kpilling

Hi Guys,

Can anyone tell me if I fly into Milan from London and visit Venice, is it best to drive or train to Florence and then train or car to Tuscany? (We will rent a car while in Tuscany)Which is closer from Tuscany - Rome or Milan?

Thank you guys for your patience, I am a novice.

Karen

Thanks

Karen

Eloise

Sorry, I'm a bit confused here...

Do you want to visit Venice, Florence and Tuscany or only Florence and Tuscany? (Florence, incidentally, is in Tuscany; it's the capital of Tuscany.)

If it's Venice, Florence and Tuscany, fly into Venice, train to Florence, rent a car for Tuscany and fly out of Florence, Pisa or Bologna.

If it's only Florence and Tuscany, then Rome is closer. But you can also fly into Florence, Pisa or Bologna, train (if necessary) to Florence, rent a car for Tuscany and fly out of Florence, Pisa or Bologna.

kpilling

Sorry for the confusion. We are flying from London to Milan. We are visiting Venice first for 3 days. We are then going to Florence (is train better than car)? Then going from Florence through Tuscany region. Just trying to find out if it is better to rent a car in Venice and drive to Florence and Tuscany or better to train to Florence and then rent the car. Also, we are flying back to London, after visiting Tuscany. Is Rome or Milan closer? Thanks

Karen

swagman

Karen

This is an extract from Fodor's city guides "Direct service from Heathrow to Venice is provided daily by Alitalia and British Airways. One option is to fly into Milan and then go by train to Venice; the trip itself takes three hours, but getting from the airport to the station and catching your train can take an additional two or three hours."

You will not need a car in Florence which is very much a walking city plus parking is frightfully expensive there. Hence you may choose to take the train from Venice to Florence. Then train from Florence to a base in the country side. (As Eloise mentioned earlier Florence is IN Tuscany/Toscana).

Have you chosen such base? If not, I can recommend Siena which is the major town between Florence and Rome, it is easily reachable by train. And from there, one can easily visit nearby country towns such as San Gimignano, Volterra, Monteriggiori, the Chianti region including Greve, Radda, Castellini, Volpaia etc. Further south from Siena, you can also visit Montalcino, Pienza, Val San d'Orcia and Montepulciano. To visit all or some of the above towns, it is a lot easier if you have a car.

From Siena, Rome is definitely closer than Milan.

Hope the above helps. Enjoy planning!

S

ira

Hi K,

I suggest taking the train to Florence.

Rent the car for your drive through Tuscany.

Rome is 3hr by car from Siena, Milan is 3:30 hr.

You could drop the car in Siena and take the bus to Rome Tiburtina
http://www.senabus.it/
OR
You could drive to Orvieto, drop the car there and take the train to Rome TE.

Have a nice visit.

kpilling

Thank you all for such valuable info. Swagman, why does it take an additional two to three hours to get from Milan airport to the train station?

Karen

bobthenavigator

Yes, but why Milan?

swagman

Karen

Perhaps flights from Heathrow land in Malpensa Airport which is way outside of Milan. Hence substantial time is required to get from there to Milan Centrale to catch your train to Venice.

S