Hi, We will be traveling from Berne, need a suggestion, 1 night hotel with two teenagers, my husband and self. Then to Zurich on Sunday, June 27th we leave Zurich and drive to Italy. Want to go through Lake Como, see Florence and fly from Rome on July 2. Not sure if have time to go to Cinque Terre, but would love to. Not sure when we should drop the car that we are renting Zurich. We are staying from Sunday the 20th of June- Friday the 25th at the Swiss Holiday Park in Morschach. If anyone has suggestions for day trips from there that would be great. Thanks-
Posted by
Tresana, Highlands Ranch, CO, USA
23626 posts
You realize that the car rental will be very expensive especially the fee to drop in Italy. And some car rentals do not want their cars taken into Italy so be sure you are very clear with the rental company. Also you are covering a lot of ground in seven days. You will not have much time to see anything but the road and the inside of your car. And you need to be very careful in Florence's limited drive zones or else you will come home to several hundred dollars of fines. Just for that reason I would skip Florence and go to Cinque Terre.
PS -- Someone just posted on this site that the drop fee in Florence was $400. That will buy a lot of train travel in Italy.
Posted by
Vernon, Canada
32353 posts
yvonne,
I have to agree with Frank in that covering that much ground in such a short time frame is going to be challenging. There's also the issue of the drop fees for leaving the car in Italy (which could be very expensive). The average European car is somewhat "compact", so you'll need to rent something large enough to handle four people with luggage.
Note that for driving in Italy, you'll require the compulsory International Driver's Permit which must be used in conjunction with your home D.L. (these can be obtained for reasonable cost at any AAA office). Failure to produce an I.D.P. if requested can result in fines on the spot! You'll also need to be vigilant for the ZTL areas that Frank mentioned.
You might want to use the car for Switzerland and use trains in Italy. If you use the "fast" trains such as the EuroStar Italia, it will be a much quicker and more efficient travel method. For example, the trip from Florence to Rome is only about 1H:35M, which is considerably faster than travel by car on that route.
Posted by
LaGrange, Georgia, USA
54 posts
Drop the car off in switzerland:Lugano is a great drop-off area and then take the train it is lovely.Do not drive in Italy trust me!It is unlikely you can get to Como.Go to Lake Maggiore from Zurich and visit Locarno and Lugano they are more beautiful!
Posted by
Mansfield, GA
850 posts
The suggestion to drop the car in Lugano is a good one in order to avoid the high drop off fee. If the convenience of having the car for the whole trip trumps the cost of the drop off fee in your case you would be wise to avoid driving in Florence with its restricted zones. Driving in Italy is not a problem if you stay out of the big cities. Take a GPS and a good map and you will be o.k. Also, an International Drivers Permit for all who will be driving. Here is a link that may be of interest to you:
http://www.slowtrav.com/italy/planning/car_rental_savings.htm
Posted by
East TN, USA
9 posts
Hi Yvonne,
we will be driving a car with our two teenage sons also starting in Germany then into Switzerland and finally into Italy,dropping off the car in Rome. We could have chosen the trains,but it is just as easy and sometimes cheaper for us with the car and the boys. We have driven in a lot of big cities in Europe,but prefer not to to that. Yet driving through the rest of the countryside is a lot of fun.
Posted by
Bay Area
3551 posts
Yikes you will be driving alot with little time to see anything. you may want to revisit your itin alittle. Stay in Switzerland or fly to Italy. I have been driving and visiting europe for yrs and anymore than 4 hrs driving at a time is too much to enjoy what you are in Europe for in the first place. You can check you pt to pt driving miles on www.viamichelin.com