My family have a trip planned for May 2012. Dates are set, lodging confirmed.
We will be traveling by train until we get to Naples. How can we best obtain train tickets on-line?

In Naples we will be renting a car. How soon should we book the car? We plan to have a full size car for four adults for seven days and then trade it in for a smaller care for 2 adults for another 8 days. Would changing cars be possible?
Would appreciate any advise or comments.

atmrjy

You can obtain tickets 90d in advance at www.trenitalia.com. Advance purchase is NOT required, but you can get some good discounts if you do so. There is nothing magic about 90 days, so no need to mark your calendar for Feb 2012.

Any route that includes a regional train (labeled R on trenitalia.com) cannot be booked more than 7d in advance and there are no discounts. For those it's best just to buy your tickets at the train station in Italy.

Unlike plane tickets, car reservations are usually fully canceleable so I book those early on and change or cancel if I find a better price.

Of course you can trade in a car for a smaller one. Just make the 1st reservation for 7d, and a 2nd, separate reservation for 8 days.

Trenitalia.com is the site for train tickets, and while changing cars should be possible it would probably require seperate bookings which may not be as economical. It is also a good idea to have a car in Italy with a bit of grunt, especially for the Auto stradas and for the slow winding country roads.

EVERYONE drives small cars in Italy and you'll run into problems with parking and narrow streets with anything full-size. I hit a wall in a medium size car trying to get through a narrow driveway. I thought a slightly bigger car was more safe but soon realized I was the only one on the road with one.

Thanks to all for the useful information. I hadn't thought about the narrow streets. Maybe we will have to rethink the amount luggage we bring so we can rent a smaller car.

With 4 adults look into a mid-sized wagon. That will give you plenty of room for luggage in the back.

It may turn out that a two-week rental is cheaper on a daily basis than two one-week rentals, even if the two-week rental is the bigger car. That was the case for me for a 31 day rental, albeit in France. Check the rental rates with AutoEurope or Kemwel, but because the rental rate includes the CDW, check if there is a deductible. If there is, ask AutoEurope if it has a rate with no deductible and then compare it with http://www.economycarrentals.com/ which offers rentals with no deductible ("no excess" is their phrase). Sometimes this latter broker is cheaper than AutoEurope or Kemwel, and sometimes not.

Where are you going with the car?
You do not want to drive in naples and I do not suggest it on the AC---especially a larger car. You can also get the car in Sorrento rather than naples.

http://www.trenitalia.com may be the best option to get tickets for the train. You can also try with http://www.italiarail.com/
When I have been in Italy the first time I have rented an Audi A6 and I will never do this again. Parking problems everywhere and on top of the everybody drives small cars. Since than each time I have to travel I rent Golf or Polo and no problems.
I have been doing it with http://www.victoriacars.com and got the car with Europcar. Good luck.

i tried your website suggestion on car rental but it was for Spain. Is there one for Italy as We will need a car for about 4 days driving from Rome to Venice......

Hi At,

>Maybe we will have to rethink the amount luggage we bring so we can rent a smaller car.<

Absolutely.

You should have only one suitcase per person and that should be light enough for you to lift over your head.

I recommend you rent from
www.kemwel.com
www.auteurope.com
www.novacarhire.com

Call them to work out the best arrangements for your trip.

Enjoy your visit.

PS

You will need an International Drivers Permit in Italy

And to get the drivers' permit, go to the closes AAA office. if you have a passport-sized photo, take it and your driver's license with you. Or they will take your picture and put it into the permit. I'm not sure how much it costs, but it's around $30.

All this does is translate the items on your DL, such as name, address, etc. into Italian so the police can figure out which data are which.

Thanks to all for the information. "ira" the car rental sites will be a great help.

If I rent a car in Sorrento, what is the best way to get from the Naples train station to Sorrento.

what italy considers a full size car may seem more like a mid-size to you... in many towns you may encounter tons of problems with a big car...

make two seperate res for the different dates for cars...

car insurance is mandatory and you can NOT sign it away to your credit card...

i believe that there is a train from Naples central station to Sorrento.

If you want to save money at the risk of complicating your life, you can read these threads.

http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...s-resident.cfm


http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...c-question.cfm

I always book AutoEurope and Kemwell cars by phone. The last few times I've done this, most recently for a rental begining next week, I have been offered a price that has been substantially lower than the price listed online. I find that rate on any of their affiliated sites--usually the AE Italian site, and then phone to ask them to book this for me.

my best cheapest rentals in Italy have always been with

tigercarrentals.com usually rent after I stay in Rome

at FCO for best rates econos from under 200 euro/wk all in

Naples rental will be more and if u take the FrecciaRosa

fast train u will pay 80 euro pp to from so with 2 or more

rent from Rome save cost of your entire rental almost

by not training... Do stay out of big cities to avoid

big parking charges and the Naples drivers most insane

in the country from personal experience.

Happy Hunting!

www.viamichelin.com good route info

www.hoteldelfino.com from $80/nt in May

and Best Western Paistea Positano from $100

were awesome for me in May there...