Hi,

We are highly considering using a car when leaving Venice to Cinque Terre.

We will have 2 (or 3) nights to spend somewhere in between Venice to Cinque Terre (we will have the car).

It'd be lovely to experience small colorful towns and nature.

Could you recommend please on such places where we could stop and stay 2-3 nights?

Thanks a lot!

You could stop at Verona or Lake Garda, then Bergamo

or down to Modena or Parma.

Hi,
Thank you very much.

Bergamo is lovely but is too north from La Spezia.

We are thinking of Cremona.

What day trips would you recommend to take from Cremona?

What are you going to do with the car when you get to the Cinque Terre? Park it in one of the (expensive) municipal lots at the top of the hill, then carry your bags down? And carry them back up at the end of your visit? And the road is inland, away from the coast. The villages are connected by trains, trails and boats.

You could drop the car in La Spezia, then continue to the CT by train. I don't know if it's a problem driving in La Spezia (ZTLs) to the drop-off location.

A ZTL is an area in an Italian city or town where only locals can drive. It's easy to stumble into one of these areas, have your photo taken, and receive an expensive ticket in the mail months afterwards. Also the rental car company charges you for outing you to the traffic police.

As a general rule, park on the outside of small towns and walk in.

Forgot to mention you must have a International Driver's Permit to drive in Italy -- along with your driver's license. In North America an IDP is easily and cheaply available at your local AAA/CAA office.

Two other points:
- in Italy you need to pay for CDW on your rental.
- Italy has strict drunk driving laws. Beware.

I would take the train. As Mimar mentioned above, cars are not allowed in the villages in CT, you have to pay to park outside the town. It is much easier to get around by the train, ferry. Stay in one of the small towns in CT and enjoy the village after the day trippers leave. Not all the paths were open when we went, but the hikes between the villages are a great way to see the area. We took the train from Milan to Cinque Terre. You can see my hikes and my stay in Cinque Terre on my website at http://winenchocolate.com/where-to-s...-cinque-terre/. We really enjoyed Cinque Terre.

Hi Mimar, Vacationlady,

Thanks a lot for your help.

We will indeed drop our car in Pisa / La Spezia / Florence, where we could take a train to CT. (a recommended car rental would be appreciated).

Our main interest is, how to spend 3 days (2 nights) with a car from Venice to CT?

Do you have a recommendation please?

Both Verona and Parma would be excellent places to stop off. We kept our car in the Cinque Terre. Parked it in Monterosso's lot by the sea and ourchotel paid for our taxi to their property.

Look at www.autoeurope.com for car rentals. They are a rental broker and we always book with them for Europe.

DH and I loved Bologna and trained to Ravenna from there.

We always traveled by train or bus but have seen warnings here about driving restrictions there and in Florence if you are not a citizen.

Are you still planning to stay in Bologna and day trip to Florence? It would narrow down the choices somewhat if we knew that information.

Hi TDudette, HappyTrvlr,

Thank you for your comments.

TD,
How early did you book the trains?

HT,
Did you actually find the car useful in the CT?
How many nights did you spend there?

Too many options to list them all... It depends on your interests.

Off the top of my head, Verona (although it's not far from Venice and you wouldn't need/want a car there), Ferrara, Ravenna, Faenza, Mantova, Cremona... You should do a little research to know what different towns/areas offer.

As sundriedtopepo mentioned, it would be helpful to know if this is part of a larger trip possibly covering some of the same ground, also, what time of year? Most likely, the car would just stay parked while you're in the CT, but if your stay there is brief and you'd need the car to reach the next destination you might want to just keep it.

Hi Jean,

Thanks a lot for your kind reply.

We are landing in Mid-May in Venice, stay there 3 nights (might do a day-trip to Verona by train), and then hire a car for 2 nights towards La Spezia.

We'll probably return the car in La Spezia (or Pisa if it doesn't work out to return it in La Spezia, since we will be returning the car on a Sunday and La Spezia office seems to be close on Sundays).

