Going to Italy

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KayJay

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2 weeks.

Question is, should I book a car for the two weeks or just book all inclusive tours? I think it might be more cost effective to just hire a car for the two weeks, around £300.

Any opinions or advice would be more than welcome.
 
I've just returned this week. I'd probably suggest the car, but dependant on a few things. Which city/area?
 
Base is in Rome, but we're wanting to go to as many places as possible, including ones where there are few tourists. I'll probably need a sat nav.
 
I'd say go for it then as long as your comfortable with the different driving rules ect. And as the stereotype suggests, they are crazy sons of bitches once behind a car wheel!! - make sure your car insurance is sound.
Try and get hold of their equivalent of the os map too.
 
Can't wait. It can't be as bad as India surely.
 
watch out for bag snatchers on scooters and pickpockets, i've never been to Rome but i've read some horror stories on other forums
 
I did a touring holiday of east and south Italy a few years back, was a lot of fun by car. The area I drove in was pretty quiet from a traffic perspective, at least until I hit Naples, which is when it stopped being fun.
Some lovely places to visit and great places to see, can happily recommend the east.
 
I did some work in Rome in February....you have to be a madman to drive there IMHO. They are proper loonies! :cuckoo:
 
wack61 said:
watch out for bag snatchers on scooters and pickpockets, i've never been to Rome but i've read some horror stories on other forums
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I went out quite a bit (in the late afternoon/early evenings) with my camera stuff, no trouble whatsoever. :)
 
Mr_Sukebe said:
The area I drove in was pretty quiet from a traffic perspective, at least until I hit Naples, which is when it stopped being fun.
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Sounds like Milan - which is like London, Bristol & Birmingham traffic all rolled in to one & with bells on!
Not been to India, but imagine the same disregard for life could be replicated!
 
Depending on where you are wanting to go to, have you thought of using the train?

We used it a few times on our last trip - really cheap and efficient (now why can't the trains in this country be like that???)
 
We usually hire a car, but make sure you get one with full insurance, no excess. I've never had to claim in Italy but have in South Africa and you don't want your holiday ruined by a massive bill.

I wouldn't drive in central Rome if I could avoid it, or indeed any of the big cities.

When we had a holiday based on Rome we stayed outside and drove in as far as the metro where the outer stations have big cheap car parks. Rome is a walking/public transport place like most cities. We used the car to drive to Naples, to Tivoli and to Pompeii and the Villa Adriana

The only exception for us was Venice, where we had a package holiday staying in Lido di Jesolo and went everywhere by train from Mestre.(lots of train, visiting Verona, Verbania, Milan etc) To get to Venice from Lido di jesolo we used the boat or the bus. We chose this system because the distances we needed to travel were big, and a car would be pretty useless when we were visiting Venice.

Sat nav has proved very useful, we just took the tom tom with the western europe card in our hold luggage.
 
Thanks for the advice so far, it's quite difficult to choose. I wonder if relying on the trains would be better. Trains to Venice, Naples, Milan and Capri would be possibilities.
 
Merovingian said:
Personally, I found the trains dear-ish; Milan>Verona(80min) nearly €50!
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The drop in the value of the pound has certainly made the train more expensive, but then it has had that effect on everything in Italy.
 
We'll be doing a lot of supermarket shopping then! lol
 
Hey there, I live in italy at the moment, and i STRONGLY advise NOT to get a car, ive driven here in florence, IT IS SCARY.
I know people have been going on about prices of trains, but that certainly is not the case, if you are willing to take the slow trains, which i find more relaxing, i go from Firenze SMN (florence main train station) to viareggio (local beach) bout 120km away, 2 hours on train for 6.40euro's. Florence to Rome, 25 euros,

When you consider london to scunthorpe cost me 80 pound, trains here are cheap,

Places i would recomend, Milan is nice, but far to touristy, Bologna is a wonderful place, oldest university in europe i belive, some nice places to see (still busy - but very cultural)

Lucca, buietful, if your wanting art gallerys florence,

Watchout for street sellers, dont buy printed paintings or anything - if police catch you you get fined, and it can be anywhere from 400 to 1000 euros.

Bag snatchers - italy has got a bad rep for this, but honistly i dont know where from, just be carful, as anywhere you go and you will be fine.

Also, its now getting quite warm here (27 degrees ish everyday) dont get conned into buying water from the tobbacaria's or coffee shops, your looking at 2.50 for a can of coke and 1.50 for a small bottle of water, you will find a super market within 5 minutes of anywhere, much cheaper,

Hope you have a great holiday, italy is awsome, you will love it.


It really depends where you want to go, Lucca is an extreamly nice place, and not as many tourists,


o almost for got to add this http://www.trenitalia.com/cms/v/index.jsp?vgnextoid=ad1ce14114bc9110VgnVCM10000080a3e90aRCRD
check different days for each place you want to visit, some days you will find cheaper trains, also if you are based in rome, and want to go up north its not worth it for a day, find a hostel or hotel depending on budget, when i get home i will find the place we stayed in bologna and milan (recomend the bologna hotel (17 euros a night -- was awsome)
 
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Driftywood, thanks for the advise, I can't wait. Any suggestions of non-touristy beautiful places to go would be greatly appreciated. I think we're going to leave the car and just use the train service, might work out better and offer us more time to do things. Don't fancy pranging a rental car either. I'm doing some research no Flickr and found some really interesting places that I'd like us to go to.
 
KayJay said:
we're going to leave the car and just use the train service, might work out better and offer us more time to do things.
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Might pay to research their public transport prior [i'm sure you'd anyway] as it seems, at least to me, convoluted and awkward.
 
The train is fine if it is cities you are visiting, and the bus service is good too to fill in some of the gaps, but if you want to visit villages then a car is essential.

We used a car around Tuscany and Umbria, it is a brilliant way to find all those little fortified hilltop places.

I think it depends entirely on what sort of places you want to visit and where you are going to be based. It is also going to depend a bit on your confidence driving abroad, though the cities are best tackled on foot/public transport regardless.

There are fantastic bits of Italy, like the Cinque Terra where a car would be a real pain and the train and walking are the idea way to get about, but there are plenty of other parts that aren't well served by public transport.

The trenitalia website is very helpful, and very helpfully in English too.
 
Sweet. Perhaps rent a car and use it only for venturing out of the cities then. and train for inner-city visits.
 
Or maybe if you have a local car rental, just do day hire? This was really popular in Kos
 
just a side note, if you do plan to go to florence, (very touristy!! be warned - like most cities here really) few things not to miss
the duomo http://www.ciaoadriano.com/Europe 2...nce/900/Florence-Duomo-Nov07-RAW4827AR900.jpg

ponte vecchio -- (means old bridge -- shops on it sell only gold) http://florencetravel.org/images/pontevecchio_rita.jpg

the real statue of david - in a museum (many fakes around florence)

the view from fiesole - my personal faviroute - http://www.ivanweb.net/images/Mondo/Firenze/Fiesole.JPG the largest building in the center -- orangy - is one of the buildings at the european university institute where i work. cracking views from higher up, give a google for fiesole views,
number 7 bus from center of town to fiesole,

bus tickets are bought before bording, cost 1.20 in florence, most other cities they are 1 euro, remember to stamp your train tickets before getting on - 40 euro fine if not, and bus tickets while on the bus.
 
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