I will be going to Europe next year with a group consisting of me, my parents, and possibly my older brother. We'll be going to Paris for 4 days, with a day trip to versailles or chantilly, then down to cinque terre area (stay for 3-4 days), then to florence (stopping in pisa for the day, continuing at night), stay in florence for 4 days (day trip to sienna possibly), then to venice, and flying out of milan.We may not do it in this exact order. Will it be better to rent a car or travel by train?
Posted by
US Pacific Northwest
10344 posts
You won't want to rent a car in Paris, that would be awful--you can do everything you want to do, including the day trips you mention, on public transportation. Paris to Cinque Terre is a long drive and with gas at $7 per gallon could be expensive; also would make a difference whether you have driven in Europe previously, it is not as easy as here. To get to CT, train or flying are the other options. Like Paris, in the CT a car is counter-productive, you'll get between the 5 towns by train. Florence: if you plan to stay in Florence except for the one day trip to Sienna, then you won't need a car in Florence, and in fact there a now big restrictions on having in car in Florence. Only if you want to drive through the Tuscan hill towns would you think about renting a car, like for a day or two (but if you keep the car overnight this complicates things, overnight parking in Florence is tough). Florence to Venice by train is what most people do. I'm not sure why you are "flying out of Milan" instead of out of Venice airport,
Posted by
Portlandia
3313 posts
Normally, with 3 or 4 adults, renting a car could be cheaper than train travel. You can look at www.bahn.de to get an idea of fares for your route.
However, as Ken points out, all of your destinations are easier by train than by car. Plus, you can get from Paris to Italy far faster by train than you could by car.
Good luck!
Posted by
OP
Anchorage, Alaska, USA
46 posts
thanks for the help. The reason we might be flying from milan is because we're thinking about going to verona or lake garda, but we may just fly out of venice
Posted by
Eastern Iowa, USA
8050 posts
Focus on the train. Cars are best for lots of little stops along the way and exploring a region. You are hitting cities where a car would be more of a headache than an asset, and be paying rental days to park it in a lot. Do consider passes or deals that give you a break for four people travelling together; not sure anymore which ones apply, but they do exist.
Posted by
gaston, oregon, usa
842 posts
Don't forget to look at the cheap inter-european airlines. It might be better to fly from Paris to Venice,(or the other way) then take the train to Italy. We just did that in Italy. We had used our rental car to drive from Rome and explore Puglia, and when we looked at our options to come back to Rome, the flights were cheaper than the train, and less hastle than driving the car back.