Essential Italy Travel Tips for 2026

Italy is one of the most visited countries in the world, and for good reason. But it also has a few quirks that catch first-time visitors off guard. From navigating the ticketing chaos at major attractions (it’s getting better, but it’s still bad) to understanding why you should never eat at a restaurant with a guy out front waving you in, here are some Italy travel tips that will make your trip a more enjoyable experience.

Do everything you can to avoid lines at popular attractions

With the popularity of Italy’s major sights, if you don’t have a ticket ahead of time, you could literally wait in line for hours, no joke. Fortunately, the vast majority of the ”must-sees” allow you to buy tickets ahead of time, and there are also opportunities to visit early or late or get “skip-the-line tickets”.

As Rick Steves always says, you have a limited time on a trip, do everything you can to avoid lines.

The Colosseum offers “skip the line” tours. (Read our post: Advice and tips for Visiting the Roman Colosseum.

In Florence, if you purchase your ticket to see David ahead of time, the process is very simple. If you try to purchase tickets at the door, the line is incredibly long and it’s in the sun. We were pretty happy to wait in the shady spot across the street until the time on our pre-purchased tickets was called. The extra cost for any of these ticketed perks is well worth the misery you’ll alleviate by doing it.

More info on a well-reviewed“skip-the-line” David tour here.

Note - This blog post contains affiliate links. This means that if we are recommending a product, activity or a hotel, we might be receiving a small commission if you buy or book from these links. This is done at no additional cost to you. We only recommend products we have personally used or have thoroughly researched. 

The line to purchase “day of” tickets to see the David statue at the La Galleria Della Accademia in Florence.

Travel light

There is so much to see in Italy, that you will likely want to visit several destinations.

You’ll thank yourself for packing light when you watch some other poor soul hoisting massive suitcases up onto a luggage rack as you train between cities, or when you are dragging your own bag over cobblestones in search of your Airbnb after a long exhausting flight in.

Oh, it may hurt at first to pare down your wardrobe and leave behind that massive floppy hat and three extra pairs of cute sandals you bought over the winter while you were dreaming of Italian sunshine, but soon, this style of packing will become your personal pride! How light can I go?! We limit ourselves to one carry-on-sized rolling bag and a backpack each. Yes, we can do it and so can you!

Roll your clothes, replace your giant toiletry bag with a flat, flexible one, and think about items you can mix and match, so no one thing becomes a wardrobe uni-tasker. Once you realize that you don’t really need a lot of extra stuff, you will NEVER go back!.

Traveling with one carry-on bag and a backpack in Venice.

Mass transit is easy and effective in Italy 

Traveling between cities is fast; trains run often and leave you in the heart of the city. There is room for luggage as well - so if you’ve followed the aforementioned “travel light” rule, you’ll be feeling pretty darn smug when you roll your dainty bag off that train like the well-seasoned traveler you are!  

In most cities, subways, buses, and trams can minimize the walking you’ll need to do, which you will appreciate when your feet need a break. We generally found that train stations have good signage, as did the bus stops. 

Read more at our post - How to travel by high-speed train in Italy

Walking in Italian cities is tough

We walk long distances in NYC often and without any issues, but we found the terrain here a bit more challenging. In many Italian cities, the streets are cobblestoned, and the sidewalks are irregular and uneven. This looks pretty and charmingly European, but it can be grueling on your feet and legs, especially if you aren’t used to it.

Wear good walking shoes and take a gelato break whenever possible. ;)

Try not to over-plan each day

Walking around Italian cities can be exhausting (see above). While your natural instinct might be to fill your schedule so you don’t miss anything and make the most of your time, this could be a mistake.

It’s easy to miss the charm and pace of the city by racing from attraction to attraction. Picking a few “must see” sights and then allowing serendipity to fill in the rest makes for a more enjoyable trip.

Traveling in Italy is as much about ambiance and a glass of wine watching the sunset as it is about art, churches, and ruins. Slow down and enjoy.

The Roman Colosseum is wonderful at dusk

Take a siesta

The afternoons in Italy can be very hot, especially in the popular travel seasons of spring and summer. Early in the morning, it’s cool out, and the crowds are thinner so it’s a great time to get out and see the sights.

