Italy Travel Tours

Posts Tagged ‘Central European Time’

Your travel to Italy need not be overwhelming.   With some careful and educated planning you’ll have a splendid time seeing this beautiful country along the Mediterranean Sea.

Italy is rather small by global standards, with a population of 59 million.  Rome is its capital.  As long as your stay is less than 90 days, you don’t need a special visa to visit Italy; your passport will do.  The Italian government does not require any immunizations for entry.

Italy follows Central European Time and observes daylight saving time from the last Sunday in March until the final Sunday in October.  Like much of Western Europe, Italy is seven hours ahead of the eastern United States.

Italy has the metric system of measurements.  Temperature is in Celsius.  Conversion guides from U.S. standards are readily available online.  You’ll want to bring an adapter for any electrical items you have such as cell phone and laptop chargers.   Some hairdryers have a switch that can convert them to 220 volts.  If you want to know whether your item is ready for plug in in Italy, just look at the connector.  Italian devices have two cylindrical points to fit into the standard wall plugs there.

Be sure to make your banking institution aware of your international travel plans or you may find a block on your credit or debit card when you get there.  Your bank might think someone stole your card and went on vacation.

ATMs in Italy are called Bancomats and have only numbers, no letters.  Make sure your pin code is numeric only.   Visa is the most widely accepted bank card in Europe.  Don’t count on American Express to help you much in Italy as its acceptance is rare.

It doesn’t take much to acquaint yourself with the fundamentals of European travel.  Once you do, travel to Italy will be a snap.