Traveling Around Italy

pwarbi

pwarbi

Community Member
Mar 15, 2015
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I was just wondering how easy it would be to go on a multi destination holiday around italy.
We're planning on Italy for our next family holiday but would like to see more than just one part of the country.
While driving is an option, I was wondering what other forms of transport people might be able to recommend and maybe some idea of prices would be a great help.
 
It depends where you are and where you want to go. The trains are generally good, but it depends on how many of you and how long you want to go for. The slower trains are cheaper and you may have to change, but driving in cities isn't a good idea, so it really depends on what you choose because there is no blanket answer. If you want to go to some islands too then it will be trains and ferries, so if you state a few places you are thinking of it's easier to give you a rough idea.
 
Ill relay what gabe said, it depends where you want to go. Being italian myself, I've been over a few weddings over the past 5 years. The most recent trip was in july, where me and my girlfriend travelled for just over a week and a half. We fly into venice and then went on to pescara, rome, florence and then turin. We travelled via train all over and it is ridiculously cheap compared to UK. For instance, a 4/5 hour journey from venice to pescara cost us 79 euros altogether including first class tickets. This was the most expensive train journey we had during our time, so you can imagine what the rest of the prices were like. :)
 
Well, while I do agree with Gabe:

Gabe said:
The slower trains are cheaper and you may have to change, but driving in cities isn't a good idea,
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I would like to add that driving can still be an option. You can take the highway to arrive from one place to another (or don't take the highway, take the 'normal' road and see Italy as you drive), leave the car at your hotel or b&b or wherever it is you find accommodation, and visit the cities and surroundings by foot, by bus or by train (for one day trips, leave in the morning, come back in the evening, I've done it many times and it's quite fun!)

Or, fly to Italy (I see you are from England) and the travel by train. Prices depend on how far you want to travel. You should visit trenitalia's website to compare prices (you can switch to the English version, in the upper right corner of the website)
 
I really depends on the group size because if you have four adults, then driving could be cheaper and more convenient. There are some places that don't have great train services like Sardinia so you have to drive there, but it also depends on how much time you have. I personally like the train, but if you have small children then they may like to sleep in the car on a long journey too.
 
There will be a group of 4 of us (two couple's) as for where to go, we are open to suggestions. We've all been to italy before (seperatley) but only ever to the cities.
We have been looking at taking three to four week's off work and trying to take in as much of Italy as possible. I wouldn't say that money is no object but the cost of the transport isnt really an issue, i was thinking more of the best way to see the country.
My first idea was trains but wasnt too sure what the service is like, especially out in the country and how reliable it would be.
After what you've said though this might be the way to go afterall?
 
I would get the train then and rent a car there if you feel you need to. You get more freedom and renting a car isn't a problem in Italy. If you are going to travel around and stopping at various places then the train makes sense. It also depends and how long you want to stay in each place. Weekend trains are not always great and prices depend on the time of day you travel as well on certain trains.

Cinq Terre is one of my favorite places and that whole region, so I used to stay in one place and use it as a base to travel around so it was less hassle moving hotels and you can get a better room rate if you stay longer. That might be an idea for each region you go to?
 
That is pretty much what we had in mind. Use one main town or city as a base and then we're fee to explore the region without having to worry about a set timetable or schedule. Renting a car is still an option and we've all drove on the continent before so that can be shared if we decide to do it that way, i just fancied a different way but i guess thats something we can decide when we get there.

Many thanks for all your help up to now, especially as i'm a newcomer, and no doubt i'll be popping up again with many other questions!

I shall be around on the forums and i shall contribute as much as i can.

Thanks once again.
 
@pwarbi it sounds like a good idea. It maybe an idea to look up hotels first to see what is available or apartments because many smaller hotels have their own websites and booking isn't automatic. In some parts there are no big chains and weekends are always booked up for weekend breaks, so it's worth looking at what areas you want to stay in and check availability.
 
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