We are going to be traveling from North to South of Italy 25 days
Milan
Verona
Modena
Cinque Terre
Florence
Assisi
Amarfi Coast
Naples
Rome
anyone can give me an IDEA of how much we (2 people) would spend if we do it in trains tickets versus a car rental ?
Thank you
Have you checked on the train fare?Variables include day of week, time train leaves, etc.
Car rentals vary so much, by size and class of car.
Your questions are ones that only can be answered by you.
How many $400-$500 speeding tickets and ZTL zone violations should we budget for? Roadway cameras are everywhere , and if six cameras photograph a driver going 1 km over the limit, one will receive six tickets.
And the notorious ZTL zones.....
In addition, cars in the Amalfi area are useless, as well in the cities.
Perhaps more research is in order, for you to really enjoy this trip. Good luck!
Looking at your itinerary I would say just take the train as everywhere you are going is not off the beaten path and has a train station stop; usually folks that rent cars in Italy make mistakes driving in traffic restricted zones, racking up hundreds of dollars in fines. A car is definitely useless in Cinque Terre and the Amalfi Coast, both are over run with tourists with the same idea. Someone responsible has to pay attention to the road and will miss the scenery. Also trains have toilets on each car and you can bring your own food with wine on board. Italy has the least expensive high speed rail service (and they run faster than automobiles) in Western Europe.
You can do the math yourself by looking up the point to point tickets for each leg of your trip. Don't forget to factor in how many people are included. Use the Trenitalia website and choose the day if the week you will travel on each leg. No idea how much a car would cost. Depends on too many factors, just for the rental. Then you have to add in tolls, gas, parking, speeding tickets, ZTL fines, bus lane fines, etc. The Via Michelin website may help with some of that. But I have to say, having done a couple of road trips in Italy, that I wouldn't do that trip all by car if you paid me.
Take the train unless you’ve driven in Italy before and are aware of what you would be getting yourself into.
Some of these are cheap regional tickets. Verona to Modena, CT to Florence, Florence to Assisi. Milan to Verona could also be done with a regional train. Other trains booked with advance nonrefundable tickets.
For comparison purposes, you can get a Trenitalia Pass for 10 trips in 30 days for 354 EUR per person, or 324 EUR if you are 60 or over when you buy the pass. You can certainly beat those prices with Regional tickets and advance purchase tickets bought now.
Don't forget to factor in tolls on the Autostrada, and fuel cost at the equivalent of $8 to $9 per gallon.
Did you review your old post?
The best option may be a mix of the two. A car is useless for most of your listed destinations since they are all cities that do not permit the use of cars in their city centers unless you are a resident with a permit. However if you intend to do some roaming around the countryside and the small towns in Umbria while in Assisi, then a car might be useful only while in Assisi.
But aside from that, for all other locations you would be spending an average of at least $400/week to rent a car which would be sitting in the hotel garage all of the time, except for the time to transfer from city to city. The cost of the rental itself (which varies but should be at least $400/week) is the major cost of the car. Gasoline is expensive in Italy (a bit less than 2€ a liter, or almost $8/US gallon), however for your trip the distance traveled should not be more than 1500km in total (and I’m exaggerating) therefore about 100 liters of fuel (€200) plus another €100 for tolls max. So your car cost for 3 weeks should be less than $2,000 including rent, gas, tolls, and parking fees which you will incur in many cities and possibly even at the hotels where you choose to stay, I’m not taking into consideration traffic fines, because I presume you will observe the speed limits, will not drive on bus lanes, will pay for the parking meters, and won’t drive inside traffic restricted zones (ZTL).
Train cost, even if you travel only on the fastest trains (where available), at full base price, without taking advantage of discounts with pre-purchase, should not exceed €800 in total for both of you.
So if you are looking to save the train is definitely the cheaper option for two folks.
No one is going to do this math for you. You barely acknowledge your multiple posts, and you have already received the advice that a car is a burden on this itinerary.
Narrow down your final itinerary.
Book your accommodations.
Buy your train tickets.
Buy any tickets for museums, cathedrals, etc.
That’s how easy it is.
Sit back and relax.
You do NOT want to drive in Rome unless you've had substantial prior experience doing so.
