Sandy_Brosam

Hi, we are trying to find ways to get around in Italy & Germany. We will fly out of US on April 16 arriving April 17 somewhere...do not have tickets yet.

This is our first and only trip to Europe so we want to do a lot in a short time. We will be in country from the 17th-27th

This is what we want to do:

Rent a car to drive on Nurburg Ring, only date available is the 22nd.

So before or after we get there we want to go to Porsche factory and museum, and Mercedes museum, which the Porsche factory has to be during the week.

Go to Bologna and do the tours there, spending 1 or 2 days?

And spend 3-4 days in Venice.

I am looking at flying into Stuttgart on the 17th, going to Porsche one day and Mercedes the next, then traveling to Nurnburg Ring to rent a car to drive on the 22nd. (only day available) what is the best way to get there? Rental car, train, fly? We don't know about the roads, we would like to see the country but not spend all the time driving. The train rides I found are longer than driving time by my estimates? Are there airlines that do short flights, I keep finding ones to Amsterdam or Frankfurt and we still have a long distance to drive? Can we fly straight from Stuttgart to Cologne?

And then when we leave Nurmburg we want to go to Bologna for a car tour and then finish in Venice. It appears we need to take a train from Bologna to Venice, as I could not find a direct flight. We can fly out from Venice to US thru Amsterdam.

Any suggestions would be great, as to names of airlines, schedules...
Thanks, Sandy

adrienne

Before you rent a car in Germany and drop it off in Italy check the drop off fees. The fees could be a lot of money.

The train may appear to take longer but I've found that actual driving time is about 25% longer than internet driving estimates. The drive time shown on the internet does not include stopping for gas or health breaks and for getting lost. You also need to be concerned about "no driving" zones in Italian cities and where to park your car.

For airlines you could check Easyjet or Lufthansa and check schedules on line or call them.

qwovadis

Have done both seat61.com regional train like a local always cheapest best for me.Well pointed out above one way drop off rental fees are a killer also parking charges.Rental is ok if
you are road tripping in rural areas andstay out of big cities.Renault Eurodrive leases better usually than europpcar.com for me. Tigercarrentals.com good in Italy.
RT flights into MXP(Milan) aa.com working out best this
year for us for our Annual spring adventure.

qwovadis

Just scheduled some intra europe econo airlines over there with skyscanner.net cheapoair.com kayak.com/buzz for US Europe RT I always do a round trip into MXP MUC DUS FRA way cheaper than open jaw for us. aa.com seems to have the deals currently. Europcar.com if you go to germany and elect to rent. I probablywould trainthough for economy freedom and flexibility what we always do currently. eurochapo.com ricksteves.com good info.

Happy Travels!

Cowboy1968

When checking rail connections, use the proper name of the speedway town: Nürburg. Or Nuerburg, on an US keyboard.


Go by train from Stuttgart to Koblenz (nearest mainline station for Nürburg) in appr. 2.5 hrs.
Book up to 90 days in advance via bahn.com to secure (non-flexible) discount fares.

Get rental car to go from Koblenz station to Nürburgring (appr. 60kms, easy drive)

Break your neck doing the speedway (just kidding).

Depart for Bologna from either Cologne with Germanwings or Hahn (or "Frankfurt-Hahn airport", though it is far away from Frankfurt, but quite close to the Nürburgring) with Ryanair.
Both airports are appr. 80kms away.
Keep an eye on each low-cost airline's policy re. a zillion fees for this and that and checked and cabin luggage restrictions. Both will be substantially lower than for your intercontinental flight, but are probably the only non-stop connections from that region to Bologna. Flying Lufthansa one-way from Frankfurt Rhein-Main airport usually incurs a very steep o/w fare.
Check whichbudget.com for other options if you want.

While usually Ryanair is not everybody's darling, the departure from Hahn could give you the extra benefit to explore the Mosel valley before you take off to Italy, so you could add a day to stay in area after you did the Nürburgring.

Sandy_Brosam

Thank you for all the replies! I am trying to learn about all the differences, and these are very helpful. I thought I had a long time to plan, but our schedule got moved up.

I was concerned about driving too much as we do not know the roads, and I see comments about parking at the hotels, plus the added expense of fuel in Europe. We want to spend time seeing the country not the roads cooped up in a tiny car, thanks.

Also in the cities I mentioned above, do you know about the better hotels to choose? I am aware that some rooms are so tiny you can barely walk, my son and husband are both over 6 feet tall, so i am trying to make sure we get bigger rooms. I like the idea of a Bed & Breakfast, but we also want to be close enough to restaurants so we can eat some amazing local food.