ED:Rome dropoff
- Thread starter kriss
- Start date
My understanding is that they drive them back. Having driven in Venice and Florence on ED, and seeing how the Italians drive, I would be extremely nervous. I wouldn't be able to sleep knowing that some 18 year old might be driving my new BMW at 135 mph on the Autostrada from Rome to Munich. I considered a one way trip but decided to return it to Munich myself.
kirby-info re. venice/florence
I am planning an april ED and thought of doing the munich-venice-florence-munich circuit.do you have recommendations re. hotels,restaurants,sidetrips? not having driven in europe before and reading about Italian drivers from various sites, I am getting a bit anxious even to the point of changing my route.what are your thoughts? thanks. ps-did you take the car into the cities or stay in the "suburbs" and bus in ?
I am planning an april ED and thought of doing the munich-venice-florence-munich circuit.do you have recommendations re. hotels,restaurants,sidetrips? not having driven in europe before and reading about Italian drivers from various sites, I am getting a bit anxious even to the point of changing my route.what are your thoughts? thanks. ps-did you take the car into the cities or stay in the "suburbs" and bus in ?
It is a great adventure, but planning your driving route is everything. Don't wing it like I do in the US!
Northern Italy is not too bad to drive around, especially on the AutoStrade outside of the larger cities. When you get near the larger cities on the route, like Verona, Florence and Venice, traffic is heavier, but not outrageous. You will need a fair amount of Euros handy for tolls on the Munich - Venice and Venice - Florence trips. I think Munich - Venice was a total of Euro 30 - 40 in tolls. Definitely more than Euro 20. Austria has no toll plazas, rather it is a "paid pass" honor system. You can stop at any of the gas stations on the AutoStrada and buy a sticker good for so many days. I think a 5 day sticker was around Euro 22, so I was covered for the return trip. If you don't have a sticker and get caught on the Austrian Autobahn you can get a steep IMMEDIATELY DUE fine, so I was told.
Munich (In Europe = Munchen)
It's like driving in any large US City - NYC, DC, Boston. The subway system is probably the best in the world, it's easier to park the car and use the subway to get around.
Munich - Venice - about a 5 - 6 hour drive.
Easy drive, beautiful scenery thru the Alps and Brenner pass. Typical speed on the Autobahn in the German/Austrian area is 70 - 90 mph. Good drivers, good road signs, turn signals used heavily. History galore. This is the same route that the Conquerers marched on foot for centuries between Northern and Central/Southern Europe. Your route will take you past Innsbruck, Austria. Old downtime Innsbruck is worthwhile. As you get into Italy speeds creep up to 80 - 100 mph, some people going faster, although I hear that this summer they started cracking down on speed. Traffic gets heavier as you approach Venice. Drivers get sloppy, fewer signs, turn signals - what turn signals? Just hand signals![[rofl]](/images/smilies/icon_smile_rofl.gif "ROFL [rofl]")
!
Venice (In Europe = Venezia)
The NIGHTMARE comes at the end of the AutoStrade, and I DO mean nightmare. Note that we were traveling during Easter week, so traffic may have be heavier than normal, but I don't think so. There are about 10 lanes at the toll plaza, and it quickly narrows to about 4 lanes with many exits, and everybody is crossing every which way to get where they want to go, big trucks too. It's basically elbows and a$$holes at this point. Picture Times Square with no traffic lights or marked road lanes. After that there is a roundabout that again is a mess. This was the worst part of Venice area driving. After you get past that, traffic is heavy but organized to Venice.
If you panic in crazy traffic, this will be a bad experience![[:0]](/images/smilies/icon_smile_shock.gif "Shocked [:0]")
. If you can take a deep breath, go with the flow and be a little aggressive, you'll be fine. The two biggest tips I can make are:
1- Go to Mapquest - European maps page and print out driving directions, several copies, in case you lose or misplace them. I had Michelin maps as well, but Mapquest REALLY helped.
2- Hopefully you are not going solo. Make the front passenger the Navigator so you can focus on traffic. Review the route with your navigator ahead of time. This probably sounds anal, but it REALLY worked. My wife was navigator, we both speak and read some German, but no Italian. It just takes longer to recognze the signs and what they mean in a foreign language.
There is no parking in Venice, you must park at one of two garages and take the water shuttle (Vaporetto). I parked at the 'outer' lot called Tronchetto. I think is was about Euro 20 per day. Huge - like 5 floors, each about 10 football fields in size! No signs inside directing you which way to go, some of the elevators not working. If I remember correctly, you get a ticket on the way in, pay before you go to your car when you leave, and your paid ticket acts as the exit pass, good for 30 minutes after paying.
