#EATRACHLOVE: Solo Travel, Finding Yourself, Paris/Switzerland/Italy Recommendations
How do you sum up an experience that has challenged you, enlightened you and brought you everything you didn’t know you needed?
Clearly, I’m still trying to find words to sum up my #EATRACHLOVE solo travel journey (inspired by Eat, Pray, Love if you didn’t catch that!) that so many of you came along with me for over on Instagram.
At first, I wasn’t sure how much of this journey I would share. Talking about solo travel felt “off brand”, but I also recall feeling the same way when I came out about my breakup on social media and on my podcast and the response has been [and continues to be] incredible.
I guess what I’m realizing is that people want to see and hear more about these human experiences that they, too, are also experiencing. I’ve received so many messages over the past month about how sharing my breakup story (which was more of a story and a lesson in trusting your gut, living an authentic life and being true to you) has helped others reassess, evaluate or make peace with the state of their own relationship.
I knew when I embarked on my #EATRACHLOVE trip, that I needed to share this too – and turns out, you guys are freaking STOKED about the idea of solo travel (YES!!!).
So I’m breaking the rules of “branding” for a moment and putting on my “travel blogger” cap to invite you into my #EATRACHLOVE solo travel journey to Paris, Switzerland, and Italy (Florence, Tuscany and Cinque Terre) If you’re not much of a blog reader, you can also listen to the podcast I did about solo travel over here.
But if you’re into blogs (which, maybe you are since you came here), you’re in for a real treat because you’re about to get the full insider scoop, my top recommendations and never-before-shared photos from my trip (unless we’re Facebook friends – then you are well inundated with my travel photos by now, haha!).
By the way, I also recorded a podcast episode to sum up my solo traveling experience if that’s better suited for you! It’s not as in-depth as this, but I covered a lot of similar topics. You can listen to it here.
What Inspired #EATRACHLOVE?
Funny enough, my #EATRACHLOVE trip started with a trip that Randy and I were planning. We made a goal to travel to one new place each year and shared in some super incredible travels together to Hawaii, Thailand, Vietnam, Iceland and Colombia.
This year, we decided on Italy, but when it came down to the time to plan the trip, I felt a lot of resistance and hesitation. Admittedly, I think I knew the direction we were headed in and didn’t want to go on this beautiful, romantic trip together and take all of these amazing photos together only to have to mourn it later when we didn’t work out.
Thankfully, we didn’t end up booking anything officially before we did mutually decide to part ways, so nothing was lost in that way. I knew I still wanted to do a big trip this year and still had my heart set on Italy, but felt it was a bit sad to recreate the trip we were planning to the Almafi coast. I also knew I needed this trip to be more than just your regular vacation. I needed this trip to revive me, to help me re-discover myself and indulge in the things I love the most – food, adventure, movement and beautiful scenery!
And, so … #EATRACHLOVE started to come to life.
I decided to go to the north of Italy instead to the Tuscany region. I was going to eat the most delicious food and galavant through the Chianti region sipping the finest wine!
I also knew I wanted some adventure, and super conveniently had some friends of mine move to Lausanne, Switzerland recently, which isn’t too far from Italy.
Then, when I went to book my flights, it made more sense to go to Paris first. Guess I was going to Paris!
And that’s how #EATRACHLOVE was born – all from starting to honour and go after what I truly wanted and needed to fill my cup.
How To Overcome Loneliness While Traveling
Admittedly, I didn’t want to travel alone. I had traveled to both Costa Rica and New Zealand on my own before and while both of those trips were incredible, I remember walking away from both feeling a bit empty. I had experienced so much, yet when I came home, I had no one to connect or laugh back on those experiences with.
Before my final #EATRACHLOVE itinerary came to life, I had a few other trip itineraries dreamt up with some friends, but none of them seemed to be working out due to timing, schedules etc. I was starting to realize I was going to have to go at this on my own. I was scared, but I also knew that was an even bigger reason why I had to do it.
I prepared myself going into this solo travel trip by making a plan as to how I would meet people. I told myself I would go hang out at hostels and hostel bars to meet people (by the way, hostels rule and I highly recommend them, but I chose not to stay in them this time because I felt like having drunk people stumble in my room at 2am might’ve interfered with the zen part of my #EATRACHLOVE journey, haha!). I told myself I would join a bunch of tours to meet people. I ended up doing none of those things.
