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Drive or train?

We are planning to go to Eastern Italy and travel south. Should we take the train are go by car? We are not planning to go to many tourist spots. I am have trouble finding out enough information to really make an informed decision.

Posted by
33555 posts

Where do you mean by "Eastern Italy"? Trieste? Veneto? Marche? Bari? What places are you considering going south for? How far? How much time do you have? A bit of meat on the bones will get much better answers from us, if you could help us help you.

Posted by
4 posts

Thank you for replying. We have 2 weeks. We are flying in and out of Marco Polo and are open to ideas. We thought we would stop at San Marino and I was hoping to get down to Bari if time will permit. If we find a place we love and want to stay for a few days then so be it that is where out trip will be spent. I have been looking for festivals along the way that might be fun to stop for. We will be there the latter part of May.
Thank You

Posted by
813 posts

I am a big fan of traveling by car especially since we like to get off the beaten path. The flexibility of a car is hard to beat and it is really handy when you are finding places to stay on the fly. Were I in your situation, on arrival at Marco Polo I would take public transportation in to Venice for a couple of days to get unjet-lagged in a beautiful city and then go back to pick up the car using some of the time at the airport to figure out how the rental car pick up and drop off works ... much easier to do on foot than from a moving car in traffic. You want to have a GPS with a European map card and some good paper maps as a back up so you can see where you are in the grand scale of things. Also don't forget to get International Driving Permits, they are required in Italy.

Posted by
4 posts

That was my original plan exactly. We have the GPS with Europe, maps and three nights in Venice so far. We were discouraged from driving from several sources. We have driven in England and Ireland. I usually get driving permits I even if we are not planning to drive in case we change our mind. Are there any "should not miss places" along the way.
Thanks