Cinque Terre Hiking
March 15, 2024The Cinque Terre are five towns that appear to cling to the rocks along a small section of northern Italy’s Mediterranean coastline, and are famous for the mule trails that connect them: paths which attract thousands of hikers each year. I worked as a hiking guide in and around the Cinque Terre, and if you’ve seen photos of the area and are thinking about hiking the trails, here are the things you should know.
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Christmas in Italy: A Guide
November 30, 2023Christmas in Italy is festive, with markets, lights, Christmas trees, and music in the streets. And the best part is that the Christmas season lasts an entire month! The Christmas season in Italy starts on December 8th (Immaculate Conception) and…
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The Best Places to Visit in Italy in Winter
August 14, 2023As Italy groans under the weight of its exponential increase in summer visitors, we are starting to nudge our clients towards the quieter early spring (March/April) and late fall (October/November) seasons to avoid the crowds, heat, and general chaos that…
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The Best Photo Ops (and Instagram Spots) in Italy
October 16, 2022Sharing travel exploits with the folks back home has been a large part of the pleasure of travel since the first voyagers sketched far-flung lands and peoples in ink on parchment. The tradition has evolved through slideshows and Kodachrome to…
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A Stop between Milan and the Cinque Terre
March 30, 2022We often have clients who want to kick off their Italy itinerary with a few days on the Ligurian coast (the Cinque Terre is the headliner, of course, but we also nudge travelers to stay near the equally charming but…
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Cinque Terre vs. The Lakes: How to Decide
February 27, 2022About 20% of our clients kick off our first call by telling us that they’d like to see two of the “Big Three” (Rome, Florence, and Venice—and they usually know which two) but they’d like advice on the final piece…
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Off the beaten path in Italy
October 23, 2014Because of the name of my company, I get regular requests for itineraries that are at least partly off the beaten track. The definition of off the beaten path in Italy differs depending on how well you know the country….
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Hiking near Cinque Terre : 4 trails to avoid the crowds
October 24, 2013When I worked as a hiking guide in the Cinque Terre more than a decade ago, we pretty much had the trails to ourselves. Surrounded by lemon trees and fig trees (a wonderful snack), we’d walk the now-famous paths that link the…
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Brainstorming Italy itineraries: Oh, the places you’ll go!
April 26, 2013New clients requested: “We will be in Italy for 9 days in June before heading to Cannes and we would like you to design our itinerary. We’ve been to Italy in the past: the Tuscan countryside, the Veneto, the Cinque…
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