Sprig

This is our first trip to Italy and the plan is to fly into Milan and spend first two nights in Como and then train to Venice for three nights, train to Florence for three nights. We then plan to pickup a car on the outskirts and spend four nights in Siena as our base to explore Tuscany and Umbria. We are looking for a hotel with parking and see Palazzo Ravizza mentioned often. How will it be to navigate in and out of town every morning from their parking. Friends were there last year and stayed in a Best Western just outside the gates and said this was very convenient as there is a shuttle into town. We plan to tour around during the day and then return for dinner in Siena so that we can enjoy a bottle of wine with dinner without driving. We then plan to drive to Rome and again leave the car on the outskirts. Would the airport in Florence and Rome be the best place to pickup and drop the car? Your feedback would be appreciated. We will end our trip with 3 days in Rome, 2 days in Sorrento/Capri and then 1 final day in Rome before we travel home.

This is also our first experience with trains in Europe. We plan to prebook first class with reserved seating as I hate getting on trains and trying to find a seat together. Any advice to give on trains or handling our bags etc. We have rented a car and driven around but we are really green when it comes to trains.

By the way a little green at this as well as posted once and message didn't come up. If this appears twice please forgive.

rex

You're "forgiven" (for asking twice, not that you have to ask forgiveness!) - - it is confusing to a newcomer (or anyone) when you can't tell if your post "took".

Two tips: when you are unsure, one or both of these can clarify... use "Control-N" to open a new and duplicate window... and then F5 to "refresh".

If you are still unsure, click on your own name (upper left hand corner) - - this will bring up all of your posts, and your newest one should be at the top - - I think this works unfailingly.

If it is not there, then indeed, it did not take. Back in the original, use the "back" button, and it should take you back to where you were composing in "Post a reply" (usually with your post still there in the box) - - and then try "post my reply" again (as oppposed to trying to start a new post).

In any event, there are a lot of questions in this, and in your (different titlle, but essentially same post). You have both hotel and transportation questions. I think that the train travel will be the easiest part of this, and you need not worry about that - - and this is coming from someone who is a major proponent of car rental. Personally, I might have tried to re-arrange, to put Como somewhere other than at the beginning - - though it will be a nice place to relax (I just hope your flight over doesn't ruin your first day in europe, so that you miss out on the beauty and lushness of Lake Como).

You can pick up your car in Florence without having to go out to the airport, not too far from the train station on Via Borgo Ognissanti.

I am a little unclear if you are turning the car back in, when you arrive in Rome. There is a fork in the (decision tree) road to be made here, and neither path is clearly the better.

As for hotel choices, near or in Siena, with car in/out access, I will leave that to someone with specific relevant experience.

Best wishes,

Rex

ira

Hi S,

> Any advice to give on trains or handling our bags etc.<

You will have to lift your luggage up about 3 steps to get it on the train. There are racks at one end of the car (always the opposite end) for large suitcases.

Keep your eye on your luggage whenever the train stops at a station.

suze

My best train advice concerns luggage, in a word the less you have the better. Ideally (1) 22" rolling suitcase each person. Train travel is not all that difficult, but will be much less stressful if you aren't dragging around too much stuff.

That's a BIG difference from car trips IMO. Got to check out of hotel, get to train station by foot or public transpo or taxi, into the station... buy ticket, punch ticket, whatever... find platform possibly up steps or escalator, board train's steep and narrow steps, find seat and stow luggage in overhead shelf. It is less of a schlepp when you're packed light, is my rambling point here.

Please don't misunderstand, I personally LOVE traveling by train in Europe and have had only favorable experiences doing so.

rex

Bringing your message back up "to the top"...

Sprig

All thanks for advice. Rex we are planning on dropping the car off on the way into Rome. I am not sure where would be the best place. Any suggestions?

rex

The "Sottoterraneo Borghese" (underground car park) is an easy place, but I don't know if that will be easiest from your hotel (not mentioned)or not. You might e-mail your hotel and ask them. Others scoff at this, but I say one advantage of arriving into Rome is to take your bags directly to the front door of your hotel in your car. Then you could choose to hire a cab to lead you to the car rental return place, to bring you back from there.

greg

I will comment on train.

Since you are taking the train from Venice to Florence, remember that the train's destination is Roma. The italian trains change platforms often so trust only the latest digital display info which would display next ~30min worth of departures.

Since I am presuming you are taking the Eurostar, you can make a reservation at Trenitalia online site. The seat request is GENERAL, they show you a general seat orientation map. Even though you might have asked for specific orientation, such as 1x1 side facing each other, you don't always get what you ask. They do put your group in very close proximity, diagonally across, across the aisle, etc. Don't get surprised.

The "ticketless" works as described: you show the receipt you get from the Trenitalia on the train to the ticket inspector who would then fill out a yellow receipt in return. No need to deal with ticket windows.

If you did not buy your ticket online or have to change the reservation, remember that the ticket counters at large stations can have HUGE waiting lines. If you know you need to change the reservation, do it at a smaller station ahead of time.

