Ciao friends! We’re back from our magical Tuscany & Cinque Terre trip with Witte Travel. I can’t adequately put into words (but I’m going to try) how special this trip was. Cory and I spent 8 days traveling through Tuscany and Cinque Terre with ten people + an amazing tour guide. We truly loved hosting this trip with Witte Travel, and I wanted to share some of my favorite moments. I also shared daily recaps on Instagram which you can find here or check out this highlight.
My Favorite Memories in Italy
Here are some of my favorite things from our trip to Tuscany & Cinque Terre:
The cooking classes! Many of you know I really enjoy being in the kitchen trying new recipes. On this trip we made cantucci (very similar to biscotti), tagliatelle pasta and pesto. These experiences were so much fun, and I feel like I learned new techniques to try at home. We also wouldn’t have found these cooking classes on our own had we not been on this group trip.
The wine in Tuscany is outstanding. We were in the Chianti region and had such a great experience visiting Badia a Coltibuono. How amazing is their wine cellar? PS you can also find Badia a Coltibuono featured on Netflix’s “Salt Fat Acid Heat”.
Exploring Cinque Terre (especially Portofino) was another highlight of the trip. This was my first time being in this region of Italy and it was truly stunning. It was fun taking a ferry to each town and seeing the brightly colored houses. That Aperol Spritz with a view of the ocean was perfection.
Our hotel in Tuscany was stunning and such a great experience overall. Villa Casagrande is located in Figurine Valdarno which is between Florence and Siena. The hotel has a lot of history (which was amazing to learn about), and they also produce wine. We really enjoyed our dinners with Chef Anna in her kitchen!
Our day trip to Florence was perfect! We had great weather to explore the city, shop and get some steps in. A few of us climbed to the top of the duomo, and as you can see below the view as amazing. This was a fun afternoon to spend as a group and on our own.
An afternoon in Pisa was great for a history lesson and a delicious lunch. We learned a lot in Pisa, but also had some free time to explore and relax. Looking back on the week this was one of my favorite days.
4 Benefits of Group Travel with Witte Travel
The biggest thing you might be asking yourself was how was traveling in a group? This was my second time doing a group travel trip, and Cory’s first time. For many of our friends that joined us this was also a new experience. I know a few of you might have some preconceived ideas or thoughts about group travel. So I wanted to share our thoughts on this subject after our trip.
One of the biggest benefits of traveling in a group with Witte Travel is having transportation taken care of. Obviously they handled airfare, but I’m talking about getting from A to B to C locations throughout the trip. As soon as we landed in Florence we had a large travel bus waiting for us and someone to help us with the luggage. Coming from experience of Cory and I traveling together in Europe this was HUGE to not have the burden of figuring out how to get from here to there. We had some serious travel nightmares on our last trip to Italy with trains, buses and cabs. All of the transportation on this trip whether it was a bus, train, ferry or cab was taken care of which was truly a dream.
Visiting off-the-beaten-path locations was a great experience. When you work with a travel agency they have so many connections to activities and places you wouldn’t have thought of visiting. Many people mentioned how fun it was to travel to different cities or try new things that they wouldn’t have done on their own. For instance having lunch at a saffron farm, staying at Villa Casagrande, visiting a small pasta factory in Lari…and that’s just a small list.
Having a local tour guide was THE BEST. Our Italian tour guide was so knowledgable and quickly became friends with everyone on the trip. Obviously it was awesome having her to communicate at restaurants or train stations, but she was also great at planning everything for us. I can’t imagine this trip without her, and the intricate planning and knowledge that she gave all of us.
Traveling with friends but also making new friends was such a valuable experience. We had a smaller group which ended up being really refreshing to truly get to know everyone on the trip. Our trip had a wide variety of ages and genders and it made the trip very special to see things though other people’s viewpoints. I was in tears on our last day having to say goodbye to everyone. It’s really amazing to call these group members friends and to text each other every so often.
A huge thank you to Witte Travel and their work in planning this trip. You can find a list of their upcoming trips here!
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