love2travel2LA

We are going to Italy in August. We are a family of 4 and would like to know anyone's thoughts on driving from venice to florence vs taking the train. It looks expensive to do both but which is less stressful in getting around? How about the drive from florence to Rome?

ellenem

If you are just driving straight from one city to the other, then train is the best idea--no need to mess with renting a car, paying tolls, paying high prices for fuel, or chancing a ZTL violation in Florence and high-priced ticket in the mail months later. Train is city center to city center--very easy.

Ann1

And on the other hand, if you have time, you can see Verona, Bologna, etc, etc on the way to Florence. You can drop the car off outside of Florence and not have to worry about violations. You don't need it in the city anyway.

michele_d

Hi love2travel2LA ,
You won't need a car in either Venice, Florence or Rome so unless you plan to spend time in the little towns along the way I would just take the train.
Have fun,
Michele

Dukey

Guess what? You can also see Verona, Belogna, etc., etc., by taking the TRAIn there from Venice and STILL not have to wprry about car pick-up, drop-off, gas, parking, TRAFFIC, and the fact that the DRIVER has to spend a lot of time, well...driving and not seeing the scenery along the way.

Love2travel2la, are you one of those families which has NEVER taken a train by chance??????

nochblad

It all depends upon how much time you have, your interests and age of your children.

The autostrada across the Po valley is not very scenic. If you have time you could do Venice to Verona with a quick stopover in Marostica - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marostica - rarely or never mentioned and then head south stopping at Mantova (Mantua) a small but glorious city. In August I do not recommend Bologna as it will be baking hot.

A car in Florence will enable you to visit many towns near to Florence - such as Fiesole - as well as further afield such as the Chianti region, Siena, San Gimigniano, Pisa/Lucca etc as well as choosing a place to stay in the hills around Florence which is recommended in the month of August (that's why the better off Florentines all stay in the countryside during the summer months) plus offers the possibility of a pool which is so welcome after a day of sightseeing etc.

Furthermore on the way down to Rome you can have side visits to Arezzo, Orvieto, Viterbo etc.

Depend upon the time etc

jabez

I am traveling from Greve to Venice this fall. Normally I'd train, but since I'll have a car already it's less time to drive it (although I'll actually leave car in Verona and train from there.
In your circumstance-train.
Florence to Rome-train. Only exception if you want to take time to visit a few hill towns and don't drive into rome proper. But even then, I'd train to Orvieto for lunch and then train to Rome.
Note: I have driven these routes (especially Rome-Tuscany) many times and they are not difficult.

jabez

Oops, leaving car in Padua not Verona.

Paul1950

Both public transport and rental car travel have advantages and disadvantages. As pointed out by others, if you just want to get from city to city, train would be easiest and least stressful.

Jedmo68631

Take the train, driving is way too stressful and quite expensive.

tedgale

In terms of convenience, the train wins hands down -- and I have tried both options on that route.

There is no significant time difference.

In terms of cost: It's hard to estimate in a vacuum. For example, you can probably get a 30% discount on the train tkts if you book far enough in advance. If you are traveling with kids, there may be other discounts available.

It's hard to estimate driving costs if we don't know how many days you wd keep a car, how much gas the car wd consume etc etc.

BTW: I've tried going off the motorway to travel by secondary routes but the minimal charms of the villages and the countryside did not really justify leaving the A-road.

Ann1

As you can see everyone has an opinion. Some hate driving and some love it. We love to wander and find little interesting places that we wouldn't see on the train. I love the trains, but find them more stressful than driving. It's all how you feel about the method of transportation and what you want to see and do.

Mimar

Pros on trains for kids: more space, no need to strap them in, toilet at end of car

Cons on trains for kids: more luggage to drag, especially if changing trains en route

How old are your children? Can they pull their own bags?

But for Venice to Florence and Florence to Rome, fast trains will whisk you city center to city center with no changes. And if you're coming from the US (LA?), trains should be a real treat for the kids.