renting a car in Italy and returning in Istanbul and asking tips for travel
 

My family (a teenage girl, my wife, me; all Koreans) plan a travel Italy, Croatia, Greece, and Bulgaria for a month after Christmas. We'd like to rent a Economy size car from Milan, Italy and drive it all the way to Istanbul of Turkey to return before the home flight. I tried a couple of rental car sites but failed to find a car. Would anybody provide us some tips helping this travel? We are open to consider other way of travelling as well. We are also SERVAS members and like to apply the membership for this travel.

thanks!

You can not rent a car in an eu country and return it outside of the eu, that is the problem. Some companies don't even allow entering the "new" eu countries - europcar for example doesn't let cars rented in italy to enter slovenia.
Even with your own car, entering turkey is complicated with lots of bureaucracy.
I think you might have to look into trains or flights. Ferries might be an option but not sure how often they'd run in january, usually they are more frequent in the summer months.

It will be impossible to rent a car for this trip, for the reasons mentioned above.

You also haven't allowed enough time for such a long drive. Five or six days will be devoted to getting from one place to another.

You will find that it's very expensive to rent a car in one country and return it in another, even where it's allowed. I suggest you get between one country and another by plane or train. I don't know how much internal travel you want to do in these countries, so I can't say whether it would be worthwhile to rent cars locally to get around.

I hope you are aware that in January you can run into a lot of cold weather - AND snow - in those countries.

Some people seem to think that Italy and Turkey especially are tropical - and they're not - both have real winters. In January Istanbul the average high is 8 degrees (46 F) and the low is 3 (37 F) degrees and it tends to be rainy. Roe is likely to be somewhat warmer - but snow is a definite possibility - and seaside resorts in either country will be deserted.

hi jinmori,

if, as we all think, the road trip can't be done, at least in that form, what is your plan B? Which of those places were you going to because they were on your route from Italy to Turkey, and which because you actually want to see them, IN JANUARY?

when you've done that, you'll need to look at how to get between them - a combination of train and plane will probably be best.

Sorry to rain on your parade, but good luck with your planning and your trip.

Hi jinmori,

I agree with the concerns everyone has posted already regarding the car rental, but I want to add that if your flight is in and out of Turkey, then perhaps there is a solution. There are many buses that go from Istanbul's central bus station Esenler Otogari to Sofia. The bus trip takes about 9 hours and if you take a night bus, it is really not that bad. Depends on the company,of course, but most buses I have been on, are comfortable and will allow you to take a nap (with the inevitable customs control wake up, of course). Then from Sofia you can rent a car to take you to your planned destinations in Bulgaria and the other EU countries. Once you are done with your trip, you can return the car in Sofia and take the bus back to Istanbul. The ticket is about $25 one way.

But yes, you may encounter some snow related delays.
At any rate, I hope you find a way to make this work and enjoy your trip. I am a native Bulgarian speaker, so if you have any questions during your planning of the Bulgarian portion of your trip, I will be happy to help.

I must admit that even if you can find appropriate transportation, this trip would be unpleasantly rushed for my tastes. It obviously depends on what you want to see and experience, but for comparison, I've spent 6 weeks in Italy and feel that I barely scratched the surface, and 3 weeks in Croatia and 3.5 weeks in Turkey, each only after deciding to skip MANY places I would have liked to have seen. I travel solo and HARD, moving from the time I get up until everything is closed, and I was traveling in May or June, when days are long and winter weather was not an issue.

I think you would do well to sit down with some some good guidebooks), identify the things you most want to see in each location, note their opening/closing times, and mark them on a calendar. Then pencil in your transportation, add some time on either side (for checking in/out, packing/unpacking, getting oriented, etc.), and then see how things fit together. You might end up deciding on a more limited -- and more manageable -- plan.

(BTW, I recently spent 4 weeks in South Korea -- delightful!)

Good luck!

OP made this question on October. He opened a new thread more recently, asking about Italy+Croatia.

nice that YOU came back to tell us, mariha!