Buongiorno! We are BACK from our 12th family travel adventure. This time we went back to Italy! We spent 2 weeks in Northern Italy, a region we previously never explored in depth. In our previous Italy trip (January 2019), we had the most amazing time. The people, the food, the beautiful towns.. need we say more?? Ever since, Italy has always been on our “must come back” list.
We arrived in Milan Malpensa Airport after the usual long flight from Australia. We were greeted with the news that two out of three of our baggage (me and boys’ bag plus the stroller) was left in Singapore! Our transit connection in Singapore’s Changi Airport was extremely tight at just 55 minutes. We made it, but unfortunately only Alfred’s luggage was transferred! We got our delayed baggage 2 days later. Singapore Airlines was generally helpful in resolving the situation.
This minor hiccup didn’t spoil the fun for us, we were too excited to start exploring! During the trip we covered 7 parts of Northern Italy and here’s the breakdown:
Day 1 – TURIN
Immediately upon arrival in Milan, we went straight to Turin (1.5 hours drive). Turin is the hometown of Lavazza coffee (which we’re not a fan of), and the coffee game here is strong. Having not been to a museum in years, we visited the Egyptian Museum. It is the second largest museum in the world for Egyptian art and archaeology. We also dropped by the Royal Palace to see their impressive armoury collection. We hang around the Piazza Castello before doing some emergency essentials shopping (due to our delayed PJs, undies and tops) at Via Roma.
Day 2 – PORTOFINO & PORTOVENERE
2.5 hours drive from Turin, we arrived at the “resort of the rich and famous” Portofino. We saw the marina lined up with massive yachts. You can tell most of the visitors are of “upper class” and prices here reflects it. Portofino is small and doesn’t take long to cover. We then moved to Portovenere, 1.5 hours away where we spent the night. We preferred Portovenere a lot more as it is less touristy, hence you feel more of the local life.
Day 3 to 5 – CINQUE TERRE
We based ourselves in La Spezia to visit the Cinque Terre villages, mainly because we didn’t want to carry heavy bags up and down the stairs of Cinque Terre. From La Spezia we can reach the closest village, Riomaggiore by train in just under 10 minutes. We bought the Cinque Terre card which gives unlimited train rides between the villages, as well as access to hiking trails.
We visited three villages; Riomaggiore, Manarola and Vernazza. These villages aren’t big (especially Riomaggiore) and it gets PACKED with day trippers. We loved people watching by the waterfront, eating gelato and having long lunches. We had to make the best use of those restaurants’ cover charge right? One place that stood out the most for us was Nessun Dorma, a seaside bar at Manarola. It has the BEST view of the village, and worth the effort to get a booking here.
Day 6 – MODENA
Modena is the only city in Italy we have visited twice as a family! Both of our boys are OBSESSED with Italian supercars so it’s only fitting we went to the museums of Lamborghini (just outside of Bologna) and Ferrari (the main one in Maranello).
Then we went for an afternoon of supercar driving with Push Start Maranello. Here you can hire your choice of Italian supercar! Our 7 year old was ecstatic as he was able to go for a joyride in a Lamborghini Huracan (“Performante!” – he kept repeating). Alfred then got his turn driving a Ferrari Portofino. It was an unforgettable experience, not to mention loud too!
Surprisingly that evening Modena was being used for an “Enzo Ferrari” biopic movie shooting. It was fun getting a glimpse of some of the movie stars and watching a race scene being filmed. In the end it got frustrating as many streets were blocked off and we couldn’t get back to our apartment!
Day 7 to 10 – DOLOMITES
After almost 4 hours drive from Modena, we finally arrived at our apartment in Selva di Val Gardena in the Dolomites. When we arrived at this alpine village, we felt transported to another country. Is this still Italy?! The Switzerland style houses and the German speaking locals made it hard to believe so.