Okay, I did do a couple of tours (a bike tour in Paris and a wine tour in Tuscany) but because I wanted to do them – not specifically to meet people. However, I did end up meeting some pretty incredible people out of it. I met a super sweet Australian woman during my bike tour who actually asked if I wanted to have dinner with her as she was also solo traveling and I surprised myself when I felt resistant to the situation and said no. I was finally starting to enjoy my alone time and my own company; something I never thought I would be able to say, but became true for me after only 48 hours into my trip.
All that to say, I know that may not be the case for everyone and it could’ve very well been because of where I was and what I was doing that I didn’t feel as alone. I understand this is still a fear for many. I know this to be true because I did an Instagram question poll and most of you listed fear of loneliness as the number one reason why you are afraid to pursue solo travel.
Here’s what I will tell you:
If you are feeling lonely, you can change it. You can go out and be surrounded by people or meet people.
OR, if you’re feeling lonely, you can sit in it and embrace it. Yup, not as fun at first but it’s a good challenge. Eventually, you will likely find, your own company is pretty dang awesome.
In my experience, the most growth has come from spending time alone and during this trip, despite a stint with friends in Switzerland in the middle of it, I was faced with a lot of it. Yet, I surprised myself again as I learned to laugh with myself, talk to myself (which sounds odd, but it’s oddly comforting?) and have fun with myself. I have no doubt in my mind that you will absolutely surprise yourself too when you decide to take the leap and travel solo!
Safety Tips While Traveling
Hmm, okay Mom – don’t read this part, haha! I definitely feel like I could’ve been a bit more “safe” while traveling, but at the same time, I felt like I was cautious and had my wits. Maybe not when walking home through an alleyway in Florence, but I always made sure to have an eye out and didn’t wear headphones.
Here are some tips I did use to ensure of my safety while traveling:
Don’t look like a tourist – There’s nothing bad about looking like a tourist, but it does make you an easier target, so I try to steer clear of it. That means not keeping your phone out for too long looking at Google Maps or hanging your DSLR camera from your neck. Mind you, if you’re in Europe or safer areas in general, there’s no problem with either of those. Would I have done that during my trip to Colombia though? Not quite. You have to know what you’re dealing with and then make the best decision based on where you’re traveling.
Wear a purse or bag with zippers and keep it in front of you – Not much more needs to be said here. You’ve just gotta do it! As for a money belt (as in a wallet made of flexible clothing-like material that you wear under your clothes), I brought one but didn’t end up wearing it. I truthfully didn’t feel like I needed it based on where I was traveling, but to each their own!
Keep money and IDs in different places – Admittedly, this is one of the things I was most nervous about when embarking on my solo travels. If I lost my money and my IDs, I had absolutely nothing, I didn’t know anyone or have anyone to lean on (mind you, if it happened, I would remind myself that everything is figureoutable and make a plan to get out of it). But to prevent this from happening, I kept my IDs and money in different places. I kept half of my cash, IDs and one credit card in my suitcase that I kept at my Airbnb and carried the rest on me. That way, if anything happened, I had a back up.
Take photos and bring photocopies of your IDs – I didn’t have time to photocopy things in advance (that’s what happens when you plan to launch a new website a week before you leave on your travels!) but I did take pictures of my passport, IDs and credit cards so I had them in my phone as back up.
Don’t wear headphones while walking, especially at night – Again, this is a bit of a conditional rule and I would say it’s probably okay in public during the day as I most definitely did that. But if you want to exercise caution, then I would recommend not wearing headphones at all so you can stay alert and pay attention to what’s happening around you.
Download maps in advance – I chose to get a phone plan while traveling because I’m already on my phone enough as if and I needed this opportunity to fully check out. For the most part, it was fine. But there were a few times where I needed to rely on Google Maps and couldn’t because I didn’t have data or access to WiFi. That was until a super kind Instagram follower of mine reached out and shared a hot tip to download Google Maps in advance.
To do this, pull up Google Maps for the general area you’re going to be in. Then click the 3 bars on the top left and click “Offline Maps”. Then under “Download an offline map”, click “Custom Map” and then it will pull up a screenshot of the area you’re in. Once you click download, it’ll download the map of that area so you can use Google Maps for that area even without access to WiFi or data. Genius!
