How to avoid the tourist crowds of Italy

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 16/09/2017 (3004 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

My taxi driver in Florence is telling it like it is.

“From April to October, Florence is terrible. There are so many tourists,” she says as we weave our way through the shoulder-to-shoulder sightseers, most of them armed with selfie sticks and general looks of exhaustion — except when taking selfies, of course.

Being under the Tuscan sun is a singular joy, but standing midday on the Piazza del Duomo or Ponte Vecchio or — worse — at the back of the four-block line-up to see Michelangelo’s David, you’ll wonder why you bothered. The swarms of tourists make it practically impossible to enjoy the experience, never mind appreciating the historical context of what you’re seeing.

Oddly, the guidebooks don’t really touch on this issue. They prefer to present idyllic scenes of tourist-free piazzas and relatively empty museums, giving the false impression that the hard part of travel is getting there. But actually, that’s the easy part. Truth is, it’s easier than ever to visit places such as Rome, Florence and Venice, but harder than ever to experience them.

But, here’s the good news. During my recent three-week trip to Italy I discovered that with some advance preparation and a different approach to travel — essentially, to be less of a tourist — there are ways to enjoy the best Italy has to offer, despite the crushing crowds. Here’s how:

Limit the number of places you visit

A barista in Winnipeg recently told me about her trip to Italy: Rome, Florence and Pisa.

“I wanted to do Venice,” she said, “but didn’t have enough time. I only went for four days.”

Yikes. Here’s the thing: you can’t see it all in one trip, so don’t try. Instead, aim to spend more time in fewer places. For destinations such as Rome, Florence or Venice, I give myself at least four or five days. That’s enough time to settle in and have cultural experiences beyond the major sights and tourist zones.

Choose your own adventure

One day in Lucca — while sipping a spritz on Piazza Napoleone with nowhere to be — I heard a member of a passing tour group lament, “I wish we had more than 20 minutes of free time.”

It’s great that packaged tours exist for those who don’t feel they have the travel experience or know-how to guide themselves. But for the rest of us, it makes sense to plan and book our own trips. Otherwise, we risk becoming prisoners to someone else’s unforgiving itinerary. And the freedom to be spontaneous and choose your own adventure — so to speak — is essential to getting the most out of your trip.

Also, you can’t avoid the crowds of tourists if you arrive with your own crowd of tourists.

Reserve tickets to the sights in advance

I can’t stress this point enough. In Florence, my online tickets allowed me to walk right past the long lines outside Galleria dell’Accademia and Uffizi. In Rome, I avoided the madness of the Vatican Museums by buying a reservation for the evening.

Trust me, it’s worth the extra few dollars to book online if you’re heading to any of the major sights. If you’re not sure which websites to use, check a trusted travel resource — such as ricksteves.com — for recommendations.

Use Airbnb

Hotels are great at providing a comfortable and familiar place to kick back at the end of the day, but they’re also great at keeping you in tourist mode, separated from the locals. Instead, use Airbnb or a similar homestay service to keep yourself immersed. Spend the extra money to get a whole apartment in a less touristy neighbourhood to maximize your living-like-a-local experience. Additionally, most Airbnb hosts are eager to share their own recommendations on places to eat and things to see that are usually way, way off the beaten path.

Visit the sights early — or late

Every day I spent in Vernazza, one of the five towns of the Cinque Terre, the pattern was the same: the early mornings were relatively quiet. Then the trains would bring in the hordes of day-tripping tourists. By late afternoon, most of the crowds were gone and the town was handed back to the locals. Guess which times of day I used to explore?

Change your to-do list

Most drive-by tourists make their to-do lists based on what they want to see: Michelangelo’s David, the Sistine Chapel, the Colosseum, Trevi Fountain, etc. Then they run around checking those boxes with the tens of thousands of other tourists doing the same. It can be an exhausting and, frankly, empty experience — unless your main travel goal is to post look-at-where-I-am selfies on Instagram.

Instead, reinvent your list by adding more experiential goals, such as: get to know a local. Become a regular at a neighbourhood cafe. Learn a few new phrases in the local language every day. Go for a long walk and get a little lost. Visit one unexpected place that wasn’t on your itinerary or in the guidebooks. And so on.

Don’t necessarily remove the sights you want to see from your list, just add more cultural and social to-dos that will allow you to navigate away from the oppressive crowds and create your own unique travel experience.

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