Things tourists miss doing while in Italy

Tourist places in the world don't come as touristy as Italy, which is probably better known for being home to the the smallest country in the world - the Vatican City. Then, there is Italy's most famous city - Venice - whose canals, bridges and landmarks are revered throughout the world.
Things tourists miss doing while in Italy

You certainly won't find a shortage of attractions in Italy, but what is worth seeing? To be honest, everything! However, with so many attractions for tourists to see you can actually end up missing out on other cool things to do while in Italy such as:

Visit a local Italian salon

One of the best things tourists miss doing while in Italy is visiting a beauty salon. Italy is one of the top fashion capitals of the world and enjoying a stylish haircut is one of the nicest things to do as a tourist in Italy.

You won’t find a shortage of hair salons, barbershops and beauty parlors in Italy, though the smaller old-fashioned Italian salons and barbershops are the nicest places to go for a true Italian experience. Even if you don't want to get a trim or a stylish haircut, you can simply get a wash and blow-dry, or visit the Italian barbers for the closest shave ever!

Go to La Scala Opera House

Going to an evening performance at La Scala is by far one of the most amazing tourist experiences you’ll ever get in Italy. La Scala Theatre is one of the most famous in Italy and one of the most prestigious theaters in the world.

La Scala is located in Milan and you can catch a superb ballet, orchestra or chorus performance every day (including weekends), which means you won’t have much of a problem booking tickets while on vacation in Italy. By the way, make sure you visit the museum inside La Scala Theatre to check out the beautiful paintings and a stunning 17th century spinet.


See Milan’s Cathedral at night

Milan’s Cathedral (Duomo) is no doubt, one of the most visited tourist attractions in Italy and it’s one of the most stunning cathedrals ever built in Europe. Milan’s Duomo is impressive by day and the vast majority of tourists visit the Duomo during the day.

However, the Duomo is way more beautiful at night and you’ll get a more awe-inspiring experience because of the lights reflecting the stunning stained-glass windows. Ideally, you’d want to see the Duomo during the day and night but if you have to choose I’d definitely suggest heading there in the evening to marvel this stunning landmark.


Ride a motorino

Riding a scooter (motorino) is without a doubt, one of the exciting things tourists miss doing while in Italy. Italians love their scooters and you’ll see them everywhere in Italy, particularly in Rome where scooters outnumber cars 3 to 1. The beauty about riding one of these Italian scooters (Vespa, Lambretta, etc) is that they’re super cheap to rent, there are super easy to drive and you can hire one pretty much everywhere in Italy.

Having said this, you should know that riding a scooter in Italy isn’t for the faint of heart, particularly if you aren’t used to city driving in Italy. Therefore, if you do want to hire a scooter for the first time, it’d definitely be a good idea to do it for exploring the Italian countryside.

Take a boat ride of Lake Como

One of the most memorable things you can do on a trip to Italy is to take a boat ride of Lake Como, which is unarguably one of the prettiest lakes in the whole of Italy. There are various ways to boat ride Lake Como and explore the stunning scenery of the district and the beautiful lake towns such as Varenna, Menaggio, and Bellagio.

You can hop on a ferry, book a cruise, or hire a boat. The Lake Como ferry is definitely the cheapest way (around 4 Euros) to get around Lake Como and you can choose from a slow ferry service or the fast service on a high-speed hydrofoil. You can hire small motorboats (50hp) at Lake Como for around 150 Euros for half a day though remember you need to be over 18 years of age.

Cooking class

Italy is one of the culinary capitals of the world and not taking a cooking class there would be one of the “biggest misses” in Italy. Booking a week-long cooking class vacation in Italy is actually a nice way to go about it but you don’t necessarily need to spend an entire vacation cooking...you can book one to three day cooking classes, culinary tours, private tours, etc.

Tuscany and Florence are two of the most popular regions to book affordable cooking classes since there are lots of them to choose from. Wherever you go, the things to take into consideration when booking cooking classes in Italy are the size of the class (small class is better) and the trainer (English-speaking). Be sure that your trainer actually speaks English because you won’t really enjoy yourself when you’re trying to learn new cooking skills and you can’t communicate properly with them.

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