Intuitive Eating and Traveling
I’m actually embarrassed that I didn’t address the topic of intuitive eating and traveling in my Solo Travel podcast episode. But admittedly, this was a tricky topic to navigate.
When we travel, we often adopt this “when in Rome” or “vacation mentality” where we feel like we can or need to eat all of the things because we’re only there for a limited amount of time.
While there’s truth to that, it’s not worth the belly aches that can come from it. That’s why I recommend bringing the principles of intuitive eating with you on your travels, because intuitive eating still says that you can enjoy the foods you like, but there’s a caveat – it’s with regard to hunger and fullness levels.
I’ll give you an example: before leaving on my trip, I feel like almost everyone said to me “OMG! Italy! I ate gelato twice a day when I was there” and so I had this expectation in my mind that it was out-of-this-world-amazing-good and I would, too, have it twice a day. Then I had it, and yeah, it was amazing, but I didn’t want it twice a day. Heck, sometimes I wanted tiramisu instead, haha!
My point is, when you bring the principles of intuitive eating with you (the principles that I teach in my Intuitive Way For Eating program), you can still enjoy all foods, while respecting your body. Sure, there were times where I ate very much outside of how I usually eat (as you do on vacation) like having a croissant for breakfast because I wanted to see what it felt like to be a Parisian eating a croissant for breakfast. But, you know what? I didn’t stress about it. I simply enjoyed it – and moved on, as opposed to festering over it for hours on end.
I guess the only other challenging thing with intuitive eating while solo traveling is that I love to try all kinds of food and dishes, especially when traveling. But naturally, I only had one belly (as opposed to sharing it between two or more people) and didn’t want to order so many dishes as it would be expensive and wasteful.
However, I did discover a little travel hack, which is to request a half portion of a dish. I did that at La Buchetta as I heard great things about their “Fire and Ice Gnocchi” but I had already had gnocchi that day for lunch (not that there was a problem with that – I just truthfully didn’t want gnocchi for back-to-back meals, haha!). I mentioned this to the waiter, while also mentioning that I just really felt like I needed protein after having a very carbohydrate-heavy start to my trip (again, nothing wrong with this – I just don’t thrive off of solely carbohydrates). That’s when he suggested that I order a half portion of the gnocchi and a steak, which is what I wanted to begin with. Win/win! You can also do this with your gelato flavours. Can’t decide on one flavour? Get them all in one!
The Lessons That Came Out Of Solo Traveling
The one thing I love about traveling is that it forces you to slow down and look at life through a new lens. You learn to look at things differently and admire beauty in the little things; encounters with strangers, the architecture, atmosphere or even the creaminess of a cappuccino.
I went into this trip, not with the specific intent to “heal myself” emotionally after my breakup, but to simply fill my cup and do things that make me happy. Little did I realize, that doing those things was exactly what I needed to do to heal as those were the things I forgot how to do on my own.
With that said, these are some of the lessons that came out of #EATRACHLOVE:
The unknown is a really freaking cool place.
Getting lost is fun and everything is figureoutable.
The “destination” we seek to arrive at is found in the journey, so enjoy every second of it.
There’s no time for mediocre (relationships, jobs, friendships etc).
Calm the clutter in your mind and just F-L-O-W.
Detach from expectations and outcomes.
Fall in love with spending time with yourself (and laugh & talk to your self a lot).
Get outside of your comfort zone and discover the magic that happens in it; magic that couldn’t possibly be planned or curated.
You may be presented with opportunities to fill a void but you get to decide what you do with it – sit in the void or fill it – and if it’s coming from a place of emptiness, most of the time it’s better to sit in it.
How To Plan Your Solo Travel Adventure
At this point, I hope you’re feeling freaking STOKED to start planning your solo travel adventure and since many of you reached out saying that you were feeling inspired to plan your solo trip after coming along with me for mine, I wanted to share the steps I took in planning mine to help you with yours!
1.Decide where you want to go
Okay, I know this sounds obvious but this was actually really hard for me. I’m grateful to have done some awesome travels over the years and have knocked a number of places off my travel bucket list including New Zealand, Australia, Iceland, Thailand and Vietnam. So when it came to planning this trip, I wasn’t entirely sure where I was feeling called to go. I hadn’t touched any of Europe other than spending a weekend in Amsterdam, but I always told myself that I would tap into Europe when I was “older, more sophisticated and had higher standards” (as in, once I was done roughing it in hostels and backpacking).
