Road trip Italy tips | Touring Tuscany, Liguria & Veneto

A road trip to Italy... How fun does that sound? A (car) holiday to Italy had been high on my list for a while, and that's exactly what I did early this summer. With a camper van, we spent two weeks travelling around this versatile holiday country. From beautiful coastal towns, impressive hills, narrow winding paths to lively cities & popular attractions... I think I can tick off a lot now!

Start of our road trip through Italy

From Amsterdam, we flew in less than 2 hours to Milan Malpensa, the starting point of our road trip Italy. We skipped a visit to busy Milan this day, as we wanted to start our holiday relaxed and still had plenty of city trips planned. Once we arrived at the airport, we were picked up by motorhome and our journey through Italy began. By the way, I have always said that I absolutely don't want to camp anymore, but for this trip I wanted to make an exception... Normally, I am very much into planning & finding out but this holiday, apart from one night in Verona, we hadn't booked anything in advance. Exciting!

First stop road trip Italy: Moneglia

We decided to drive down from Milan towards the Ligurian Sea. After searching for nice campsites on the coast along the way, we arrived at a beautiful town called Moneglia. Located between Genoa and Cinque Terre, Moneglia can be found in a beautiful bay. In the centre you will find a few shops, restaurants and cosy bars. To get to the campsite, we first had to go through an old railway tunnel, where the traffic light only turns green a few times an hour. As we didn't realise at first that the exit to the campsite was literally in the tunnel, we missed it and had to drive out of the long tunnel first. If you don't know it's about 6 kilometres long, you can probably imagine that my claustrophobia kicked in a bit here... But of course, that didn't spoil the fun! Once we turned around again, we were prepared for this 'unusual' turn-off and ended up at the campsite right by the sea. Waking up with a view like that doesn't just happen every day!

The back village of Riomaggiore

Coloured houses in Cinque Terre

View from Riomaggiore

Day trip to the beautiful Cinque Terre

The next day, an outing to the beautiful Cinque Terre was on our schedule. By taxi, we were at Moneglia train station within 10 minutes, as Cinque Terre can only be reached by train. Cinque Terre consists of five different villages, namely Monterosso al Mare, Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarola and Riomaggiore.

Riomaggiore is one of the quietest villages and has a picturesque little harbour with all the colourful boats, some restaurants and some shops. From Riomaggiore, you can walk to the next village via the 1-kilometre-long Via dell'Amor footpath. Unfortunately for us, this love path was closed and we had to take the train to the next village, Manarola. Manarola was a lot more touristy than Riomaggiore, but was definitely worth it. After wandering around here and eating an ice cream, we continued to Vernazza. We skipped Corniglia, as you first had to climb 382 steps down (and thus back up). With a temperature of 37°C, this is not really advisable... In Vernazza you will find many shops, cosy terraces and a beautiful church. You will also find a small beach here to cool off. Those who like to relax all day on a larger beach should travel directly to the first village of Monterosso al Mare. This village is known for its sandy beach and cosy shopping streets.

Travelling on to Pisa & the Chianti Region

Our next stop was the popular Pisa. As we wanted to avoid the heat and crowds as much as possible, we only spent a few hours here in the evening which was definitely recommended. A visit to the tower of Pisa was of course not to be missed. After this, we found a very nice restaurant somewhere in a side street where we had a wonderful evening. Of course, you can also visit Pisa during the day and stroll through the cosy shopping streets and beautiful sights. Just keep in mind that it can be quite busy (and hot) here in summer!

The next morning, the Chianti region was on the agenda. Located in Tuscany, the Chianti region consists of beautiful hills, countless vineyards and not to be missed... steep roads. We decided to drive towards Siena and look for a place to stay for the night along the way. Meanwhile, I had found a beautiful natural campsite in the middle of the hills. However, getting here was a challenge as we encountered roads with a 10% gradient. You can imagine that with a loaded camper for 4 people, there was some mild panic here for a while. But luckily everything ended well! As a reward, I lounged by the pool all afternoon. We stayed near the medieval village of Certaldo Alto.

Continued road trip Italy: Elsa Trail & Florence

I wouldn't be me if I didn't seek out beautiful spots along the way. Thus, after reading a blog, I came across the Elsa Trail in a village called Colle di Val d'Elsa, just half an hour's drive from our last stop. After a hike of about 2.5 km, you would be rewarded with a beautiful waterfall. With it unfortunately not possible to get anywhere in the hills with a motorhome, we had to find another solution. Fortunately, we were able to find a parking spot close to the waterfall in the village itself. And yes, after 5 minutes I was cooling off in this ice-cold water....

After this lovely stopover, we drove on to our next stop: beautiful Florence. We stayed in Florence for 2 days before travelling on to Lake Garda. What I didn't know beforehand is that Florence was such a big city. In the city you will find beautiful sights such as cathedrals, large squares, expensive shopping streets and countless restaurants. Shopaholics will feast their eyes here!

Cattedrale di Santa Maria del Fiore

Relaxing on Lake Garda

After a week of travelling through different villages and towns, we thought it would be a good plan to rest for a few days at Lake Garda. We decided to stay in one place for a few days in the harbour town of Cisano. The idea was to relax here for 5 days, so that we could spend the last 2 days of our road trip Italy in beautiful Verona. Now I'm going to confess to you honestly that staying at Lake Garda surprised me a lot! Here, for instance, you will find beautiful harbour towns with countless nice restaurants, small boutiques and beautiful viewpoints. From Cisano, there is a wonderful walking path along the water to the neighbouring town of Lazise. Bardolino and Garda are also definitely recommended as excursions when staying in the south of Lake Garda.

TIP: rent a boat in Cisano & discover Isola del Garda!

Hiking trail along Lake Garda

Last stop road trip Italy: Verona

After spending a midweek enjoying beautiful Lake Garda, it was time for our last stop. From Cisano, it's about a 45-minute drive to stunning Verona. We stayed a night at Residenza Girardi, right in the centre, just a 5-minute walk from the famous Casa di Giulietta. This loving city has so much beauty in store, which definitely makes me want to come back here again as I am far from having seen everything.