Italy driving holiday
Replies: 5 - Last Post: Oct 30, 2012 7:43 AM Last Post By: Pocholavezzi
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Italy driving holiday
My wife and myself are planning a driving holiday mainly through Italy next May. We will be arriving in Venice early morning on a cruise and I have a 26 day leased car to pick up in Milan. The itinerary thus far is this:Venice 3 days (we have been there before)
Train to Verona and overnight
Train to Milan early morning, rest of the day in Milan pick up rental car next morning,
Bologna, 1 night
Florence, 2 nights
Siena, 2 nights
Naples, 1 night
Sorrento, 4 nights
Alberobello in Puglia, 2 nights
Tivoli or near Rome, 2 nights (been to Rome many times)
Genoa, 1 night
then to France.
My wife broke her ankle a few months back and it is taking a long time to get back to normal. For this reason I have excluded Cinque Terre.
There is quite a bit of driving I know but I have no problem with that. Budget not a real factor, we are happy with good 2 star hotels, but will spend more if required. In Sorrento I have an apartment in mind for the four days (Pompeii, Capri etc).
We do both enjoy the history side of the country but beaches per se are not at all important.
Are there any suggestions that more experienced Italian travellers can come up with.
1
The problem is that most of your itinerary is better done by public transport. A car is a liability in Bologna, Florence, Siena, Naples.You're missing out almost entirely on the lovely countryside where a car would be an advantage and which will be far less touristy than all the main attractions that you have planned to visit
2
Plus, Venice and Sorrento are the only places where you're spending a half-way decent amount of time. Excluding them, you have 9 destinations in 13 nights. You'll miss a lot more than you'll see in practically all of those destinations.Reminds me of the joke about the lady complaining about a restaurant: the food is awful--and such small portions!
As MTL notes, your proposed means of transport doesn't "marry well" with your destinations. And such small portions!
4
And....... MTL's good advice is mostly around the areas to the west of the A1 autostrada. To the east are the regions of Emilia Romagna (for the smaller cities such as Modena, Padova, Vicenza etc etc), Abruzzo ( largely just small towns and lots of mountains - this is perhaps the most rugged part of Italy - personal favourite is Sulmona) and Umbria (Lots of interesting places - Perugia, Assisi, Spoleto, Gubbio, Orvieto, and many more). If you have not yet studied a road map of Italy, it would be worth doing so - and the A1 autostrada from Milan via Bologna as far as Florence can be particularly tiring (south of Florence is better)
