We are staying in the heart of Milan near the Parco Sempione. We need to rent a car and head south on A7 to Genoa. I don't want to drive in the heart of Milan, can you recommend a car rental place that would get us out of the city and onto A7 relatively easy? Thanks.
Also, do the rental car agencies have GPS units available?
Posted by
San Francisco Bay Area (USA)
16236 posts
Driving in Milan is not that difficult. If you can't handle Milan, how are you going to handle other towns in Italy? The important thing is to head out of town outside of commuting hours. Between 9am and 12 noon would be best. After 12:30pm (stores and school midday breaks) and after 3pm would be worst. The GPS is available at rental agencies. However they charge an extra 15-20 euro a day for the GPS rental. If you have a navigator at home (like Garmin) take yours and just buy the Europe SD card on Amazon and load it on your navigator. I bought one for $30 on Amazon last month. But if you rent an intermediate or above, the car will almost certainly have a navigator (when I rented intermediate cars, as in this year, the car always had one).
Posted by
Coraopolis, Pa, USA
1018 posts
I agree with Roberto, if you cannot handle Milano...how are you going to drive through the Italian road system. It is not that difficult. Listen, my family comes from Calabria where traffic laws are only suggestions and driving in the north has not been as extreme. Anyway, we always rent through autoeurope.com and pick-up our car at the Stazione Centrale in Milano and then head out of town. We have a Garmin gps with the European maps micro sd card and it works great. Maybe you would consider buying or renting one because it is definitely worth the expense. We recently purchased a Garmin Nuvi 2595 with a 5" screen and also bought the European map micro sd card on Amazon. Later models now include the European maps, but they were not available when we bought. With Amazon there was no tax or shipping. Buon viaggio,
Posted by
Farmingville, New York, USA
381 posts
We were in Milan and parked the car and took the subways. In Milan you don't need the car. Once you leave rent the car. Get the gps it really does save you time and arguments with the spouse on directions. Get one you are use too. I used my garmin and bought the italy chip and it was great. Never got lost and it even gave me traffic conditions. The rental gps are hard to get use to if you don't now how to use them. So, get a garmin while in the states. Get use to the garmin so you know how to use it, than get the italy chip.