Are you heading to Italy and don’t want to break the bank?
Hey there fellow Travelers Mark here with Walter’s world and today we’re in caserta Italy right outside the Royal Palace of caserta just north of Naples and today we have for you are some budget tips on visiting Italy so your money can go a little bit farther when
You’re enjoying all that Pizza Pasta and historic sites here in Italy and I really got to tell you Italy does not have to be an expensive place to go when you travel I know a lot of people have this idea well I went to Venice and it’s
Expensive and I was in Florence it was expensive well yeah if you’re at some of the major tour spots and you’re going to be staying right downtown right near some of the main sites that will be expensive so when you’re starting to think about your trip to Italy also
Think about where you’re going to stay because the location of your accommodation will have a huge impact on your budget so staying a little bit farther away from the sides now I’m not saying don’t stay in the historic centers those are always worth staying and whether it’s Rome or Florence OR
Vicenza or Bari or wherever it’s always better to stay in the center but just maybe don’t be right on the Basilica San Diego Us in Bahrain or maybe don’t be right on you know the Grand Canal and then stay a little bit farther away a little bit farther from that and the
Prices can drop significantly okay so there’s one off the bat that’s really going to help you save quite a bit okay but let’s talk about a fun budget tip we have for you and that is take advantage of a parativo time so if you’re not sure
What a pair of tivos are those are the drinks you see the Italians sitting out having about you know between four in the afternoon to eight o’clock at night with their friends they’re just chatting having a spritz you know maybe having some little snacks thing is if you go
Out for a parativo time because you’re going to want to have a drink after you’ve enjoyed all the beautiful sights in Italy or wherever you are in Italy you go you sit down and you have a drink and they bring free snacks for you yes you can get free snacks with every drink
You get so if you’re gonna get those apeta TV those drinks enjoy the snacks that come with it because if you have three or four drinks you might get three or four plates of snacks and that might be your dinner okay because my next budget tip for you is actually actually
Do your big meal at lunch I know this is a worldwide known thing lunch specials lunch deals will go a long way to help you save money but also if you have that big meal at lunch if you do a peritivo time for dinner kind of then you’re done
For the day because you’ll be so full and so happy and your budget will be happy too because you just saved a dinner meal price now another thing I think is important if we’re looking at little things that add up over time if you’re going to be coming to Italy for
You know one or two weeks or maybe a month and you love your espressos right and we all love our espressos when we come here you have your little coffees my little budget tip for you is don’t sit down if you’re going to get an espresso stand at the bar and drink it
Because you sit down at the cafe you might have a coperto which is a cover charge it could be one or two Euros to add on to that which doesn’t seem a lot but if you sit down and have two or three espressos a day well that’s six
Euros a day times 10 days all of a sudden that’s 60 Euros hey that can get you a hostel and some meals I mean that can get you cheap hotel in some places that could get my wife and I a nice dinner those little things add up so
Make sure if you’re just gonna have your little espresso stand at the bar same thing you just want to get a little snack just stand at the bar with a snack don’t sit down because you might be getting an extra charge for that now another way that tours really burn
Through their money is if they eat near tourist sites now I’m not gonna lie to you sometimes you want to pay for that view I mean I have eaten and drank on pieza San Marco in Venice because my God that view is fantastic but I paid out
The Wazoo for it okay so anytime you’re near a tour site just know the prices are usually inflated and a lot of times the flavor is kind of deflated because I know so many tourists want to sit there in that spot so what I recommend for you
Go walk two or three blocks away from those main sites and you’ll start hearing more Italian at those restaurants and at those cafes and going there and you’ll notice that the prices tend to drop block by block how much better it is for your wallet so some to
Think about also if you’re near one of those sites and you want to get a bottle of water you want to grab a snack or something don’t buy right like I know for example Vatican City you’ll see these little kiosks these little carts out there they’re selling Waters and drinks and snacks
If you need it get it it’s fine but if you know you’re going to need drinks during the day stop by a supermarket and pick some stuff up so you have it when you travel whenever we take the train here in Italy we always stop in the
Supermarket at the train station to grab some snacks so we don’t pay the overpriced snacks on the train it’s the same thing grab those snacks and drinks so you don’t pay the overpriced prices when you buy those sites okay so just have a heads up for that another quick
Little thing that might help you save some money when you’re here in Italy is your wine choice now Italy has fantastic wines all over the country and each region has their own wines but if you want to save money when you’re drinking wine here when you go to the restaurant