Apparently that time came sooner than expected, but I’m so glad it did because I can now say some of my new favourite places on the planet are in Europe and I have a whole new thirst to see more of it!
But, let’s take it back a notch – this is about you! If you’re struggling to figure out where you want to go, I would brainstorm what it is you love to do. For me, I knew I love food & drink, hiking/movement and beautiful landscapes. That helped me to narrow down where I wanted to go. I would start there and then research places that align with that.
I’d also recommend talking with people. Mind you, recognize that each person’s experience is unique to them and to take things with a grain of salt. Someone might be in LOVE with a place that you aren’t super keen on, and vice versa.
You may also want to pick up the Lonely Planet World book and just flip through it and get inspired. Heck, hop on Pinterest. While some of the images might be a bit unrealistic and not entirely true to the destination you’re looking at (as I have images of a beautiful rose petal filled bathtub in the middle of a glass walled tree house in the middle of a lush, green forest and ocean views in my head), it’s a good starting point to get excited about a destination.
2. Make a list of the top things you want to do there
Don’t worry so much about how much time you have or what things cost. Once you land on a spot, research and dream up all of the must-do things to do there. A quick google search will help solve this (i.e. “must do things in Florence”). You can even add your interests on top of that (i.e. “must do things in Florence for health loving foodies”).
3. Start an itinerary
I would recommend using Google Docs to start mapping out your trip. Figure out how much time you have and list out each day and what you could potentially do each day. This is when it’s important to be mindful and realistic of your timing instead of being overly ambitious and overcrowding your day simply because you want to do all the things. Accept that you might not be able to do everything, but prioritize what’s most important to you!
Warning: This may require some “JOMO” (Joy Of Missing Out) when someone says to you, “Oh my gosh, I can’t believe you didn’t do XYZ!”. Instead, find joy and contentment in knowing you did exactly what made you happy – that’s all that matters!
4. Book your flights
Once you have an idea of where you’re going and what you are going to be doing each day, book your flights! There are going to be more logistics involved the more you’re moving around, which can make things a bit more challenging, but it just means you’ll have to exercise a bit more attention to detail.
I often use Google Flights on “incognito” mode to search for flights. I don’t know if it’s a myth, but I think Google Flights has the ability to fluctuate prices based on the flights you continue to look at (hence my using incognito mode).
Some things you’ll want to pay attention to are baggage allowances (some super cheap flights are super cheap because they don’t include the cost of luggage, even carry on). If you’re moving around quite a bit, then you’ll just want to be mindful of layover times. I usually don’t like any layovers less than 2 hours in the event that there are delays or if you have to switch terminals upon arrival at your destination. I know waiting around in airports during a layover isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, but it’s most definitely better than feeling stressed about missing your flight.
Once you nail down your flights, I would recommend putting your reference booking number in your Google Docs itinerary so you have everything in one place.
5. Book your accommodation
Finding affordable accommodation as a solo traveler certainly isn’t impossible, but definitely more challenging compared to when you’re traveling with more people who you can split the cost with.
If you’re looking to keep costs super low, I would recommend staying in a hostel (HostelWorld.com is great!). I’ve stayed in many hostels and they aren’t as bad as their name (or the movie) makes them sound. If anything, I’ve always felt super impressed by them and it’s a great way to meet people and find out the best things to do in an area. It also depends where you go. For example, in South East Asia (Thailand and Vietnam), hostels are very common but are actually more like hotels – but you’re still paying hostel prices! And this is why I love South East Asia, haha!
Alternatively, you can use Airbnb to book a private room in an apartment/house, which means you’ll be sharing it with the owner or other people staying at the apartment/house. Some alarm bells might be going off for some of you if this is outside of your comfort zone, but in my experience doing this, it’s always been super positive. I did this for my last night in Milan and it was perfect! I got to connect with the owner to ask her the best restaurants in the area and she even lent me her hairdryer, haha! This is a great option if you want to save some money (I paid around $75-85/night for a private room in an apartment in Milan). Of course, read the reviews of the places you’re looking at before booking them. I shared more about this below in my Milan recommendations!
