We are going to Italy in 2 weeks and are still discussing travel between Milan, Venice and Florence with a flight home from Milan. We plan on being in Venice a week, Florence a week and only overnight in Milan on the return home. We would like to do a little hopping about while in Venice and Florence but also would be content to just soak up both cities. We were told that getting the train from Milan, to Venice then to Florence can be a pain and it was recommended we rent a car...husband is having fits over manual trans as I am the only one of us who has ever driven one. Any ideas or suggestions?

Hi P,

>We were told that getting the train from Milan, to Venice then to Florence can be a pain ...<

Unless you have a lot of luggage (and you shouldn't) I think it would be easier than driving between cities and then having to either park or drop the car.

Train schedules and tickets are at www.trenitalia.com.

If going to these cities mainly a car is a hassle once there - limited parking, problem of theft from cars, much of these cities (all of Venice) is off-limits to cars.

Cars great for driving around Tuscany hill towns - lousy in cities like that. The Italian train system today is as modern, on mainlines, as any in Europe - comfy trains right into city center. This is a no-brainer to me, if spending time mainly in these cities.

And train will be more relaxing than driving on the Indy 500 type autostrada.

I don't see where the "pain" is for the routes you need.

There are direct trains at least once an hour between Milan and Venice. Others require one change.

There are trains at least once an hour between Venice and Florence. Most require one change. A few are direct.

There are direct trains once or twice an hour between Florence and Milan.

A quick and easy way to see all your choices is to visit www.bahn.de, the German national rail site that has timetables for most of Europe. It's viewable in English. Enter Milano, Venezia Santa Lucia, and Firenze rather than the English equivalents.

It depends on how much "hopping around" you want to do.

If you are staying in Venice and Florence and then straight back to Milan - train should be fine.

But if you plan on doing 4/5 day trips - esp betwen Venice and Florence and out of Forence into the Tuscan countryside - then I would train from Milan to Venice, pickup the car on leaving Venice and do your various day trips (garaging the car in Florence when you don;t want it) and turn it in once you're not doing any more day trips.

Then return to Milan by train.

And as for the standard transmission - just rent a car with automatic if your husband prefers to drive.

Thanks! I like the idea of renting a car for driving the Tuscan countryside as we had talked about doing a bit of that and seeing some wineries. No, we won't have more than one suitcase for each of us and each a carry-on bag--so not a lot of luggage. It was a native who told us the trains would be a "pain". As for the auto trans---that's the husband freaking out over the price of an auto as compared to manual. He can't wrap his brain around the doubling of prices for auto (and the fact that they are not as easily available). I'm thinking a car between Venice and Florence--garaged on off days--may be the wisest choice for my own sanity.