Renting a Car and Driving from City to City...good idea or bad?

[smileblue27]

My wife and I are planning a trip next year. 10 days. We thought about renting a car and driving from city to city as we see fit. IE.... Rome to Pisa.....to Venice or FLorence ect ect. But no one seems to talk about seeing the country like this. I'm starting to re think this option. Please tell me what you all think and any experiences you know of trying to vacation using this method of travel. Thanks my friends. :

[Turambar]

Hi,
rent a car could be a very good idea, but it depend what do you want to visit. If you want to stay in the center of main cities (Rome, Florence and Venice) without go outside. But if you want to visit also the countryside and the small cities and towns of Italy the car is welcome! Italy have a lot of places to visit but difficul to reach with public transportation. have a car is the only way.
Obviously with car you must drive for one or more hours each day to visit this places, but you can easly find where to sleep or have lunch spending less than in the cieties.
To clarify the distances: from Rome to Florence you need 3 hours and the same from Florence to Venice using the highway. But my suggestion is to use the national ways: are slower and you must spend a whole day from Rome to Florence and from Florence to Venice, but you have enought time to have lunch and to spend in the little towns and villages.

Bye
Riccardo

[Paxi]

I went to Italy 2 yrs ago with friends. We took the train from city to city. It was a great way to travel and easy to navigate. We purchased tickets from AAA or online...you can buy them either way. I am sure a travel agent could help you.
We found the train relaxing ( we had first class tickets..not too much more than the coach tickets at that time).
The trains were very comfortable and we were able to enjoy the scenery. We brought food and drinks on the train. When we were at the destination, we either would have a driver pick us up, get a cab, or take the metros. With the price of gasoline at around $6 a gallon and the cost of the car and parking, I would think the train or a private driver would be something to think about.
Hope this helps.
Ciao.
Donna

[itravler]

Yes I think travel by car from city to city is very interesting. With a Rome car rental package you’ll experience one of the greatest ways to tour this city and its surroundings, as some of the attractions are fairly spread out and the train system is costly. If you want to add to your vacation experience by exploring the ruins at Pompeii or to ogle the architecture of the Leaning Tower of Pisa at your leisure, you’ll find that a rental car in Italy is the optimal mode of transport. The rental car which we took up there made our trip very easy during our vacation. And, once you’ve decided to rent a car in Rome try the Rome car rental service.

[hitomy]

Our family is planning a travel to Rome and we are very much interested in seeing the historical and impressive sights in the city. One of our friends visited Colosseum district and enjoyed the temples and churches there. Does the Rome car rental package include Colosseum district?

[tictactoe88]

I went to Italy this summer with my family and we rented a car. It was interesting to say the least. We were all over the place, staying in the major cities during the week and at the beach on the weekends, so we needed to rent the car. Getting from city to city was not the problem, it was actually driving in the city and trying to find our hotel, with four people who think they all know what they're doing that was. If you are renting a car to drive from city to city, I would recommend getting really good directions and really good maps, otherwise you will be like my family and lost in the city for hours before we finally stumbled upon the hotels. I can honestly say that the group tour I went on this summer with Contiki was ten times easier and less stressful, since transportation was included. :D Good luck