You can also book the whole apartment through Airbnb as well, which is what I did for most of my trip. This meant I was spending about $120-150/night on accommodation, which is more than I wanted to be spending just for myself, but I also knew I didn’t want a hostel experience where there could potentially be drunk people stumbling into our shared form at 2am. That might interfere with the zen vibes of my #EATRACHLOVE travels just a tad, haha! If you are staying somewhere for a longer period of time though, you might like the Airbnb apartment experience where you can have access to a kitchen to make some of your own food.
And, of course, hotels are always an option too but you’re going to be paying more for them. For some, the ease of it is worth it to them so you have to decide what suits you best!
By the way, if you sign up for Airbnb and book your next stay using this link, you can save $45 off your booking!
6. Book excursions/things you want to do
You don’t need to book everything in advance, but if there are things you definitely want to do, then I would recommend booking them to ensure you have a spot saved. If you’re looking for things to do, I would recommend using Trip Advisor or Airbnb Experiences to find fun things to do where you’re traveling to.
How and What To Pack
Clothing – This one is a bit tricky, because it really depends on your own personal preferences, how long you’re traveling for, where you’re traveling and the time of year. BUT, I’ll tell you what I packed because for the first time ever, I packed PERFECTLY – and all in a carry on! I felt like I had everything I needed and wore everything I packed, which almost never happens!
For context, I travelled mid October - late October to Paris, Switzerland and Italy. The temperature range I was dealing with was 12 degrees Celsius - 24 degrees Celsius.
Here’s what I packed:
10 t-shirts/tank tops
1 heavy sweater
1 cardigan
2 pairs of jeans
1 pair of slouchy pants
1 pair of leggings
2 dresses
1 bathing suit
1 jean jacket
1 rain jacket
1 pair of sandals
1 pair of boots (doubled up as rain boots)
1 pair of running shoes
First Aid Kit – While you can buy many of the below products while traveling, it’s nice to come prepared with products that you are familiar with and that you trust. This is a sample of my first aid kit from when I was traveling to Thailand/Vietnam.
This time my first aid kit included:
Beekeeper’s Naturals Propolis Throat Spray (3 bottles, might I add – perfect if you feel like you’re getting sick and have a sore throat)
Natural supplements (same ones that I take at home)
Ginger/Throat Soothing Tea
Some other things I brought along on my travels are:
Made With Local Real Food Bars – Great for snacking during hikes, on the airplane or when I was croissant-ed out from breakfast, haha! You can save 20% off of your order of them when you use “RACHEL20” over on madewithlocal.com
Kaia Naturals Vitamin Cleanse Facial Wipes – These cleanse facial wipes are awesome to use to cleanse your face before a flight or to remove makeup from the day. They were extra handy as I had gotten eyelash extensions for this trip, which made using my regular facial cleanser a bit more challenging (#ifyouknowyouknow). Bonus: you can use “rachel15off” to save 15% off of your order over on kaianaturals.com!
Eyelash Extensions – I mean, I technically didn’t “bring” them but they were attached to my eyes and so technically they came with me, but I LOVED having these for my trip. It meant I never had to apply mascara and just made me feel really good, whether I was wearing makeup or not. And don’t get me wrong – I’m totally okay going without eyelash extensions, but I had been contemplating trying them for a while and figured a vacation was a good excuse. I went to a friend of a friend Skye in Toronto. If you’re curious, you can book in with her over here – she’s amazing!
Joyous Health Dry Shampoo – This dry shampoo SAVED me! I didn’t bring a hair dryer with me since I brought a carry on, so being able to rely on this dry shampoo was perfect. Funny enough, I don’t think my hair has ever looked better than it did on vacation and I really do think it was because of this! You can save 10% off of Joyous Health’s Dry Shampoo using “JOYOUSRACHEL10” at checkout over on joyoushealth.com
Each of these products, along with many other of my faves can be found on my Products I Love page.
Additional Resources
Duolingo – Language translation app
Trip Advisor – Read up on reviews of restaurants, activities etc
Airbnb Experiences – Find activities to do at the destination you’re travelling
The Surrender Experiment by Michael Alan Singer (bring this book with you and you won’t regret it!).