Just get the Vino de la casa the house wine will be probably the cheapest wine on the menu no it won’t come in a fancy bottle it might come in a jar or some glasses or a big jar a little jar but the thing is it’s going to be good it’s
Gonna it’s gonna taste good it’s gonna be refreshing you’re gonna love it and it’s gonna be cheap and that’s a lot more affordable than getting a bottle of wine that could be 40 or 50 euros when you can just get a jar of wine for 10 to
15 euros and that adds up especially if you’re enjoying wine with most of your meals like somebody I know does now another Big saver and this is one I highly recommend is buy your train tickets in advance I mean I’m not joking we get it with Liam here on our trip
Together we’re saving like 60 on our train tickets by booking early okay so don’t wait last minute if you know you’re gonna go go to trainitalia.com and you can book your tickets before you come here and you already have them have the PDF on your phone they scan it
You’re good to go and you can save big time bucks I mean we’re here for a month and I’ve saved over 500 euros on the tickets for the three of us for all of our train tickets just by booking early and that is not an insignificant amount
Of money okay so you could really save big especially if you’re gonna be traveling a lot around Italy like we’re going all over the North or all over the south in the center so do think about that and get those train tickets early also it’s gonna help if it’s a fresh yet
Because then you get your your reserved seat that’s already required and you’re not worried about not having a seat now another thing I have for you is actually think about using different cities to stay in than the more popular city for example Venice is super expensive to
Stay in but you know what you can stay in a pod though you can stay in Vicenza those are both less than an hour away and you can do day trips to Venice and then go back and enjoy more of a traditional Italian City versus a traditional tourist City okay so for
Example if you want to do the Amalfi Coast which is really expensive maybe stay in Sorrento and sometimes stay in the bigger city could be cheaper like staying in Naples and then going to the Amalfi Coast will also save you some money so think about where you’re going
To stay in terms of the city that can help you out because honestly another budget thing is going to help you out when you’re here is just using public transportation taxis in Italy are nefarious for their pricing let’s say and also you’re not going to find Uber
And Lyft all over the country there might be some in Milan and Rome and like that’s it okay so it’s axes or public transportation or you’re hiring a private driver and those are even more expensive so learn to love the public transportation here because that’s going
To save you a lot of money though it might be delayed occasionally so just have a heads up for that now another cool thing is if you’re here and you’re planning out your trip and you’re looking at the museums you want to go to or the sites you want to visit look and
See when they have their free day of the month because a lot of places actually do have a free day for example if you want to go to Pompeii the first Sunday of the month at Pompeii is free right and so other museums might have those discounts it might just be a discount
Afternoon or it might be a discount evening or it might be a free day but little things like that can add up and help you save money and that’s why another thing to look at is maybe you want to get one of those those cards like the Roma card or the Florence card
Or the Florence pass you know those City cards those can be a good money saver but the key thing if they’re going to be a money saver make sure you look and see do they have the museums that you want to go to because if they do they can
Really help you out but if they don’t then it’s kind of like a glorified overpriced public transportation ticket and you don’t need to do that so make sure you do your research about what’s available on that card okay and kind of going along with that I think another
Thing if you’re not going to get those cards is also another budget tip is really true use your sights wisely because there’s so much to see and do in Italy I mean just so much to see and do that it’s almost overwhelming and don’t think you need to see every single thing
Because your budget will explode with all those entry tickets so what you might want to do is be judicious in terms of what you’re going to go see we’ll do the Coliseum and we’ll do the Forum or the Vatican but we’ll pass another little Borghese this time do
That that’s going to help you control your budget more and then of course there’s always avoiding summer peak season look Italy is famous for its beautiful weather Beautiful People beautiful food beautiful destinations and everyone knows that first so from June through August it’s packed like August is insane how busy Italy gets and
How insane the prices get so if you can come in shoulder season like in April May September October usually you have still decent weather but you have a lot less tourists here and that means the flight tickets are cheaper there’s less people in line so you’re not losing time
Which is not free you know that can really help you out okay so I hope these budget tips can help you enjoy Italy better on a few less Euros per day what are some of your favorite budget tips for visiting Italy put it down in the comment section below so we can help
Other Travelers save a bit of Euros or Lira if you prefer when they come here to Italy ciao from Italy
