My wife and I are planning to be in Europe for 6 weeks this summer. First trip to Europe. We are landing in Milan, going to Lake Como, Cinque Terre and down to Florence and Rome before ending the Italy part in Venice. My plan is to take trains (except in hill Country. After Venice though, I was considering renting a car for 7 to 9 days and traveing up to Dolomites (do some hiking) and into Austria to Salzburg, Hallstatt, and drive to the Bavarian castles and visit Munich before returning car in Venice and then off to Paris and surround areas for 10 days or so. I would also like info on railpass or is point to point better in Italy and then drive in Austria/southern Germany and then fly to Paris from Venice. I have Rick's book on Europe through the back door but I am still confused whether railpass or point to point is better. Thanks for your input.
Posted by
Huntsville, AL, USA
8319 posts
Italian trains are priced very reasonably, and most people purchase point to point tickets. With gasoline around $9.50 per U.S. gallon, trains are the preferable way to travel from city to city. When you take a car into a major European city, you can expect to pay $20 for parking fees per day. Many car rentals in Italy can be left at other cities without any dropoff fees.
If you rent a car, pick it up on the way out of a city. For example, Tuscany and the Dolomites are best seen with an automobile.
Posted by
OP
Carlsbad, CA, USA
18 posts
Thank you David. I guess the focu of my question should have been whether it is good idea to take a car through the Dolomite and Bavarian area or should I take a train with the relatively inexpensive prices for trains from Venice to Munich or Salzburg? Also, Rick seems to suggest that a flight from Venice to paris would be a better value than taking the train.
Posted by
Danville, VT
12040 posts
Why not just make it easy and get your Alpine thrills in Austria and Bavaria? Take a train to either Munich or Innsbruck and pick up your rental car there. Makes a lot more sense than back-tracking all the way to Venice to return a rental car. The Bavarian and Tyrolian Alps are just as amazing as the Dolomites (or more generally, the Italian Alps, of which the Dolomites constitute just one small region).