HELP W/ CAR IN VENICE
 

Hope you fodorites can help- My wife and I are going to Italy in September and will be flying in and out of Milan. We will be renting a car to drive through Tuscany and Umbria for two weeks. From there we will be driving to Venice to spend a couple of days before coming home. The question is- should we turn the car back in in Venice and take the train back to Milan, or should we pay for parking for two days and drive back to Milan? Is it easy to get to the airport in Milan from a hotel in Milan? We are doing this trip on somewhat of a budget and don't know of the cost of four train tickets to Milan from Venice vs. paying for the car for two days plus the parking fees in Venice. Also, any thoughts on where to stay in Milan for easy access to an early flight? <BR> <BR>Thanks in advance, <BR>Sean

The Venice-Milan IC train should cost you about Lit 35,000/person (2nd class). <BR> <BR>The 2-day parking in Venice should cost you from Lit 50,000 to Lit 90,000, depending where you park and size of car (from the cheapest to most expensive): Tronchetto island open lot, Autorimessa Comunale (soon after the bridge on your right) or Garage San Marco. From Venice to Milan you should spend some Lit 26,000 in tolls and about Lit 35,000 in gas ... add the 2-day rental cost and ... the train comes out much cheaper. <BR> <BR>The cheapest way to get from center Milan to Malpensa is by bus (which departs close to the central train station). I understand you may now also catch the new express train (more expensive) at the Cadorna station (Stazione Nord). <BR> <BR>Know nothing about hotels since I've always stayed with relatives. <BR> <BR>Paulo <BR> <BR>

The Hotel Belvedere is located on the small island called Lido. You can park for free right in front of the hotel. The ferry from the mainland will take you there and you can use the water transit to get to and from Venice - it takes about 15 minutes to get from Lido to Venice and the view of the city is breathtaking. Lido is quaint and quiet and the hotel is nice and not expensive at all. Plus, they had a very good dry cleaning service.

Sean, <BR>Another caution regarding costs. Paulo's math is quite correct but you should investigate what the car rental agency will do if you turn the car in two days short of a full two weeks. The agency may charge you for one week and five days with the daily rate applying for each of the five days. Doing so jacks up the rental cost considerably.

We parked at Tronchetto and our hotel gave us a discount ticket for the parking. Check on that. If you do park there go to the end of the garage that is closest to the vaporetto stop you will have to get on. Makes it easier to move your bags as the parking structure is very large and very far from the far end to the boat to Venice. I would check out train tix and then evaluate from there. The convenience of a car and baggage versus dealing with a train is hard to beat and worth something.

Sean - While touring Italy a couple years ago by car an owner of a small hotel told us of a hotel in Jesolo which is on a peninsula just NE of Venice. We stayed there, just 2 blocks off the Gulf of Venice for $42.00 for a double room.We then drove to the ferry and went into Venice. Both the ferry and parking were very inexpensive. If interested email me I have a brochure from the Hotel somewhere. Regards - Tom

By staying in Lido as Audrey suggests, you would save parking expenses but you would have to pay for the two ferry transfers: Lit 34,000 if your car is under 4m lenth or Lit 54,000 if it's between 4 and 4.5m. <BR> <BR>Anyways, Sean, you say you're travelling with your wife ... and later you refer to four Venice-Milan train tickets. I'm therefore assuming you're travelling with your kids or else. In my opinion, the "best" scheme for you to use will actually depend whether: <BR> <BR>a) if you decide to pick a hotel in the center of Milan, close to the train station, and eventually visit some of Milan before going to the airport the next morning, I would return the car in Venice and pick the train to Milan ... because, 1) it's cheaper and, 2) it's more convenient (returning the car in Piazzale Roma is a piece of cake; driving into Milan, searching the car rental return office, etc., might be a pain) <BR> <BR>b) if you decide to stay at a hotel somewhere near the airport (e.g., the city of Gallarate) and forfeit a Milan short visit completely I would keep the car because: 1) going by train I would still have to find (an pay) my way from the train station to the hotel and from the hotel to the airport; 2) I would avoid the luggage handling nuisance <BR> <BR>Between the a) and b), above, I would choose b), because: 1) there's a chance it would turn out cheaper (hotels rates outside town are much lower than in Milan's centre, one avoids the station-hotel and hotel-airport transfers, etc); 2) it would permit me to leave Venice later, around 3pm (if one decides to spend a night in Milan's centre one should arrive in time to visit at least the Duomo) and; 3) more convenient with respect to handling luggage, in an out train stations, etc <BR> <BR>Paulo <BR> <BR>PS. Staying outside Venice as Sean suggests is indeed cost effective ... but there are no terms of comparison with staying in the city proper! <BR>

While weighing all the evidence, be sure to check whether you would incur a dropoff charge if you turned in the car at a different location from where you picked it up. I personally didnt have a dropoff charge, but I've heard of them. <BR> <BR>As far as a place to stay in Milan for access to an early flight, I am assuming you mean you are flying out of Malpensa. There are quite a few threads on this, and maybe you can do a keyword search. I stayed at Hotel Cervo which is VERY near Malpensa. I found them on a link from the www.malpensa.it website. Good luck.