venice from Milan
- Sleep in Florence and one day to explore
- Back to Milan to rest and prepare for the bus back to Lyon
I think I could have added a day trip in Pise, but I was too tired. It was my first time backpacking, maybe I could have planned the itinerary better. What do you think about It? I’m open for suggestion for the remaining cities to visit In Italy.
The lovely Varenna after the rain
Backpack
I usually travel with a small cabin carry on but this time It was not the best choice. I found this cute cotton bag on Amazon, I could fit 5 days of clothes inside with my beauty products, a jacket and I was able to slide It perfectly on the bus overhead. For my first experience, I was pretty proud of me and my backpack. It has a lot of pockets and a compartment for a laptop. It’s not water resistant but for city breaks in Europe, I think It will do the job.
For more info, the linked picture below.
Helas…newbie mistake, I did the whole Venice day trip with It ( my back was a mess ) only to found out, on my way to the bus that lockers were available right on the parking (failed miserably). Anyway, next time I’ll look ahead if lockers are available.
For the expert what do you think about that bag? the only thing I see is that it’s not water-resistant (but I always travel with a mini umbrella), It will certainly not be suitable for long-term travel as the material can be torn. Do you have a backpack suggestion for a newbie like me?
Transportation
I used a combination of Flixbus Ouibus, train, and public transportation to move around Italy. You can always compare the best fare, timeline with The trainline
Accommodation
The best way to cut cost would have been hostels…But I can’t. Sharing a room with strangers is not my thing, I like to have my personal space, I’m getting old for that, those are among the item in my “no good reasons” list for hostels.
Instead, I found those 2 hotels with decent prices :
Milan: Eco hotel 5 min walk from a metro station, with organic product. Eco-Hotel La Residenza
Florence: Great location in the center, friendly and helpful staff. The hotel is a former friary so don’t be surprised by your room configuration and decoration… Enza Hotel
Come back to check this post, I’ll update It with the links for Milan, Venice, Florence and Lake Como posts
See you next time!
Don’t forget to smile today!
I'm an IT Engineer, bloggin at night and a bookworm the remaining time .
Come with me as I travel the world !
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Oh that’s a beautiful contents !
But post and be more regular please 🙂
I went to the opposite cities in Italy, Pisa, to Pompeii for us. We also travel light, and think it’s the only way to go, although we don’t backpack.
Pompeii is on my list too
We have been twice to Italy and we hope to return again some day. We know what you are saying about hostels. They would be the cheaper option, but… Hostels are often expensive in other parts of the world, though. In Mexico and Central America, hostels are more expensive than a hotel where a local would stay.
For us, the Amalfi Coast,Le Marche, and Isole Vulcano in Sicily were some of our favorite areas to visit.
I didn’t know they could be more expensive than hotels 🤔
I’m like you and like to have my personal space, so hostels aren’t really an option for me. Love that you gave two budget friendly options!
It’s great you tried backpacking, you should go for longer with a bigger bag and see how you go, it’s the best way to travel!
To answer your backpack question, yeah, the Amazon one is cute, but not really functional as a good travel bag, especially as it is so easily torn. Look at brand names such as Pacsafe, Eagle Creek, Timbuk2, Osprey, KSwiss, Hynes, and Standard Luggage Co. Your back and your clothing and gear will be much happier for it.
Thanks for the recommendation!
My only visit to Italy was in the south. Can imagine that money goes a bit less further up there. Would definitely like to visit regardless, though.
We’ve only been to Italy once and did not see Milan at all so definitely would like to get there some day. I never thought about using it as a base location so thanks I’ll keep that in mind for our future travels!
We love Italy, but with kids, we don’t quite get to backpack. And I totally would’ve never thought about checking for lockers, but as a person who tries to carry as little as possible, I think it’s such a great tip to remember!
Love this! I’m going to be visiting Italy for the first time soon thanks to the Norwegian Annual Sale and now I know all the must-visit locations I need to explore while I’m out there. Thanks for sharing!
you’re welcome! I’m sure you’ll have fun!
Lake Como! Super jealous – it looks beautiful. Italy is such a beautiful country, I’ve only been to Rome and Lake Garda but you’ve definitely inspired me to see Milan 🙂
Yes, it’s beautiful! I hesitated between Lake Como and Garda, but end up going to Come