Your Insider Guide to Italy

The Best Tours & Experiences in Italy

Italy stacks two thousand years of ruins, the Renaissance, and a coastline of cliff towns into a country you can cross by train in an afternoon. Most first trips start in Rome, where the Colosseum, Roman Forum and Palatine Hill share one ticket and the arena floor and underground levels are guided-access only. Across the river, the Vatican Museums run to the Sistine Chapel and St Peter's, and early-entry tours are the difference between seeing the ceiling and seeing the crowd.

North, Florence holds the Uffizi and Michelangelo's David in the Accademia, both timed-entry and both worth booking well ahead, with Brunelleschi's dome climb a few streets away. The city is also the jumping-off point for Tuscany — Chianti wine tastings, the hill towns of Siena and San Gimignano, and the Val d'Orcia. Further north, Venice pairs St Mark's Basilica and the Doge's Palace with gondola rides and boat runs out to Murano and Burano.

South, the Amalfi Coast is best seen from the water, with boat days along Positano and Amalfi and crossings to Capri and the Blue Grotto. Naples puts Pompeii and Vesuvius within a morning, and Sicily adds Mount Etna and Taormina. Every tour we feature is Viator-verified, top-rated, and bookable with free cancellation.