Driving to Italy from the m Austria

Hello:

I am considering a trip that covers both the Austrian Alps and the Italian side. Cost-wise, I understand that Austria is in between Germany and Switzerland. What about northern Italy (the Dolomites)? In the past ten years, I have only been to Rome and the Amafi Coast, neither of which offered cheap lodging. It seems that Italy is an affordable country for locals, but not for tourists. I was in other parts of Italy before, but those trips were in the pre-Euro days. I also understand that northern Italy is more affluent than the southern part, and therefore wonder what travel costs are compared to the Austrian side.

I have not decided upon the mode of transport yet. However, should I choose to rent a car, I will do so in Austria or Germany to save $.

Hi, does anyone know the situation at the Swiss Italian border? On the road from Zurich to Milan do border guards check busses or cars travelling from Switzerland? In other words, what are the chances that you will be checked by border guards travelling by a car or a bus from Switzerland to Italy? I’m not smuggling anything and I’m not running from the law.

I am planning a 13-day trip to the Dolomites this Sept and will arrive from the East Tirol side of Austria (direction of Lienz) by car. So, naturally, my first stop is to visit Tre Cime, after which I will travel to see the Odle Group of the Dolomites. How many days shall I spend in this area? I am thinking of about 3-4 days, to account for likely rainy days that renders hiking along the Tre Cime di Lavaredo loop trail impossible. In this case, I can also enjoy some of the Alpine lakes and smaller towns. My questions:

1. It seems that Cortina is the most popular choice of a home base in this region. However, there is no accommodation choice that fulfills my requirements and budget (at a low level of about $170 per night max). Also, I am worried about potential construction noise and dust from construction for the future Olympics. Where else is a good base for 3-4 days? For example, is Padola too far? My next stop will be in the Val Gardena or Val di Funes area. I will have a rental car, but have not driven in Alpine mountains much.

2. Which cable car or gondola rides do you recommend in the Tre Cime area?

3. Beside the loop trail, what are the other easy and enjoyable Tre Cime trails?

4. What other nice places should i visit in this area? Lake Baies is one.

5. Will I need hiking poles for the Tre Cime loop trail? Should I buy some here in the US or buy them in Austria? I don't hike much, if at all, in the US. Even when I do, I won't need any poles.

Once this segment of my Dolomites trip is planned out, I will plan the Val Gardena/Val di Funes part. This is a bigger area and there appears to be more moderately priced lodging options.

Any further advice is appreciated. Thanks!!!

Greetings! Our younger 18 year old son will be studying in Florence for the year, and we'd like to visit him following a work trip to Monaco. I have a two part question.

Traveling with my husband and me will be our 21 year old special needs son. We are open to suggestions from experienced travelers as to our transportation and itinerary.

Our 21 year old is hyper-verbal and has an intellecutal disability along with autism, so visiting very quiet museums, churches, etc is something where his vocalizations may not be welcomed and also where the content isn't something that would interest him. He's sweet as can be but a bit loud.

I was thinking of taking a train to the Italian border and then perhaps renting a car. From reading other forum posts, I *think* there are two towns near the border where there are rental car agencis. That said, in the US where we are from, there is a major shortage of rental cars. I don't know whether that is so in Italy or Europe overall, but it seems like smaller cities might be more impacted than say Rome or Milan, etc.

We would enjoy spending a day or two in the Cinque Terre area. Our older boy enjoys easy hikes, walking along the beach, and perhaps a boat or ferry ride. Other than that area, I am entirely clueless as to what might be lovely spots to visit. I'm betting that there are many, but we again need to take into consideration our 21 year old's disabilities.

The conference in Monaco finishes on Thursday, October 21. Our younger boy will be out on a 10 day break through Sunday evening, October24th, so he can meet us.... somewhere.. for a couple of days, depending upon where he might be traveling with his college classmates. Or we can just meet up with him in Florence where we do plan to spend a few days.

Can you tell we are just at the very start of figuring this out?

Is renting a car and driving to Florence adviseable? Or is rail the way to go? My husband and special needs boy will likely fly back to the US from Florence after several days, but I may meet a gal pal there and extend the trip. Thank you for your patience in reading and for any ideas you may have to assist us. Grazie mille!