We arrived at the end of their summer season before the cable cars close prior to winter ski season. Using the 3 Days Val Gardena card gave us unlimited access to all the cable cars in the area (and there’s plenty to choose from). We ended up going on 6 rides much to the delight of our boys.
Seceda, one of the most famous summits was our highlight. We had the clearest day here. At the top, you can enjoy a wonderful view of the Dolomites and of all the mountains in South Tyrol.
The next 2 days was overcast with low lying clouds. The day we hiked Cadini Di Misurina, unfortunately was the worst day as halfway through the hike, the mountains were covered in thick fog. None of the sites gave us the correct forecast. At the end of the day we were at the mercy of the Alpine Gods. We still had beautiful views at Lago Di Braies and Alpe de Suisi though.
The scariest cable car of my life was at Passo Sella – Sassolungo aka the COFFIN cable car. The name itself isn’t helping my fear of heights! This coffin like 2 person standing cable car was a never to be repeated experience for me. Halfway up, it started snowing with strong winds, rocking the cable cars side to side – YIKES! I could see nothing out of the window. I’m just glad we all made it out alive!
Day 10 to 12 – LAKE COMO
It was a long 5 hours drive from Val Gardena to reach Lake Como so we decided to break it up in Bolzano (the hometown of Loacker wafers) and Bergamo. While in lake Como we based ourselves in Tremezzo, and our 2 bedroom apartment had gorgeous lake views from both bedrooms and living room.
Lake Como was a great respite after the hiking days of the Dolomites. We wanted a bit of R&R here and started it off with a special lake side lunch at Mandarin Oriental Hotel. We explored the famous villages of Bellagio and Varenna by the public ferry. On the second day we had time to visit Villa del Balbianello as well. This villa – the highlight of our lake Como trip – was a filming location for James Bond’s Casino Royale and Star Wars Episode 2.
Day 12 to 14 – MILAN
Only 1 hour drive from lake Como, this fashion capital was packed with tourists. With designer brands lining up the streets, we were happy to window shop and admire the beautiful displays. The Duomo is the heartbeat of this city and a trip up to the rooftop was our highlight. On our last day of this trip, we saw Leonardo Da Vinci’s Last Supper at Santa Maria delle Grazie church.
Two years ago Milan was ground zero of Europe covid outbreak. It was great to see Milan busy and bustling again.
Booking.comAll of us were not ready to come home. Our family love Italy so much! From museum to scenery to fast cars to shopping, Italy has it all.
AIRFARES
We booked this trip with Singapore Airlines some six months earlier. We paid $5,200 for the 4 of us – bargain!
ACCOMODATION
We stayed in spacious, centrally located apartments throughout the trip. Booked via Booking.com on average we paid just $185 per night – great value!
GETTING AROUND
Prior to this trip we researched the best way of getting around. We compared the cost and convenience of driving ourselves vs using public transport. The Dolomites part of the trip made it impossible to get around using train. We were also reluctant to rent a car for 2 weeks, driving on the opposite side, on narrow streets, against the sometimes “unpredictable” Italian drivers.
In the end we contacted our friend Mili from Taxi Pajo who we previously used for our Croatia trip. He was able to fit us into his schedule and gave us a fair rate. So, Thanks again to Mili, we had the most fantastic and more importantly, safe 2 weeks European trip.
FOOD & DRINKS
Italian food in Italy is a LOT cheaper than Italian food in Australia. We are taking about 8 euros ($12) woodfired pizzas and pastas there! Coffee and drinks are generally cheaper too. The only downside is the per person restaurant “cover charge”. This is to the price you pay for a sit down service in Italy.
IS ITALY SAFE?
We felt completely safe throughout the trip. Italy does have a bit of a reputation when it comes to theft and small crimes. We generally tried to be more vigilant with our bags and phones during the trip. At the time of our family travel there were no Covid-19 restrictions in Italy. It was pretty much back to normal.
For other places we have visited, checkout our website’s travel Destinations section. We buy our travel essentials online via Ebay
