Italy - Drive versus Rail?

Question

Plan to do Rome, Florence and Venice, plus some wine tasting. Looking for recommendations on driving versus taking the train.

Thanks!!!

Answer 1

if you like to see marvellous panoramas during the trip, take a train. But if you want to avoid delays and beggars in station, drive!

Answer 2

If you will spend more time in cities - use train, if you want to see surroundings, small towns, want to be more independent - use car.

Answer 3

I don't agree, trains here are horrible, always late, dirty, there's no room to sit...better the car, so you can see the beautiful country. In Venice there are no cars, you must leave the car in Mestre but it's 10 Km, you can use the train

Answer 4

if you're really patient you can drive(the speed max is 130 km/h!) and it's good if you want to stop to visit villages. moreover renting a car and add petrol can be a bit expensive :(

if you are not SO patient and you rather prefer visiting just the three mentioned cities you can use the train, always late(or a strike) but you can enjoy the view of the Italian countryside.

p.s: it's true that Venice hasn't got roads at all but there's a huge car parking just before the city :)

Answer 5

Take the train, at least from Rome to Florence there is a rather quick connection although the fare is not cheap. However driving can be very stressing in Italy, specially Rome, and renting a car plus petrol is expensive.

Answer 6

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/portalital...

No way.... Petrol prices, fast driving, different rules, city congestion, parking, etc.... Those are all problems that will plague you and ruin your enjoyment.

Italy has an amazing public transit system. Take it, or even better....walk. You take in more.

The train system is also great, especially between large cities... When I went, my wife and I never checked schedules and the longest we waited was an hour. Trains are great and extremely safe.

Forget driving. It is a waste of time and money. Even Italians think so unless it is on a bike. ;-)

Answer 7

As long you plan to stay within the cities you'll be fine with train. Tickets are not expensive (compared to say, UK).. reliability is so so.. but the 3 major touristic attractions are well connected thru "Eurostar" class trains.. they are so much better than other trains that you shouldn't think twice before choosing one.

Driving in Roma can be scary for non-italians.. in Firenze you wouldnt be able to drive close the touristic spots anyway.. in Venezia.. there are no streets to drive on.

no brainer.. use trains.

Answer 8

take the train, i dont think you will be able to drive in the roman traffic and many historical centres are forbidden to cars without a special permit. it will be also very difficult to park, and in some cases expensive. driving in venice is pretty impossible... but it depends on you car! amphibious? :-P

trains are cheaper, pretty confortable, and for the rest you can walk around in the city, which is better if you want to enjoy the landscape!

buon viaggio

Answer 9

when we went back in march we did all the driving.  but we were staying outside of the big cities and drove in each day.  probably the best thing was we were on our time and could stop anywhere we like and got to see so much more since we were driving.  being on the autostrada wasnt bad at all.  but, there are tolls to pay and it can add up.  also, the petrol isnt cheap, so the smaller the car you need the better.  as for the down side, driving in the cities was a bit of a nightmare.  in rome and florence finding parking somewhat near where we wanted to spend the day was difficult and you had to pay as well.  and trying to get out of the cities could be taxing as well.  but overall, we really enjoyed having a car to get around.  i would recommend the car only if you have plenty of patience and are good with a map.  if you plan to only see those three cities and not take side trips, i would take the train.  car rentals arent cheap, so if you are only going to use it to go from one major city to another, take a train.