Italy

If you are planning a trip to Piedmont and are wondering how many days make for a good visit, we have some bad news for you- there is no easy answer here.

Part of this is simply that Piedmont is a vast region in northern Italy running from France in the west to Switzerland in the north and almost all the way to the Ligurian Sea in the south. The other part is that Piedmont offers numerous unique attractions which you may or may not be interested in (e.g. wine vs nature vs cities).

So in this one, we thought we would break down a few of the most popular reasons why you may visit Piedmont and share ideas of how many days you would need in each spot!

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I have rented cars worldwide to drive around and experience the top attractions in numerous countries. From Italy, Belgium, and Iceland in Europe, South Korea in Asia, Mauritius and the Seychelles in Africa, I’ve had the pleasure of taking a car out in a new country on many occasions.

On a trip to Italy (for my third rental there), a unique line item in my car rental contract caught my eye and gave me a moment of concern: “The driver license must have been issued by authorized authorities at least 1 year(s) before the date of the commencement of the rental.”

While I have been driving for 20+ years, I had one problem- my license was recently renewed and did not show its original issue date. All things being equal, it looked like my license was issued just three months before.

Cue panic.

Ultimately, this small detail ended up being a non-issue, and my car was rented to me without question. In this one, I wanted to break down why this one exists and what documents you may want to have with you to protect yourself in the unlikely event that you are questioned.

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If you’ve ever traveled in Europe, odds are good you know about the notoriety of Ryanair flights. 

This UK-based airline is prolific in its advertising absurdly cheap deals, with Ryanair sale promotions often featuring flights for under 10 Euro. Yes, you read that right- 10 Euro.

But where it seems like a wonderful deal to purchase Ryanair tickets, there is one thing to keep in mind- the advertised price is likely not the final price you’ll ultimately pay. This leads to disappointment and a lot of the negative reviews we have seen online.

But after flying Ryanair in Italy from Catania to Rome, I have to say, with a little bit of advanced planning you can make the flight a moderately enjoyable experience. Or, to put it another way, my Ryanair flight wasn’t bad.

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My first time with a car in Italy was driving in Tuscany. If you hadn’t read that article (at the previous link), the quick explanation is that it left a bad taste in my mouth with how difficult it was- especially around Florence.

So when I returned to Italy, it was with a bit of reluctance that I opted to see the island of Sicily by car.

After driving in Sicily for five days, and hitting virtually every corner of the island, I look back on it and realize it wasn’t that bad at all!

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