My husband and I are going to Italy for 6 days (on the ground - 2 extra days travel in/out). We're flying in to Milan and taking the train to Venice. We're staying 2 nights at Hotel Santa Lucia in Venice. We're looking to spend the next few days exploring Parma, Moden, Bologna, Reggio Emilia - we're especially interested in touring food places. We're not sure if we should rent a car in Venice and tour the other cities, return it to Venice and take the train back to Milan to fly out or just take the train to visit the other cities. We're a bit partial to renting a car & exploring on our own, but haven't quite figured out how to make it work nicely. We're also looking for suggestion on hotels. We'd like to be able to find a little gem of a place, preferably with private bathrooms for under 120 Euros. I do have RS' guidebooks but they don't have much on these little towns' accommodations. We're not much into shopping or fashion so we won't be staying more than overnight in Milan. Any suggestions on how to arrange the rest of our trip would be greatly appreciated. Thanks! Kat
Posted by
Los Angeles, CA, USA
1003 posts
You don't need a car in the Emilia-Romagna area, unless you plan on doing things out in the countryside. the distances are short, and the trains are very frequent and cheap in this region. As far as accommodations go, I enjoyed the Paradise Hotel in Bologna and the B&B Rubra in Parma. Both well within your budget, are cozy, friendly, well-located, etc. the B&B rubra in particular is amazing. The owner bought out the back side of an apartment building and turned them into B&B rooms/flats. I had a whole one-bedroom loft for about 60 euros in late 2009. For some reason Rick ignores this region for the most part, which frankly, is kind of a breath of fresh air. If you are going for the food, you will not be disappointed and there aren't too many touristy places that you have to avoid. If you stay overnight in Parma (which I highly recommend), you can arrange a FREE tour of a parmigiano dairy through the region's consortium. I was able to take a taxi to the tour and it was about 12 euros. Absolute highlight of my trip and IMO a cheap and easy must-do for any foodie. it takes up a whole morning. Have a fantastic time!
Posted by
Portlandia
3313 posts
As Debra points out, if you just want to see the cities themselves, trains will be cheap and easy. You don't have to worry about parking. But to try and get out to see the countryside, a car will be necessary. It would be easy to pick your car up in Venice and drop at the Malpensa airport. No need to go into Milan at all.