We'll then spend 4 nights in the CT, and take a train to Milano Central, and will later into the night depart from MXP.

During the 2 nights with the car (from Venice to CT) we wish to visit charming picturesque towns.

Cremona sounds wonderful, also Bologna.

Bologna offers many day trips, but since we are not going to book an hotel but an apartment, where would we park the car?

Does Cremona offer day trips if we stay there for 2 nights with a car?

Thank you very much.

We had a car while in CT as we were moving on to Rome to return the car after our 3 day visit. You park it in a lot and leave it on the edge of the village, in our case Monterosso. If you decide to do this, pick your day and time as there are a lot of day trippers parking to use the beaches and parking is scarce. I'd say late Sunday would be a good time.

Only recommendation would be Bologna and Lucca between Venice and CT.

I love small and charming picturesque towns in between city visits. To my mind, Bologna is not a small town, although a great place to visit.
I'm not sure if this is what you had in mind, but if you stay in Lucca, you could venture into the Garfagnana to Barga or Castelnuovo di Garfagnana.
Also within a reasonable drive is the marble quarries of Carrara.

http://www.slowtrav.com/italy/tuscany/barga.htm

http://www.lifeinitaly.com/tourism/tuscany/barga

http://girlinflorence.com/2014/07/29...visit-carrara/

Just an idea, off the beaten track... not sure if this would interest you...

If you only have 3 nights in Venice, that means only 2 full days to explore. Not enough time, IMO, to contemplate a day trip to Verona. (FYI, unless you used taxis, the Verona train station is a 20-30 minute walk from the main sights.)

Comments on your "between" nights plan... Two nights means only one full day to explore a town, and I think having a car only makes sense if you plan to visit very small towns not easily (or at all) accessible by train and if you keep moving toward the CT rather than spend 2 nights in one place. Nearly every town and city has instituted a limited traffic zone (ZTL) that you can't drive into at most times, so the idea of making quick visits to towns along the way isn't necessarily as easy as you might think. You have to watch for the ZTL signs, find parking outside the centers of towns, and walk in and out, all of which takes a bit of time.

Two nights in Bologna, IMO, means no time for day trips and no need for a car. Getting there from Venice and traveling onward to the CT is easy, and, travelling by train, you could leave Bologna later on the last day and not be concerned with driving after dark, trying to find the car rental office, etc. But if you decide to drive to Bologna, you should know the boundaries of the ZTL, pick lodging with parking outside of the ZTL or investigate parking outside the ZTL but close to the lodging. If budget matters, you'd be paying to rent and park a car that sits for 2 days of your 3-day rental.

But... According to Autoeurope.com, the downtown car rental office in La Spezia (Via Fratelli Rosselli) has a drop box option on Sundays.

Depending on the route you take, your drive from Venice to the Cinque Terre will take you past the following worthwhile destinations: Vicenza, Verona, Mantua, Modena and Parma. In your place, I'd probably base myself in or near Mantua (one of my favorites) and stop in Vicenza on the way there.

If you are staying 3 nights, you can do a day trip to Verona and Sirmione (on Lake Garda) on your first full day; and see Mantua and Modena on the second full day. Finally, stop in Parma on your way to the Cinque Terre. Of course, there are limitless options, but this itineary gives you a lot of bang for your buck, and doesn't waste time going out of your way. Have fun!

I vote for Mantua and look at Palazzo Arrivebene , a charming B&B that we stayed at. We went from Venice to here and spent a few days exploring this quaint town that was like a mini Florence with a rich history and definitely off the beaten path.

When we drove from here to Portofino which is just north of CT we stopped and had a fabulous lunch in Parma! If you have an exta night I fell in love with the town of Camogli which is on the coast north of Portofino, it is a lovely fishing village, check it out online!

We stayed in Monterosso at a sweet B&B above town, that had its own parking, called IL Parco it was well appointed and a short walk into town.

Enjoy the planning!
Happy trails!