It also makes for good photo ops as the light is nicer. And in the evening, the weather is beautifully cool and comfortable. Restaurants and bars are open late - most Italians don’t have dinner till 9pm or later.

So a retreat to your hotel in the afternoon to take a break in the A/C (well, it’s “A/C-ish” in Italy, by American standards!) when the heat is working against you just makes a lot of sense - and makes for happier campers in the long run. 

Pro tip - request a room with air conditioning explicitly when booking, especially July/August.

Get an e-sim for your phone

Here's a tip that will save you real money and a genuine headache: get yourself an eSIM before you leave home. We use Airalo, and honestly, it's one of the best travel discoveries we've made in recent years.

If you're not familiar with eSIMs, think of it as a digital SIM card that lives in your phone. There is no need to swap anything out, no hunting for a phone shop when you land exhausted at Rome Fiumicino.

You simply download the Airalo app, pick a plan for Italy (they start at just a few dollars for a week of data), install it at home over your Wi-Fi, and it automatically activates the moment you land in Italy. That's it.

The alternative is relying on your US carrier's international roaming. A friend of ours just went to Europe and relied on her home carrier for simplicity, but it ran $10–$12 per day.

You keep your regular phone number active on your US SIM for calls and texts, and use the Airalo eSIM for data . So you’ll receive relatively fast speeds for maps, booking confirmations, restaurant lookups, etc..

One thing to check before you buy: your phone needs to be unlocked and eSIM-compatible. Most phones now support it, and Airalo's website has a full compatibility list.

Get food and snacks for your room

If you follow the “start your day early” tip above, you may want to scope out a local mini-mart or grocery store and get a few items for your room to have for breakfast in the morning.

We took the early access tour for the Sistine Chapel at the Vatican and needed to leave our hotel before it started its regular breakfast service. CarreFour is sort of a “mini-mart meets 7/11” small grocery chain that is in many European cities. It was easy to find one, and they are generally open till about 9 pm. We picked up a few pastries, drinks, and fruit to have in our room for an early breakfast. No need to be starving during that early access tour!

The Vatican Museum

There is a dress code in some places so plan ahead

In most of Italy, the dress is very casual but at some religious sites, such as St. Peter’s Basilica, shoulders and knees need to be covered. Keep that in mind when planning your day.

Be careful of tourist scams around major attractions

For example, we usually try our best to not eat anywhere close to a major site and try not to choose places that are all in English and have a hawker out front calling you in.

On our most recent trip, we violated our own advice a few blocks from the Colosseum because we were exhausted and hungry. The service was very friendly, and the food was passable, but when the time came to pay, their credit card machine was “broken” (and not mentioned until then), and they sent us to an ATM nearby. Then our formerly friendly waiter stood over us, demanding a tip. When we pointed out that there was already a service charge added to the bill and we didn’t need to tip, Sigor Friendly got very angry.

Major pro tip - You don’t need to tip in Italy - a service charge is usually already added to the bill. Only if you felt someone really went out of their way for you, and you’d like to give them a few extra Euros, that is acceptable and appreciated, but by no means expected or necessary.

This was the only time we broke our own rule, and it was the only time we had an experience like that in all of Italy. And it really can ruin an otherwise nice day.

The moral of the story - follow your instincts, and stick to your own rules about these things!

Money tips while in Italy

Credit cards are accepted nearly everywhere so you don’t need to carry a lot of cash. If you do a lot of traveling outside the country, a credit card with no international fees is very handy. That said, it’s always a good idea to have a small amount of local currency in your pocket. Instead of going to a touristy money exchange kiosk, we like to just use an ATM to get local currency.

We try to find a branch of a large bank - even if you don’t recognize the name, it should look like something you are familiar with at home, with tellers, desks for branch managers, and ATMs inside the lobby.

Try to avoid stand-alone ATMs out in the street. Depending on who you bank with, there will most likely be a little bit of an international fee charge, but the exchange rate will be legit, as opposed to the exchange rate at some tourist stop, where you will most likely get ripped off.

Learn a few Italian phrases

You absolutely do not need to speak Italian to have a wonderful trip because English is widely understood in most tourist areas and major cities. On our trips to Italy, we almost never found any language issues.

