Can someone tell me how we get from Vernazza to Monte Carlo? We would like to rent a car in Monte Carlo.

To do this by train, look at

http://reiseauskunft.bahn.de/bin/query.exe/en

The Italian train site, http://www.ferroviedellostato.it is supposed to give you more detailed info, but for some reason its routing engine is not showing what are available.

It requires at least one and most likely two train changes and takes about 6hrs.

can you do this by car?

Most of the car rental agencies on Lake Como are in the city of Como.We took the high spped ferry from Bellagio to Como and walked to the rental car agency.

(Happy--Vernazza is not on Lake Como. You are thinking of Varenna)

Yes, I mean Vernazza, in Cinque Terra. Dopes anyone know if there is a car rounte from Vernazza to the Cote de Azur in France?

pbing,

The good news is that you can easily drive from Vernazza to the Cote d'Azur. Go to www.viamichelin.com for driving directions.

The bad news is that you will pay a stiff fee for picking up a car in one country and dropping it off in another.

Take the train from Vernazza to Monaco or Nice and pick up a car there.

I've driven that route from the CT area to Nice many times - it is horrible. Besides not being scenic, there are lots & lots of tunnels that you need to go through. Constantly going from darkness to light to darkness to light is very tiring (for me, anyway). As you pass by Genoa, there are lots of opportunities to make a wrong turn and end up on the surface streets in Genoa - probably without a street map (did that once). Last time we needed to get from Italy (Tuscany) to Nice, we drove to La Spezia, dumped the car, and then took the train to Nice. Don't remember if the train stopped in Vernazza, but it stopped in Monterosso.

Like TimS stated, you pay a hefty rental fee if you pick up a car in Italy & drop it off in France. There is not only the drop-off fee - but basic rental fees are higher in Italy than in France AND you MUST purchase CDW for the car rental in Italy, which you won't have to do if you rent a car in France.

Stu Dudley

Sorry, I misread it. We've been to Vernazza too but already had our car rental.

Drop off fees are flat fees, so the longer you have the car, the more it makes sense to keep the car. The shorter the journey, the less it makes sense to pay the drop off fee. The only way you can know if it makes sense for your trip is to call car rental agencies and find out what they would charge for your trip.

I've never had trouble driving from the Italian Riviera below Genoa all the way to the French Riviera, including Monaco, and I didn't make any wrong turns. But I did in La Spezia, LOL!

This explains it:

http://www.smartertravel.com/travel-...tml?id=2500786

Like I stated earlier, car rental rates in France are less than they are in Italy - mainly because of the manditory insurance CDW in Italy. If you have a Gold or higher CC, the card will cover the CDW at no cost to you in for cars rented in France. My 5 cards will not cover CDW for Italy rentals. Many have reported that the CC CDW is actually better than some insurance obtained from the car rental company.

I did a quick check for a 14 days rental of a compact car. Two cheapest rentals are:
France - Nice - $493 & 561
Italy - Milan $934 & 934

For the OP - he would also pay a drop-off charge if he picks it up in Italy & drops it off in France. I don't know what that is.

My point - the drop off charge is not the only cost to consider. Get better numbers using your specific itinerary.

Stu Dudley