Listen to my solo travel podcast
Rachel’s Travel Picks
Recommendations for: Paris, France
TO EAT
Circus Bakery – Think sourdough-everything! I grabbed a Sourdough Cinnamon Bun and a cappuccino and it was absolutely beautiful and so delicious. It wasn’t overly sweet, which I appreciated, and not very gooey, which I could’ve used a bit more of, but for a gal that doesn’t thrive off of pastries first thing in the morning, I actually felt very good after eating it, likely because it’s fermented and made with sourdough. I do regret not trying the Cardamom Bun, so if one of you end up going, you’ll need to grab one and let me know how it is!
Pierre Herme – This is a great place to spend your life savings just to feel bougie and enjoy macarons for a split second. But, in all honesty, they were delicious macarons. I picked up a variety pack for friends and a Pistachio Macaron and Coffee Macaron for myself. The Coffee Macaron was to die for!
Du Pain Et Des Idees – This bakery couldn’t have been recommended enough, especially by the pastry connoisseurs in my life, so I knew I had to make the trek. I was advised to get 2 pastries for the experience of trying them both. I got the Pistachio Escargot Pinwheel (note: it’s not actually escargot, like I thought/was afraid of – it just looks like it) and a Chocolate Croissant. While I’m not a huge flaky pastry person, they were delicious (especially the Pinwheel) and it felt like a very authentic Parisian experience.
Creperie Little Breizh – I’m one of those weirdos that would much rather have a savoury crepe over a sweet Nutella crepe, so when I saw a Sauteed Leek and Bacon Buckwheat Crepe on the menu at Creperie Little Breizh, I was all in! All of their crepes are made of buckwheat, which would make this spot gluten-free friendly (although, I can’t speak to cross contamination). I paired my crepe with their in-house dry cider, which was nothing to write home about, but still yummy. I love that they served in a little saucer bowl. Apparently P’Tit Grec is another good crepe spot!
TO DO & SEE
Jardin Luxembourg
The Louvre (where the Mona Lisa is)
Arc de Triomphe
Eiffel Tower (duh!?)
I would recommend picking up a nice baguette from a local bakery, some cheese and wine before going and sitting to enjoy it on the lawn in front of the Eiffel Tower. This was one of my favourite #EATRACHLOVE moments. I thought I would feel sad being on my own and seeing everyone so romantically engaged with each other around me, but it was actually such a beautiful, fun moment to be there and enjoy the two things I love most on my own – food and vino!
Montmarte Neighbourhood – I’m so glad I went here! I took the metro on my last night and walked around with a cup of mulled wine in hand and grabbed dinner at a local spot. It had Old Montreal vibes and was so cozy!
TO STAY
AIR BNB: Would not recommend, but if you’re curious, you can find it here and you can laugh at my photo below. If you sign up for Airbnb and book your next stay using this link, you can save $45 off your booking!
Recommendations for: Lausanne, Switzerland
Since I stayed with friends for this leg of the trip, I don’t have any accommodation recommendations. I also don’t have any restaurant recommendations because we chose to make most of our meals at home since Switzerland is mega expensive! But, when you’re in Switzerland, make sure to eat a lot of gruyere (cheese), raclette (more cheese), fondue (even more cheese) and chocolate (might as well be cheese, cause it’s more dairy!). Let’s just say, Switzerland is not recommended for the lactose intolerant (haha!) but an incredibly stunning and beautiful place it is!
TO DO & SEE
Cailler Chocolate Factory – This was a really fun experience, and a hilarious one! We were told by friends who went before that this chocolate tour included a bottomless chocolate tasting at the end of it. We got to a part of the tour where they had a ton of packaged chocolates available, so we thought – alright, let’s go to town! Little did we realize, that wasn’t the actual bottomless chocolate tasting room so by the time we got to the final room, we were so stuffed and on a sugar high. We still dabbled and tried the chocolates in the final room because they were beautiful and so unique, but I’m passing that tip along so you don’t make the same mistake we did.
Chillon Castle – I think you can actually go into this castle during certain hours, but we visited outside of those hours. Instead, we walked around it and admired the landscape. It was really pretty and is great for photo ops!
Lavaux Wine Region – The things I would do to re-live this day! We parked at one end of the region and walked/gently hiked to the other side of it. There’s a nicely paved path and you are essentially walking through the middle of the vineyards and the scenery is just incredible. At the end, there’s a little village to explore as well as some wineries you can go to if you actually want to try and buy the wine rather than solely hiking through it.