Venice will cost you at least Euro 200 a night for decent accomodations, everything is expensive in Venice. Once you get there, you can see why. They have to haul everything in by small boats, labor intensive. We even saw a DHL Delivery boat! We stayed
HERE . Very friendly, nice privately owned B&B style place, the owners can speak basic English, not fluent though. You will find not many places in Europe that have accomodations for 4 in one room. Traveling as a foreign family with 12 & 15 y.o. daughters, we wanted one room for all of us, which they can accomodate. This type of B&B is very common in Venice. A hotel will cost more, but you will have hotel services. There is a company called Venere.com that handles on line reservation service for tons of Italian accomodations, with customer reviews. Use Venere to research your reservations.
That should give you plenty to think about for a bit. I'll follow up in a day or so with info on Florence.
Northern Italy is not too bad to drive around, especially on the AutoStrade outside of the larger cities. When you get near the larger cities on the route, like Verona, Florence and Venice, traffic is heavier, but not outrageous. You will need a fair amount of Euros handy for tolls on the Munich - Venice and Venice - Florence trips. I think Munich - Venice was a total of Euro 30 - 40 in tolls. Definitely more than Euro 20. Austria has no toll plazas, rather it is a "paid pass" honor system. You can stop at any of the gas stations on the AutoStrada and buy a sticker good for so many days. I think a 5 day sticker was around Euro 22, so I was covered for the return trip. If you don't have a sticker and get caught on the Austrian Autobahn you can get a steep IMMEDIATELY DUE fine, so I was told.
Munich (In Europe = Munchen)
It's like driving in any large US City - NYC, DC, Boston. The subway system is probably the best in the world, it's easier to park the car and use the subway to get around.
Munich - Venice - about a 5 - 6 hour drive.
Easy drive, beautiful scenery thru the Alps and Brenner pass. Typical speed on the Autobahn in the German/Austrian area is 70 - 90 mph. Good drivers, good road signs, turn signals used heavily. History galore. This is the same route that the Conquerers marched on foot for centuries between Northern and Central/Southern Europe. Your route will take you past Innsbruck, Austria. Old downtime Innsbruck is worthwhile. As you get into Italy speeds creep up to 80 - 100 mph, some people going faster, although I hear that this summer they started cracking down on speed. Traffic gets heavier as you approach Venice. Drivers get sloppy, fewer signs, turn signals - what turn signals? Just hand signals
!Venice (In Europe = Venezia)
The NIGHTMARE comes at the end of the AutoStrade, and I DO mean nightmare. Note that we were traveling during Easter week, so traffic may have be heavier than normal, but I don't think so. There are about 10 lanes at the toll plaza, and it quickly narrows to about 4 lanes with many exits, and everybody is crossing every which way to get where they want to go, big trucks too. It's basically elbows and a$$holes at this point. Picture Times Square with no traffic lights or marked road lanes. After that there is a roundabout that again is a mess. This was the worst part of Venice area driving. After you get past that, traffic is heavy but organized to Venice.
If you panic in crazy traffic, this will be a bad experience
. If you can take a deep breath, go with the flow and be a little aggressive, you'll be fine. The two biggest tips I can make are:1- Go to Mapquest - European maps page and print out driving directions, several copies, in case you lose or misplace them. I had Michelin maps as well, but Mapquest REALLY helped.
2- Hopefully you are not going solo. Make the front passenger the Navigator so you can focus on traffic. Review the route with your navigator ahead of time. This probably sounds anal, but it REALLY worked. My wife was navigator, we both speak and read some German, but no Italian. It just takes longer to recognze the signs and what they mean in a foreign language.
There is no parking in Venice, you must park at one of two garages and take the water shuttle (Vaporetto). I parked at the 'outer' lot called Tronchetto. I think is was about Euro 20 per day. Huge - like 5 floors, each about 10 football fields in size! No signs inside directing you which way to go, some of the elevators not working. If I remember correctly, you get a ticket on the way in, pay before you go to your car when you leave, and your paid ticket acts as the exit pass, good for 30 minutes after paying.
Venice will cost you at least Euro 200 a night for decent accomodations, everything is expensive in Venice. Once you get there, you can see why. They have to haul everything in by small boats, labor intensive. We even saw a DHL Delivery boat! We stayed
HERE . Very friendly, nice privately owned B&B style place, the owners can speak basic English, not fluent though. You will find not many places in Europe that have accomodations for 4 in one room. Traveling as a foreign family with 12 & 15 y.o. daughters, we wanted one room for all of us, which they can accomodate. This type of B&B is very common in Venice. A hotel will cost more, but you will have hotel services. There is a company called Venere.com that handles on line reservation service for tons of Italian accomodations, with customer reviews. Use Venere to research your reservations.
That should give you plenty to think about for a bit. I'll follow up in a day or so with info on Florence.