Your questions: Where should we go in Italy avoiding the tourist towns?

We are a group of friends who are looking to spend a week or so together in Italy next September. We’d like to avoid the major tourist towns and base ourselves in a smaller town accessible by train and make a couple of day trips.
C. Lynne, Cabarita, NSW

Orta San Giulio is a hidden gem on the edge of Lake Orta.Credit: iStock

Italy has plenty of lovely small towns. My shortlist includes Montefalco and Spello in Umbria and Locorotondo and Martina Franca in Puglia, but few are within easy reach of railway stations. Even those that are seldom have frequent rail services that would get you to other interesting places, which makes day trips problematic. Rather than towns, I’d be inclined to go for smaller cities which have better rail services as well as a greater choice of dining and accommodation. One possibility is Piedmont’s Bra, birthplace of the Slow Food movement. It’s a pocket-sized city and an ideal base for exploring the surroundings. Bra is close to the Barolo wine region, one of Italy’s most celebrated, and photogenic.

Another option, Orta San Giulio is a hidden gem on the edge of Lake Orta, north-west of Milan. Explore the gorgeous surroundings, take a ferry out to San Giulio, the island in the middle of the lake, and don’t miss the ride on the Domodossola–Locarno railway line. In Le Marche, Ascoli Piceno is close to both the Adriatic coast and to Monte Sibillini National Park. Nearby Urbino is another wonderful small city, one of the cultural capitals of the Renaissance, set against the green backdrop of the Apennines. Closer to Rome, Orvieto sits atop a volcanic pillar which rises to one of the prettiest churches in Italy, with streets radiating from its piazza lined with cafes, gelaterias and galleries, and too narrow for traffic.

My husband and I will be travelling by train from Berlin to Prague and Vienna next year, hoping to reach Montenegro for a restful beach break after city-hopping. Croatia was considered. Is it possible to reach Montenegro by train?
R. Berry, Elwood, Vic

Postcard perfect – the view to St George island from Our Lady of the Rocks, Perast, Montenegro.Credit: iStock

Fly. It’s by far the best option. Austrian Airlines has a non-stop flight from Vienna to Podgorica, with a flight time of one hour, 20 minutes. There are advantages to having a car in Montenegro and the most practical choice is to hire from Podgorica. If you want to include Croatia you could fly or take the train from Vienna to Split, pick up a hire-car there and drive along the coast to Montenegro, provided your car-hire operator allows it.

My partner and I plan to spend 10 days in Sicily in late May-June 2025. We will fly into Palermo from London and then out of Rome to fly home to Melbourne 10 days later. Can you suggest an itinerary? Is hiring a car the best option to move around the island?
A. Morrow, Northcote, Vic

You might spend the first three nights in Palermo, that gives you two full days to explore this sensational city. What you could do then is pick up a hire-car and head south to Agrigento to see the Valley of the Temples, a vast archaeological site with well-preserved Greek temples. The other option is to drive south-east to Piazza Amerina to see the mosaics in Villa Romana del Casale, possibly the richest, most extensive and varied of any remaining collection of its kind. You could possibly fit Agrigento and the villa into the same day, but you’d need to hustle, and probably spend a night in Piazza Amerina.

From there continue to Noto, spend three nights and use this as a base to explore Ragusa and Modica before continuing to Ortigia, linked by a bridge to Syracuse. Spend the rest of your time here and make day trips to explore Catania and take the Circumetnea Railway train that makes a circuit of the villages at the base of Mount Etna. If you have time, visit Taormina, yet another knockout.

My wife and I are planning a trip to Europe next May or June for about three weeks with about one week each in three different towns or cities in Italy, France or Switzerland. Where would you suggest?
P. Oates, Bondi, NSW

Southern France is perfect in late spring and your first stop could be Saint-Remy-de-Provence, which you can reach quickly by a combination of train and bus from Paris. The town is one of the glories of southern France. Remnants of the Roman city of Glanum are scattered nearby and the horse meadows and flamingo marshes of the Camargue, the lavender fields of the Luberon and the cities of Nimes, Aix and Avignon form a star around it. The miraculous Fontaine de Vaucluse and L’Isle-sur-la-Sorgue, the antique centre of southern France, are close at hand. In Saint-Remy, Le Mas de Carassins is a cosy enclave with splashing fountains, flaming oleanders and furnishings with twirly legs and yellow umbrellas set among century-old olive trees.

Your next stop might be Saint Paul de Vence, tucked into the hills behind Cagnes-sur-Mer at the eastern end of the French Riviera. It’s a delightful village with links to some of the titans of 20th-century art. The town also makes a good base for exploring the glamorous bits of the Riviera including Nice, Antibes and Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat. From nearby Nice, take a train to Colmar, in the Alsace region of north-eastern France.

The journey will take you a full day with a couple of changes, but you won’t regret it. Although it lies in France, Colmar constantly references Germany in its Hansel-and-Gretel architecture, its street names and even in the kugelhopf that sits alongside the croissants in its bakeries. Threaded with canals and lined with merchants’ houses built five centuries ago, it’s also perfectly placed for exploring this sensational corner of France. From here Paris is a 2½ hour train journey.

Travel advice is general; readers should consider their personal circumstances.