Best Route

In 2007, we flew to Venice, took the train to Florence, then rented a car out of Florence. Spent four days driving all over Tuscany, then drove to Pisa, spent three day in Cinque Terre. Then we drove to Lake Como and finally flew home from Milan. Most of this trip was no problem, but a couple words of wisdom. Renting a car in Florence, it was a bit of a challenge getting out of Florence. Be very cautious of driving in Pisa, they are known for ripping tourists off. You get a ticket in the mail, mine 11 months after my visit, I drove into a restricted area. Did I know that of course not. Italian drivers are crazy, just keep your wits about you and let them pass and drive like idiots. GPS is a must. I am returning to Italy next year to tour Rome, Sorrento and Amalfi coast. I plan on renting a car outside of Rome for my Sorrento and Amalifi trip. So my advice get a car for Tuscany, it is the only way to travel this area.

Don't drive from anywhere in Tuscany to Venice- take the train. How long is this trip? You have a ton of places listed.

Look at the flights that are most convenient, we would look at flying in to Milan or Venice and out of Rome or the other way around. The drive from Tuscany area to Venice is pretty in some places, but if we had to do it over again, we'd take the train instead as the traffic going to the parking garages near P. Roma in Venice can be really pokey and traffic near Bologna was really heavy. The train would have been faster. The only area you mentioned that a car is useful is in Tuscany, I would just rent locally there and group the days for when you really want to do day trips. If you are planning on staying in or near Siena and only plan on needing a car for one or two days, it might be worth checking to see if there are busses or trains to where you want to visit instead. Going to some hill towns is definitely easier with a car, but you have to keep in mind ZTL and parking issues for some places as well.

Some people prefer the train; some prefer to drive. Either method works. We've driven from Siena to Venice and it wasn't difficult. 90% of the drive is on "motorways", like our interstates. When you get to Venice, you park in the big parking garage on the edge of town, then you see the city on foot and with water taxis.

Bias, I'm car oriented. I would visit Rome, then rent car out of Rome and explore Tuscany including Siena. Easy to drive from there to CT and/or Venice. Easy to find places for car parking in CT[INVALID]especially at towns at each end[INVALID]Riomaggiore and Monterosso. Drop off car when you get to Venice (rental car agencies across the street from the Grand Canal at the end of the road into Venice) and leave from Venice back to Usa. If time to still do Como and Milan[INVALID]trains from Venice to Milan and Milan to Como are easy for last part of the trip and fly home from Milan. I agree about time. This is at least a 2 week trip, closer to 3 if you want to make it to Lake Como and Milan. If shorter you will be spending considerable percentage ocvacation time driving from place to plave or schlepping bags from one train platform to another.

HI Dona, we just came back from 6 nights in Italy out of our 9 night trip. You do not state how long you will be there. I would recommend flying into one side of the country and out of the other if you can. We drove from Innsbruck to Venice (2 night stay) with a 3 hour stop along the way and still could have made it into Venice before 6 until we missed an exit. From Venice we went to Bologna and this is about a 2 - 3 hour drive. We chose to take the side roads as much as possible to "see" Italy. We only used the Autostrada when we needed to make time. We explored Tuscany for the day from our base in Bologna (2 night stay). Then on to Milan (2 nights) before heading into France. We did not go to Rome because we thought it was too far south. Besides, we know we will go back someday. What we learned; 2 nights is not enough in Venice or Milan, Bologna we never saw as we stayed on the outskirts. Plano is as flat as a pancake if I remember correctly. Will you be comfortable driving the narrow twisty (hilly) roads in some parts of Italy? One of the biggest differences that struck us while we were there was that they do not have roadside lookouts like we do here. There were many a time we saw a breathtaking view (photo op) that we had to pass by as there are no shoulders on the side of the road either. I love to drive and would do it again. You will run into traffic near the big cities, so plan accordingly. As for ZTLs and Ecopass, we only saw the postings in Milan so we are holding out hope we avoided them. We thought the scenery was beautiful and the food fantastic! We only wished we had a learned a bit of Italian before we went although it was not problematic for us. Think through the number of nights you want to be somewhere and plan accordingly. BTW, pack light if you are staying in the heart of Venice. You will be lugging your bags up and down the bridges of Venice. Enjoy!

Experienced travelers don't rent cars for Europe, they use trains, altho cars have limited use in some areas such as Tuscany.

Thanks for all of the great advice. We plan on being gone for 16-18 days including flights. Don't want to make ourselves crazy. We may be biting off more than we can chew. If we have to cut back I would give up Milan other than to fly in or out. Any hints for car rentals in Siena? Should we look for lodging outside so we don't have to work about parking car?

"Experienced travelers don't rent cars for Europe, they use trains,"*****Sometimes a car is the best choice, sometimes a train. It depends on where you want to go and what you want to do. Plenty of experienced travelers rent cars; if you travel to bed and breakfasts or inns in small towns & villages, I guarantee you'll meet some.

Dona[INVALID] I am pretty sure Charles "meant" to say some experienced travelers take/prefer trains. Trains are good for going directly with no changes on fast trains between big cities[INVALID]Rome-Florence-Venice-Milan. Otherwise IMHO they are pretty much a worthless form of transportation vs. car for other experienced travelers. Just a personal preference thing[INVALID]freedom and choice of a car vs. regimentation of a train and its route. Either way you go, it will be great. Have fun.

"Experienced travelers don't rent cars for Europe, they use trains." Arghh!! We've averaged three one-month trips to Europe for the last ten years. We were there for a month in May, I'm going back tomorrow night for the rest of October, will come home for a couple of days and head right back for all of Novermber. That's something like nine hundred days in the last ten years alone. Then there was the thirty years before that during which I easily made a hundred trips of varying, but usually shorter, duration. Of the whole previous trips, there hasn't been a dozen days where I didn't have a car and I'll have one every day on these next two trips. Exactly, pray tell me, EXACTLY, how many times more do I have to do this before I can run down to Kmart and buy an 'experienced' badge. I'm getting a bit long in the tooth and have my money all saved up to buy one of these things, but there just ain't much time left, if you get my drift. EDIT: I forgot the three years I lived there as a kid when I had to ride the trains and use my bike, but Dad drove us all over the place - - in a car, of all things.