My husband and I along with our 24 year old son are planning to fly from Miami, Florida to Milan in the month of June of this year. The plan is to fly to Milan in order to take a tour to Maranello to visit the Ferrari museum, stay in Milan to sightsee for 4 or 5 days and then take train to Munich for more car museums (Stuttgart, Nurburgring, Ingolstadt) and of course more sightseeing. We would also like to go to Vienna, Salzburg and Prague. Is this trip feasible in 16 days? What would be the best route to take? Should we do this by train? Your feedback would be sincerely appreciated as well as any other suggestions that you may think would be good. I'm also thinking about flying home from Frankfurt in order to save time. Thank you!
Posted by
Chicago
8230 posts
Cut out going to Prague save it for another trip it is too much.
Milan to Munich is 7 hours on the train including one
connection. If you are adverse to train rides of this duration consider flying to Munich it only takes an hour.
Or fly to Vienna spend 2 nights there then take the train to Salzburg 2 nights there then train to Munich.
Posted by
Washington DC
28450 posts
It's definitely smart on this itinerary to fly into and out of different cities. Fiddle around a bit with multi-city airfares to see what combinations are financially most feasible. Then see whether you can make the geography work.
Posted by
OP
4 posts
Thank you so much for your feedback. I will explore the possibility of flying instead of taking the train.
Posted by
1221 posts
And of course the car guys need to experience autobahn driving in a proper German performance sedan :)
I'd probably train it through Austria and pick up the proper German performance sedan in Munich or thereabouts. (Do brush up on German traffic laws beforehand; it's pretty straightforward but there are some important differences between here and there)
Posted by
OP
4 posts
Yes, you are absolutely right! I just shared your feedback with my son. Thank you!
Posted by
🏝️ Hobe Sound, FL⛱️
3303 posts
Since the Lamborghini factory/Museum is also in Emilia-Romagna just outside Modena, consider staying in Modena or Bologna for 2 nights and shorten your time in Milan. Other than visiting the Cathedral and Galleria and viewing the Last Supper, Milan holds little charm or interest for me.
Posted by
seattle
2147 posts
The Fiat museum in Torino is also excellent. Torino is not too far from Milan by train.
Posted by
Basel, Switzerland
8889 posts
Don't forget the Cité de l’Automobile, aka Collection Schlumpf in Mulhouse. Website: http://citedelautomobile.com/en/home
Check out this list in Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_automobile_museums#Europe
Posted by
Rick Steves' Europe
16895 posts
And there's the Alfa Romeo Museum in a suburb of Milan.
If you stay in central Modena, the Ferrari Museums can be reached by dedicated shuttle bus; no need for a tour.
Looking Up Train Schedules and Routes Online gives you the Deutsche Bahn train schedule link and tips for using it.
Posted by
OP
4 posts
Thank you so much to all of you for the feedback. I am taking everything into consideration!
Posted by
Tucson
4183 posts
If you want to drive the Nürburgring Nordschleife, you can do that, but not with a normal rental car. In fact rental agencies check the parking lots for their cars.
You must rent a racetrack prepared one. My husband did 8 laps in 2009. Being a hobby open wheel racer, it was a bucket list thing for him. He drove a Suziki Swift and had a blast.
Here are the links:
RentRaceCar This is the company he used. More info on it is here.
If you decide to do this, be aware that there will be both faster and slower vehicles on the track. Anybody at any time can make an error in judgement or just plain run out of talent.