Travel within Italy

Hi Kim,

I think that public transportation is the way to go in Italy! If you want to check out budget airlines that fly between Milan and Rome, you can check out www.whichbudget.com

Enjoy your travels!

Kim,

For all the locations you mentioned, travel by train is by far the quickest and easiest method.

Travel from Milan to Rome via the EuroStar Italia / Alta Velocita is only about 4 hours, and I doubt that using a budget flight would be any faster (in fact, after travel to and from airports is considered, waiting for flights, check-in, security, etc. I suspect the flight would take LONGER).

You might want to reverse the order of your visits to Siena and Florence. As you're coming from Rome, it would make more sense to stop at Siena first, and perhaps take the Bus from there to Florence (about 2 hours from what I recall).

Again, using faster trains, the trip from Rome to Siena is only about 3 hours. The trip from Florence back to Milan is 2H:10M via ES/AV. There's no way you could travel that route as quickly via car.

Happy travels!

In '04 my son and I spent 3.5 weeks driving around Italy, from Rome to Siena, then Florence, including Venice, Milan, Lake Como, Bellagio, and then flew out of Milan. The car allows you to stop where ever it looks interesting. To stop for lunch in a quaint village along the way. We shopped at a leather goods and shoe outlet. It was wonderful, and we did not have to worry about schedules and train time tables only to get to our next city. We allowed ourselves plenty of time to 'see the country side' at our leisure. We took cabs in Rome and only got the car as we were ready to leave Rome. We parked the car in Florence and took cabs there....but otherwise it was so enjoyable, the highways were clearly marked and maps easy to read.

I'm about to leave for Sicily by myself and when I am finished in Palermo, I will rent a car to see the countryside and get to the agritourismo farms where I will stay. I can not imagine being on a train or bus and going by some place that you want to stop and visit but can not do so. I can not afford to go to Italy several times in my lifetime so I feel compelled to see what I want to while I am there.

Claudia
St. Louis, MO

May, 2008, "trained" from Milan to Florence and had a wonderful time. Car useful and time efficent for touring Tuscany, otherwise, I use the trains between urban areas.

As Michael says, "better" depends on you.

Generally we recommend not using cars in large cities, particularly not Rome and Florence. ZTLs (restricted zones), parking, bad traffic, and crazy drivers are all issues most of us don't want to deal with on vacation.

For me personally, a vacation in Italy is a chance to experience something I don't get to do back home (train, rather than drive). So I would not rent a car, but take the train for most of the trip. As the other posters suggest, Florence to Siena is best by bus.

As for fly vs. train, the rule of thumb is if the train is under 6 hours, best to go by train. Flight restrictions, delays, security, etc. all make flying into a fairly large hassle and by train you can see the lovely Italian countryside.

"Better" depends on your definition. It's certainly easier (and cheaper) to take a train than to rent a car. But renting a car does give you more flexibility. We have preferred trains so far, but I imagine that our next trip to Italy will involve renting a car so we can get a little more off the beaten path, especially since my Italian language skills have gotten better.

Best to take bus between Florence and Siena.

Just another thing to think about - if you are 3 or more people - the train can actually be more expensive than a rental car. Especially 1st class or sleeper tickets - train travel is by no means cheap when you start going from the larger cities to larger cities on the Eurostar, etc.

We are sort of forced to drive (in our own car) to Bologna from Florence for example since the drive is so much cheaper (even with gas, tolls and parking) than the train tickets (we are 4 so 2nd class ES is about 145 euro or over $200!), even though going by train is more relaxing.

Pricing out a long trip to Lecce on the train - where we would need to then rent a car anyway - was over 300 euro today (with a great family discount) - or about $450. So we are just renting a car here (in Florence) and doing the drive (which is actually faster and will end up costing a lot less...).

As Liz pointed out, there are no-drive zones in the center of some cities, notably Florence and Siena, and the fines are stiff.

Car or train depends a lot on what you plan to do. If you are going to spend most of your time in the cities you mention, the car will be a liability while you are there, racking up rental and parking fees while you walk and use local transport. If you want to focus on the countryside and small towns between Rome and Milan, a car is better, for the reasons already posted.

I don't suppose there is a way for you to change your flight itinerary, to fly open-jaw and avoid the backtracking.