But I cannot overstate how much a few basic phrases will improve your experience. Italians genuinely light up when you make the effort, even if your pronunciation is a little wobbly. It signals respect, and it changes the energy of an interaction instantly.

Here's the short list we'd commit to memory before you go:

• Buongiorno (bwon-JOR-no) — Good morning / Good day. Use this when walking into any shop, café, or restaurant. It's considered polite to greet people this way in Italy, and skipping it can come across as rude without you even realizing it.

• Buonasera (bwon-ah-SAY-ra) — Good evening. Switch to this from late afternoon onward.

• Grazie (GRAH-tzee-yeh) — Thank you. Note: it's not "grat-zee" — there's a subtle extra syllable at the end.

• Per favore (pair fah-VOH-reh) — Please.

• Il conto, per favore (eel KON-toh, pair fah-VOH-reh) — The bill, please. You'll use this every single day.

• Dov'è il bagno? (doh-VEH eel BAN-yo) — Where is the bathroom? Also used every single day.

• Scusi (SKOO-zee) — Excuse me, or sorry. Use this to get someone's attention politely.

• Parla inglese? (PAR-la een-GLEH-zeh) — Do you speak English? A polite way to open a conversation before switching languages.

One thing worth knowing: most tourists default to saying "ciao" to everyone because it's the most famous Italian word. But ciao is actually quite informal. It is the equivalent of saying "hey" to a stranger.

With people you don't know, buongiorno, buonasera, or the all-purpose salve (SAHL-veh) are much more natural and will make you sound less like a tourist immediately

Enjoy the Italian coffee!

Last and perhaps most important tip for coffee lovers like me  - DO try the coffee culture in Italy! Don’t be intimidated, as I was at first, doing waaaayyy too much research (What’s a ‘long’???  How do I order??? If I order wrong, will they know I’m a tourist and be annoyed with me?? How do I say it in Italian?? When do I pay?? Will I be standing next to locals who will be impatient with me?? Will I offend them?? Embarrass myself?? When is the fashionable cut-off time to order espresso??) 

Look, I’m going to tell you straight, fellow American coffee junkies, it’s really nothing! Go to the counter, order either an espresso or cappuccino, whichever you prefer, get it either to stay or takeaway (yes, they will understand you if you say it in English), and either drink it at the counter or not, whatever you feel like doing. And pay when you order it just like you would do in the US. It’s no big whoop.

The coffee is OUTSTANDING, so don’t miss out just because you think you need a secret handshake or something. (Or am I the only one who thought this……?)

After only a few days in Rome, my son and I had our own local coffee haunt and that, my friends, is la bella vita!

Our Favorite Italy Travel Resources

Resource	What It's For	Why We Use It
Booking.com	Hotels & accommodation	Huge range of options from boutique guesthouses to major hotels. Easy to filter by location, price, and free cancellation. We use it for almost every trip.
Viator	Tours, activities & skip-the-line tickets	Our go-to for booking guided tours and pre-purchased attraction tickets. Especially useful for the Vatican, Colosseum, and Uffizi — all of which sell out weeks in advance in summer.
FareDrop	Airfare deals & flight sales	Sends customized alerts for discounted flights from your home airport straight to your inbox. We've found some genuinely great deals this way — it's how we plan a lot of our trips.
Airalo	eSIM & international data	Skip expensive roaming charges from your US carrier. A two-week Italy data plan costs a fraction of daily roaming rates. Download before you leave, activates automatically when you land. Works on most iPhones and Androids from 2018 onward.
Trainline	European train tickets	The easiest way to book Italian train travel — just enter your start and end city, compare options, book, and save the ticket straight to your Apple Wallet. We use it for every train journey in Europe.

* This post contains affiliate links. If you book or buy through these links we may receive a small commission at no extra cost to you. We only recommend resources we personally use and trust.

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Some well-reviewed guided Italy tours

Note - This blog post contains affiliate links. This means that if we are recommending a product, activity, or hotel, we might be receiving a small commission if you buy or book from these links. This is done at no additional cost to you. We only recommend products we have personally used or have thoroughly researched.

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