Udine Travel Forum

My husband and I are visiting friends in Heidelberg in a few weeks and are hoping to travel to Italy for a few days. I would like to visit Udine, as it is where my grandparents were born, but I don't know of any extended family still there, so we don't have any local contacts. Any information anyone has will be really helpful, such as where to stay, etc. Also, I know a little bit of "travel" Italian, but no Friulan, so will it be difficult to communicate while there? Thanks for any input you might have.

I had no problem using my second year Italian when I was in Udine---it's hardly a remote village.
As for places to stay, it was several years ago I was there and things may have changed quite a bit, but I found that just leaving the station and walking straight on turned up several simple hotels with no effort.
Bear in mind that Udine is pretty small and it's a lovely region so it's worth planning for daytrips.

Hi, first of all you shouldn't worry about Friulian, nowadays everybody speaks Italian, too and some Friulani don't speak Friulian at all!
As for a place to stay, you can choose from 4 star hotels to B&Bs, in Udine.
I suggest you to visit the web site of Udine's tourist office:
www.udine-turismo.it
Enjoy your stay!

Always exciting to see someone posting about Udine! It's my husband's hometown and I've always believed it has been overlooked as a place to visit... but maybe it's better that way, so it doesn't turn into a tourist magnet!

As mentioned, you won't need to know Friulano to get by. While English isn't spoken as widely as in other larger cities in Italy, I think you'll be fine with your travel Italian. People will get a kick out of knowing that your grandparents were born in Udine.

You'll find that it is a fairly tame town - very clean, very quiet. Definitely have a drink at the Piazza San Giacomo (also known as Piazza delle Erbe or Piazza Matteotti) right in the heart of town.

A nice hotel you can stay at is the Hotel Astoria right smack in the centre of town. It's one of the more "old style" hotels, but just convenient. Others, as Dnwitte mentioned are found around the train station area or else slightly outside of the centro storico.

There are several great Udine pages on VT. Have a browse for some good tips on things to do.

Have a great time.

I am living in Udine. Where would you like to sleep: in town, in an agritourism? it is a nice place for shopping and a beautiful medieval town.
just ask me!

Hi,

We are living very close to Udine and my husband is working at the university of Udine.

Udine is small but the centre is very beautifull ( the castle, the town-hall etc. ). In the weekends there is even a nightlife on the several piazze ( piazza San Giacomo is full of people ), you can drink a nice cocktail for example or just a cappuccino.

Personally I'd like to stay in a agriturismo around Udine. But perhaps than it'll be a problem with transport ?
If you want you can mail us for further information about Udine and surroundings.

A pity that you don't know where your 'family' are living. Perhaps you could search in a phonebook ? If you want help ...just mail.

Friulians are very proud of their language ( it's not a dialect ), but also speak Italian ( in fact I don't speak and understand Friulian ).

Mandi,
Janine