One Day Car Rental Outside Venice
 

We have several days in Venice around Thanksgiving as part of a 2 week trip to Italy (will also be in Florence and Rome). We will have had time to see all of the major Venice sites that interest us. 16 yo son is extremely interested in WW I history and would loooove to see the museum in Rovereto. I looked at train fares and it is about 30 E per person for a 2 hour trip one way. For 4 of us, that is at least 240E for the trip. Yikes! Or we could rent a car at the Venice airport and drive there. According to Google maps, the trip will take anywhere from 1:45 to 2:45 hours/minutes. The rental companies are Sixt and EuRopcar. And that would be about $75 for the whole day (pick up at 8am, return at 8 pm). I guess we have to add in the cost of a water taxi each way--we are staying near Plaza St. Marco. For the train, I suppose we either take a water taxi or hoof it across Venice.

It just seems to me that the car is a much better value. Unless the road from Verona to Rovereto is going to be covered in snow in November???????? We live in snow country but if it is really snowing I would feel better on the train. I know nothing about the weather there that time of year, that's why I am posting here.

Opinions? Rent the car? Are those agencies ok in Italy? TIA!

I'm seeing train tickets starting at less than €15 . Total time is actually quicker than the more expensive choice. Looks like there is a direct train back at 4.20 for less than €10.


Still adds up but you need to add fuel and other costs to the car rental.

Unless I'm missing something costs are similar .

If you take the train and don't want to spend the whole day in Rovereto you could plan a stop in Verona.

Yes, there are cheaper trains at times that don't work for us. The goal isn't to do this the cheapest way, but the way that best suites what we want. With an 8 am departure and 8pm return that gives us plenty of time to explore. And yes, if we are done in Rovereto, we might sight see in Verona, but we could do that by car and not worry about timing. I am just wondering if there is a major reason not to rent a car.

Your son would enjoy visiting Bassano del Grappa, an easy trip by train from Venice.
it is the home of the famous Alpini troops.

Sounds like a reasonable plan to me, but just know that a 1-day car rental is usually about the same cost as a 3-day rental, so you might consider keeping the car for another day or two and doing some more roaming around.

If you had a car, you could visit the trenches at Nagia Grom west of Rovereto.

https://www.visittrentino.info/en/gu...a-grom_md_2709

And a car would make it a bit easier (esp. if the weather is bad) to visit the memorial to the unknown fallen at Castel Dante and other WWI sights. Scroll through this link.

https://www.visittrentino.info/en/gu...fallen_md_2648

I think Rovereto is underrated. There are a number of sights related to WWI in the town and nearby in addition to a modern art museum and a nice town atmosphere. We spent one night and two partial days in the town and wish we'd had more time.

Jean--thanks so much for those links. I will have to look at them to see if we can still visit in November, but it looks we can certainly see some of them that don't require a guided tour. This is fantastic info!!!!!

I can't think of a reason not to rent the car. Just be aware that the insurance can be costly.

And you do not have to go all the way to the airport to rent the car. Most large companies (Sixt and EuropCar are big in Europe) have an office at the Piazzale Roma in Venice, which is near the train station. Much easier/cheaper to get from your hotel to Piazzale Roma than the airport.

DonTopaz:

I searched for car rentals near the train station and the ones at the airport were much cheaper and had better rated service. I can believe this. I have rented from inner city car rentals a few times and it was not the best service--by a loooong shot. So, in this case, it looks like the airport is the better rental spot.

I'd double check that the preferred company has their pick-up in the airport. And not some off-site location which requires bus shuttle. And makes you lose more time on that already busy day.