Family of four driving from Nice to Florence (for a week stay) in a few days. Any recommendations for a stop along the way for a couple of hours? We are doing a day trip to Pisa from Florence so that will be covered later. I'm thinking maybe Genoa or Lucca? I might consider Cinque Terre but I read the drive is pretty rough (windy/narrow/hilly). Thank you.
Posted by
Paris
7322 posts
Genoa is too large to be convenient. I'd stop in a smaller Ligurian town, like Camogli.
Edit: part of my reply got eaten up, but I was just adding that Lucca is too close to Florence to break the journey, in my opinion (in agreement with the poster below!).
Posted by
Boston
1806 posts
Genoa is too hard to enter and park and exit without trouble. Camogli is good, access time from the autostrada is moderate, but parking is tight. Rapallo is a moderate sized city with a pleasant harbor area, parking and access both fairly time consuming. Sestri Levanti has a nice location on two bays with a small but pretty old town and parking and access is relatively easy. Cinque Terre would add at least 3 hours to your trip, not to mention the toll on your nervous system. Lucca is within an hour of Florence - you should take a break closer to the middle of your trip. The Ventimiglia-Genoa portion of your route is undergoing a fairly lot of construction now as they rehab the tunnels, so expect some delays and a slower travel time. (Download a Google Map of Liguria for offline use even if you'll have wifi service; service can be spotty with a mountains and autostrada tunnels).
Posted by
OP
9 posts
How about the Genoa Aquarium (touted as "largest in Europe")? It requires just a minor detour.
Posted by
Italy
3812 posts
3 problems: Luggage, parking and ZTLs. You need a safe parking, close to the Aquarium and far from the ZTL.
Better If it was an underground parking where you can park the back of the car against a wall.
Posted by
OP
9 posts
This seems to indicate there are decent parking options near the aquarium:
https://www.acquariodigenova.it/en/infos/#/useful-info
My next question would be how do people feel about parking in an underground car park with luggage in the trunk?