Hello everyone,

We are planning to rent a car in Italy from Florence to Tuscany countryside, to the Dolomites and then drop off in Venice and it seems like a manual car is much cheaper. We can drive a manual but we don't know if it's difficult to drive in Italy. We don't want to drive a manual car if there's a lot of hills to get stuck on. Is it pretty easy? We don't mind driving over a hill but don't want to be stopped on a steep hill for a light or something.

TIA

Just looking for some additional advice or recommendations - here is what we have so far;

8/26 - Arrive at FCO 745am, will take car service to our hotel (Hotel Martis Palace) to drop luggage and start exploring Rome.

8/27 - Rome. Vatican museum.

8/28 - Rome. Colosseum tour.

8/29 - 710am Fresciarossa train to Milan. Arrives 1050am. Already booked the tickets. Pick up car rental and drive to Lake Como. Staying in Diamond Apartments in Bellagio.

8/30 - More Lake Como. Staying same place.

8/31 - Driving to the Dolomites. Staying at the Hotel Angelo Engel in Ortisei.

9/01 - Dolomites. Won’t bore everyone with the list of hikes, but the hikes and scenic pass drives are the main reason for coming to the area. That and some of the lakes in the area.

9/02 - Dolomites

9/03 - Dolomites

9/04 - Dolomites, then driving back to Milan, staying at the Sheraton airport hotel that is literally in the terminal.

9/05 - 1020am flight back to US.

I think having basically 3 full days/nights in Rome is this plenty. Not sure that a day and a half (2 nights) will give us much time in Lake Como, but we’ve never been and would like to check it out unless someone has a better option. I think our time in Dolomites will give us enough time to do some hikes and explore the area. Obviously I’d rather have weeks to spend in each area, but unfortunately that isn’t an option haha.

Any suggestions or recommendations for these areas?

We are optimistically planning a trip to Austria and Italy for December. Our current itinerary has us in Val Gardena for five nights and then we'll head to Cortina d' Ampezzo for five nights the week before Christmas.

One of us skis, but doesn't plan to. We're more interested in winter hiking, and we've found plenty of options in Val Gardena.

What we're not sure about is Cortina d'Ampezzo - because it's ski season and so close to Christmas, we're finding accommodation is quite expensive (and limited - we're looking for a moderately priced apartment) and we've been unable to determine if this area offers ample winter hiking opportunities, or if we'd be better off basing elsewhere and perhaps making a day trip to Cortina d'Ampezzo.

We're experienced winter hikers - not mountain climbers. We've spent many Decembers in Europe hiking (we prefer hiking over snowshoeing) and usually find plenty of trails, but these areas are completely new to us so we're not sure what to expect.

Would appreciate any insight or suggestions.

We have planned out and booked most of a 2-week trip to Italy. We had to cancel this same itinerary in the fall of 2020.

We are set to arrive in Italy on August 29th, 2021 with a week in a villa just outside of Montepulciano then on to Sorrento and Rome for another week.

Does anyone have a sense of whether hoteliers and villa agents have cancellation mandates or guidelines now that Italy is back at Red Alert?

We want to take it all in while in Italy, and would not want to be restricted from restaurants, have to wear masks most of the time, etc.

Help! My granddaughter is studying in Florence from August -December 15th. My husband and I are taking this opportunity to visit her and travel some throughout Italy. I have studied and have an itinerary of places to visit from Rome to the Dolomites. We love views and sightseeing. I can not decide if it’s best to go the first two weeks in October or the first two weeks in December when all the Christmas markets are open. My main concern is weather….mainly rain. Decided on December but read several places it can rain a lot in December. First time visiting Italy. Thanks for any input!

Hi we did the Train Trip back in 2017 but unfortunately unable to see a lot as we left late out of Milan due to accident on the track.

Look for info on what station is the border between Italy and Switzerland as also finally when things get back to normal we love to redo this again but this time looking at two or three stops along the way. Any recommendations on which town to stop in.

Zug Postplatz, Fluelen, Lugano, Como S Giovanni and any others worth stop over night at along the way.

Cheers

bulliedbychangi