Vinorama Wine Tasting – Enjoy a wine tasting (highly recommend trying their Chasselas wine, which is unique to the Lavaux area) and a bite to eat after walking through the vineyards while admiring the beautiful mountain and lake views!
Recommendations for: Florence, Italy
Ah, Florence – the place that completely stole my heart! I didn’t think I would love Florence as much as I did, but the atmosphere, food, wine, architecture, street artists and performers quickly changed that for me. There is so much to do in Florence and it makes for a great launch point to go to the Chianti region and tour wineries, which is what I did for one of my days. I don’t have a ton of coffee, gelato and Aperol Spritz recommendations because I don’t really think you can go wrong anywhere in Florence in this way!
TO EAT
La Buchetta – Order the “Angels and Demon” Gnocchi. I can’t even describe the flavour but it was so delicious and beautifully prepared. It’s cooked with stracciatella cheese, finished with a red spicy sauce, crispy pork cheek, aromatic herbs and edible flowers!
Osteria Santo Spirito – Most well known for their cheesy truffle gnocchi. It was delicious, but most definitely warrants a nap afterward so maybe carve out time in your schedule for that, haha!
Il Pizzaiuolo – This place came highly recommended to me and while it was good, it wasn’t revolutionary. The crust was amazing and felt like a true Neapolitan pizza experience, but the toppings were a little underwhelming. Regardless, it’s cheap compared to other places in Florence and will satisfy a pizza craving!
TO DO & SEE
Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore (also known as “the duomo”) – I would recommend buying tickets in advance to visit the cathedral and to climb the tower. Climbing the tower was my favourite part of this experience and was a great way to see the city of Florence from a bird-eye view
San Lorenzo Leather Market – If you’re in the market for a new purse, wallet or jacket, head to the San Lorenzo Market! Even if you aren’t – head to the market, haha! I had no intentions on getting anything but the quality of the leather is so good and well priced. I picked up a purse and a beautiful jacket and had a great experience at one of the shops there. If you’re heading there any time soon, I highly recommend going to my new friend Tarek’s shop “Florence Leather”. I think I spent 1-2 hours in his shop trying on everything, chatting with him and practicing my Italian. I typically hate bartering, but I had fun bartering with him and ended up getting a good price (as in, I knocked down this leather jacket from $400 euros to $135!). If you want to find his shop and get a good deal, throw him a text on WhatsApp +39 327 902 0107 and tell him “Tall Canadian Rachel” sent you (I told you we were pals!).
San Lorenzo Food Market – Right next to the leather market is an amazing food market (similar to the St. Lawrence Market if you’re familiar with it in Toronto). This is a great place to try a bunch of yummy italian food including truffle oil, truffle paste, truffle salt (can you tell I like truffle?), olive oil and balsamic vinegar. You can grab a meal here or pick up goodies to bring home for yourself or friends/family.
Piazzale Michelangelo – Hit up the Piazzale Michelangelo for sunrise or sunset and get a beautiful view of the city. If you go for sunset, you can either bring wine/beer or buy it at the top. It’s very busy and touristy, but still a really nice experience.
Tuscany/Chianti Wine Tour – I highly recommend doing a wine tour while you’re here. This is the wine tour that I did, but in all honesty, it wasn’t my favourite. I feel bad saying that because it was a really beautiful experience and there were parts I really enjoyed (and I met some INCREDIBLE people) but I guess I expected it to be a bit different. In my mind, we would’ve visited a few winery properties throughout the day and did a tasting at each. Instead, we visited a wine making co-op plant (many wineries don’t have the property to actually make the wine so they’ll go here to make it), which was very factory like. Then we went to a 1000 year wine cellar castle, which was stunning and we had some yummy wine and food tastings here, but again, I thought we would be at an actual winery. Then we finished up at a winery where we had a really yummy lunch (see photo below) and had some wine there, but by that point, we were all hungry and not focused on really tasting the wine. If you asked anyone else on the tour, they would probably say they loved it but I don’t know – it just wasn’t my favourite. That’s just my two honest cents!