You might have to kick out a squatter sitting in your reserved seat.

As many said, you need to climb up steps thru a narrow door to get into the car. While there are unsecured luggage storage at the end of the car, you still have to drag your luggage up the steps. Best not to exceed 22"size luggage. The bottom step and the platform can have a SUBSTANTIAL gap as well as not being at the same height.

nini

We did not stay at Palazzo Ravizza but it is mentioned often and seems to be very well liked. In Siena you can drive to the hotel to unload your luggage and then you drive your car to a carpark outside the walled city. Siena is totally walkable so you will not have to walk any distance. Remember these walled towns were never designed for cars. Siena has seven portas (gates) and you need to know which one will be the nearest to your hotel. Our hotel neglected to inform us which porta to enter (in our case it was portatufi) so we entered from the opposite side and it was not fun driving through the narrow streets filled with pedestrians. It was a stressful experience and we were very happy to get the car parked and be on foot. We stayed two nights in Siena which IMO was plenty. It was noisy and a little too busy for me. I did not love it--Umbria and Tuscany were wonderful. Have a great trip!

jgg

We recently returned from Italy with our two kids and were very green when it came to train travel. It was one of the things I was most concerned about, especially with the kids, and I just want to let you know it is really VERY easy. We each had a 21-22" rollaboard plus a carry on plus one extra suitcase. We booked first class and had no problem getting all our stuff on the racks in the back. There is also a fair amount of room above your seat, that most people did not use. If you really are worried about lifting your luggage there are porters available (for a fee, of course) but they are available.

RufusTFirefly

We normally carry a 26" and 27" suitcase on our trips, and we haven't had any trouble on trains. So a 22" would certainly be a piece of cake.

Sprig

Great information. The trains had me quite worried because our experience with trains is pretty limited. Also Rex thanks for the site info. I never realized that I could click on my name and find my posts. See when you know what you are doing it makes it very easy.

One of the reasons we picked Siena was because it looked pretty lively at night. If we tour around during the day, then we can enjoy our night out in town. Although I must say after touring around all day we usually do dinner and head back to the hotel. But it is nice to have lots of restaurant options in town. I have to check on the hotel in Rome to figure out where we are to figure out where to leave the car. We don't have everything nailed down yet including the hotels but have a rough outline. Love reading all the posts and info. Thanks so much for info on the trains and where to pickup and drop the car.

When we were in Portugal a couple of years ago and were dreadfully lost in Oporto as there was massive construction in the old town. We tried a trick that we learned from a friend. We kept asking directions and couldn't understand a word of them. The English is somewhat limited on the streets of Oporto. Finally a cab pulled up in front of us and I darted out with the hotel address. My hubbie was little worried that we would lose him as I traveled in the cab. I promised I would make the cabbie understand that "my man" was following us and he couldn't lose him, English or not. It worked out wonderfully. He stopped at every yellow light and waved reassuringly to my husband behind. We were at the hotel in no time. It was tricky and we would never half found it on our own.

The more you hear the more you learn. Thanks for the advice and don't hesitate to give more.

Thanks.

rex

You're welcome, sprig... might I encourage you to send an e-mail of this post to [email protected] (using the e-mail function provided here) - - letting them know that you could have avoided a lot of difficulty, if you had been informed of how "click on your own name works... at the time they first sent you a confirmation of your registration? Or alternatively, it would be very easy to auto-send such an e-mail, the FIRST time a new registrant makes a new post of his/her own.

I have complained about this failure on the part of Fodors... but it might have some different impact coming from any "new" registrant who had to learn it this way, almost a month after you first visited this Europe forum (not to mention your posts on the Africa forum, over a year ago!)

Sprig

We will be staying at the Hotel Oxford in Rome and the car rental suggested dropping the car at the Villa Borghese. Rex, you mentioned the Borghese underground car park. Would this be close to the same area? Our hotel is apparently just off the Via Veneto, allegedly about 12 blocks from the Spanish Steps and a short walk to the Villa Borghese. How would the drive into Rome be if this was where we are going? I must say we have friends who made the driving in Rome sound pretty scary and that is why we thought about dropping car outside of town.
I think I understand trains now thanks to all the helpful advice. Just need to nail down this car thing.
In Florence we are only a couple of blocks from the train station which might be a good place to pickup the car as well. Your thoughts on this would be appreciated.

motor_city_girl

Just back from our first trip to Italy and did the train traveling thing. We had two 22 inch rolling bags and two HUGE rolling backpacks. It was fine. A few times, we put the big bags in a seat...no big deal. We were never on a REALLY crowded train.

Two pieces of advice:

Buy lock to use for your train travel. It make it easier to relax and sleep. I bought cable locking systems because our bags had a lot of locks and then we could also lock them to the racks. I never felt it neccesary to do this. We never had any problems. Also, keep in mind that you literally have minutes to get on and off. It helps if one of you gets on and the other hands bags up.

We booked all of our ticket at the station in Rome when we arrived and got first class with no problem.