LozinOz

My husband and I are flying into Pisa and hiring a car. We're there for 6 days. We plan on staying 2 nights in Rome, Venice and then make our way back towards Pisa staying around there for 2 nights where we are flying back to London.

Just wondering if anyone could recommend a good route which would maximise the enjoyment of our little break? And any hiring a car advice?

THANKS!

jamikins

For those three places I would take the train, a car is of no use in any if them and you will need to pay to park it. More of a hinderance than it's worth!

jamikins

Sorry meant to say after your stay in Tuscany...it will be a hinderance in Rome and venice

tarquin

That's a lot of territory for 6 days, and I would feel the 2 nights around Pisa would be better spent in Rome or Venice.

But look at a map - from Pisa airport Florence and Venice by train makes more sense. Fly directly into Rome when you want to go there.

jamikins

Oh I mis-read - I thought they were staying in Tuscany for 6 nights then heading for Rome and Venice.

6 nights - 3 locations is not a good idea. I would pick 1-2 locations and forget the car outside of Tuscany.

LozinOz

Hmm thank you- you share my thoughts- car wise. Now! Just to convince the husband that we should ditch the car idea. Anyone want to help with that ;-) Thank you.

jamikins

Try showing him this:

http://www.lifeinitaly.com/travel/driving-in-Rome.asp

I am sure youtube has some great videos!

You cant drive into Venice anyways so no point in paying to park the car!

Peter_S_Aus

Loz, I think you are from Australia – where the train system is expensive and ordinary. In Australia, I don’t do trains. Italy is different – the trains run on time (mostly) and are fast – Rome to Venice is about 4 hours for example. And there is often a bar on board. I’d suggest that you reconsider your reluctance to use trains, and probably you are bringing an Aussie perspective to train travel. (On our first trip to Italy, we flew into Rome, and then flew to Venice – a really dumb move. We thought that using trains would be difficult.)
Trains are cheaper than a car – because tolls, fuel and parking cost a bundle. You can easily buy train tickets on the day of departure, which gives flexibility. Buying train tickets is easy from automated machines, which “speak” English. You can check out timetables here:
http://www.ferroviedellostato.it/homepage_en.html

cathies

Peter, you are absolutely correct. I hadn't thought of it like that before. The trains in Sydney drive me crazy and I would never consider using our trains for a longer trip either.

But in Italy, I love them!

ira

Hi Loz,

You can't take the car into Venice. You will have to leave it at Piazzale Roma or even in Mestre. Cost is about 25E/day.

If you don't have tickets already, have you looked into flying into Pisa and out of Rome?

uhoh_busted

Don't know how I can get the graphic to show here without giving you a link to another site, but here is a good reason not to drive in Rome: http://europetogo.yuku.com/topic/945...e#.UAAym45_cbU

charnees

If you don't already have your tickets, fly into Venice, take the fast train to Rome. It's faster and easier than driving. Fly out of Rome. Traffic and parking in Rome is insane. Forget the car. And leave out Pisa. In six days you don't have time for it.

If you already have your tickets, take the train to Venice after one night in Pisa, then back to Pisa the night before you leave. Leave out Rome. There is not enough time.

annhig

Loz - even by train this is a lot of territory to cover in 6 days [or is that nights? - if all you have got is 6 nights, that gives you 5 days, so even less time]

honestly I would ditch either Venice or Rome [possibly both!]

By train, you could do Pisa - florence - Venice - pisa, or Pisa - Rome - Florence - Pisa.

if you still fancy the car idea, rent a car at Pisa airport, drive to San Gimignano, stay 2 nights, drive to Siena, stay 2 nights, drop car, bus to Florence, stay 2 nights, train to Pisa, go home.