Recommendations for: Cinque Terre, Italy
Cinque Terre – another spot that won my heart over! I loved this part of the trip because I got to do all of the things I love the most – eat, drink and move my body! Cinque Terre is made up of 5 villages – Monterosso, Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarola and Riomaggiore. There are trails that connect them all (many of the coastal walks are under construction, but there are still hiking trails open between them all) so you can hike between each one and then go into each village to explore, eat, drink and relax! If you want to do them all, I would recommend setting aside 2 days to do it all. Some parts of the hike are challenging, so come prepared with hiking boots or runners. If you don’t want to hike, you can also take the train between each of the villages which is super easy and frequent. Totally up to you! But, I will say that the views during the hike are like nothing else – and your Aperol Spritz will taste that much better when you get to the next village!
TO EAT
La Lanterna (in Corniglia) - I’d recommned the Trenette al Pesto (pesto spaghetti). SO fresh, SO basil-y and delicious!
Alberto Gelateri (in Corniglia) – If there’s one food I’ll forever dream of from Italy, it’s the Basil Gelato that I got from here. I’m not usually one to say “you MUST try this!” but … you MUST try this!
5 Terre Bistrot (in Vernazza) – Do a wine tasting of the D.O.C wine, which is unique to the Cinque Terre region. It’s about $10 euro and a great way to experience the wine of the region.
TO STAY
When you research where to stay in Cinque Terre, you may feel a draw to stay in Vernazza as it’s known as the “happening place” but after researching and talking with others, I decided to stay in Riomaggiore. Now, after visiting each of the villages, I probably would’ve stayed in Corniglia (I loved the vibe and restaurant scene a bit more) and found Riomaggiore to be a bit too quiet. But you really can’t go wrong and many of them are still quite similar.
I stayed here and loved it! If you followed along on Instagram, you may know that when I got to Riomaggiore, there was an orange alert (flooding warning) so nearly everything was closed except for a supermarket. It meant I had to spend most of my day inside, but I couldn’t have been at a better Airbnb to do that. It was super comfortable and the bathroom was nice so I self-cared it up with a nice shower (funny how that’s considered self-care in my mind, but after seeing some of the showers in Italy, you’ll understand and you’ll want to make the most of it when you have a good bathroom).
Remember, if you sign up for Airbnb and book your next stay using this link, you can save $45 off your booking!
Recommendations for: Milan, Italy
I didn’t spend a whole lot of time in Milan. I only went for the night because I was flying out of there the next day, but I felt like I had a true Milano experience for the night that I was there! Milan has something called “aperitivo” from ~5-10pm where you can go to any restaurant or bar and order a drink and you’ll get snackies and/or access to an aperitivo food bar! I will say, the food wasn’t AMAZING but it was a fun concept and I didn’t have to buy dinner that night. Some places were better than others – I’ve listed them below!
TO EAT
Chinese Box – This was probably the best place for aperitivo! They had a full on buffet line for their aperitivo and a lot of asian-inspired foods (my favourite).
Princi Bakery – Super busy, but they had a yummy aperitivo bar too with pasta, pizza and rice salads.
Aqua Sancta – Mexican-inspired aperitivo! Perfectly paired with a margarita or sangria.
Bottega Emilia – Okay, I lied. This might have been my favourite aperitivo spot. It had a great vibe and was a bit more low key. They served up this super fluffy beautiful focaccia with freshly sliced salami. The bartender was super sweet and continued to whip up fun italian cocktails for me all night and letting me try samples of other things he was making for other customers as it was my last night in Italy. It was a great place to sit up at the bar as a solo traveler and made for a super memorable night.
TO STAY
This is where I stayed for my last night in Italy/my one night in Milan, which was a private room in an apartment. I got into Milan quite late (5pm) and was leaving the next morning at 6am to catch my flight so I wasn’t too concerned about having my own space. Although in hindsight, I could’ve stayed here longer without any issues. There was another person staying there, but I hardly saw him. I know private rooms in apartments aren’t for everyone, but I’ve done it a few times now throughout my travels and I’ve always had good experiences. It’s a great way to save money and even get local recommendations from the hosts if they happen to be staying there as well.
Don’t forget, if you sign up for Airbnb and book your next stay using this link, you can save $45 off your booking!
That’s a wrap, my friends! I hope this has given you a ton of tips, ideas, inspiration and confidence to book your solo travel trip. I promise you it’ll be one of the best, most life-changing things you ever do for yourself.
Even after almost a month of being home, I can’t really sum up the transformation I experienced from doing this #EATRACHLOVE trip and I hope you are able to experience the same on your next travels.
Bon voyage!
Rach xx