Hi, Me and my wife will be based out of Stuttgart for a few months and are planning to take a week and a few days more to travel around Italy. We are looking to do this between 3rd-11th of November. I did some preliminary research and think the main cities on our agenda should be Venice, Florence and Rome. I also found that train travel within Italy for the said dates is pretty affordable. So wondering if going for a Eurorail pass makes sense or not.
But the main concern is getting from Stuttgart to any of the three places i mentioned and getting back to Stuttgart. I have not been able to find any cheap options for the first leg of the trip from Stuttgart into Italy and back and would seek your suggestions for this. Also, please suggest how we should split our travel to make the best out of the trip while keeping the costs down and are we missing something else that we should do apart from Venice/Florence/Rome. Thanks in advance for all your suggestions!
Posted by
San Francisco Bay Area (USA)
16616 posts
Consider flying. Air Berlin, a German low cost airline, has a base in Stuttgart and you can find cheap flights to both Florence and Venice. Germanwings, another German low cost airline, has also a base in Stuttgart and flies to Rome from there. Train travel might be enjoyable for the views over the Alps, but takes longer and is not any cheaper than flying with a low cost airline. http://www.airberlin.com/prepage.php
http://www.germanwings.com/en/index.shtml
Posted by
OP
Bangalore, Karnataka, India
20 posts
Thanks Roberto!
Getting a good deal on Berlin Air from Stuttgart to Florence :) Any tips about how to split our trip between Florence/Venice/Rome/Any other place? Thanks!
Posted by
San Francisco Bay Area (USA)
16616 posts
I'm glad you did. Florence is where I grew up. Don't get scared on landing. It's a very short runway at FLR but the aircraft is a turbo prop Canadair Q400, so you'll be ok. Just hope the wind or fog) cooperates and they don't make you land in Pisa instead. You're there from the 3rd to the 11th, so you have a full week and 2 half days (the AB flight arrives late morning and on Sunday departs late afternoon). Rome needs at least minimum 2 days (3 are better), Florence at least 2 and Venice a very busy 1 day from sunrise to sunset (but spending one night in Venice is nice). Therefore you don't really have a lot of time. Florence is in between Rome and Venice. From Florence to Rome (to the south) it's 90 min (trains every 20-30 min). via high speed rail. From Flr to Venice it's just over 2 hrs (trains every hour) to the north. I grew up in Florence and often did Venice as a day trip from Florence, morning to evening by train, but if you spend a night in Venice you can have 2 days there and visit also Murano( plus Venice at night and at dawn is magic). While in Florence, you can stay longer that 2 days and add a day trip to either Siena or Pisa, both one hour away (Siena easier by bus, Pisa by train). If you have a rental car you can even pack a few hill towns on the way to Siena (like San Gimignano and Monteriggioni, or the Chianti Road from Florence to Siena). If you fly in and out of Florence you may want to split Florence into 2 separate stays (upon arrival and before departure). When planning take into account that most museums are closed on Sundays afternoons and Mondays (all day). So Monday is a good travel day, trains never stop.
Be prepared for rainy/cloudy days in early November.