cabriolet tour

N

Natalie

New member
Hello together - I'm new here and have already found a lot of Information for my upcoming trip. But I have still many questions :)

Me and my boyfriend (both 22 years old) want to travel with our cabriolet through northern italy from 20. August until 2. odr 3. September. We will start from Liechtenstein and our first stop will be Genua, we want to be flexible but also don't want to spend too much time to search for a place to stay every single day

Places we would like to see / destinations we are heading to:
- Genua, Camogli, Portofino, Cinque Terre, Lucca, Pisa, Florenz, San Gimignano, Siena
and then head over to venice and back home to Liechtenstein (we want to explore places we come across along the way or stay at a place we really like)

I know this is a Forum about the Tuscany but maybe some of you have recommendations for us? We want to see a lot but we don't want to hurry and have time to enjoy our time. I also love to be at the coast.

Do you have tips on where to stay (accommodations do not have to be luxurios, we want to travel on a low Budget)? should we book in advance? how much time for each Destination? nice routes to drive/cruise with the Cabrio?

sorry for the many questions, I'm just worried that our trip will not be Relaxing and we have Problems to find places to stay, parking spaces or to drive around in the unknown Region

thanks in advance for your answers ! :)
 
Ciao Natalie,

Sounds like a great plan! I agree, you shouldn't spend too much time searching for a place to stay every single day - so what I would suggest, since not all hotels/B&Bs/farmhouses are on the internet these days with their last minute availability seen at the last day, is for you to start scouting the cities you plan to stop at every night.... and look for places in each to contact and book ahead. Unfortunately, there are no "vacancy" signs along the roads, so the only way to find if there are rooms available is to stop at them and ask. And some are down unpaved roads and look like normal homes, so how will you find them all?

Since you will have about 12-13 days, I'd suggest grouping each area -
the Genova area, the Cinque Terre area, Pisa and Lucca, Florence, SG and Siena --- you can stay maybe more than 1 night in each, so that you are not rushing around each day.

Do you want to go camping? There are also campgrounds that have campsites as well as small bungalows -- but these definitely go fast, this is the reason why booking ahead is smarter, particularly if you want a specific type of place you want to stay at.

I'd suggest a night in Genova, another night or two in Camogli so you can explore Portofino as well. Then head down to Levanto - maybe 2 nights - you can explore the 5 terre from there. Then drive down to Lucca and spend the night there. The next morning you can head off to Pisa for th day, making your way to the area south of Florence by the evening.
Here I'd suggest 3-4 nights --- if you base yourself in this area, you can do a day trip to Florence one day (or two), another day to Siena and the last to San Gimignano and exploring/driving through Chianti wine area. On your way to Venice you could stop in Bologna or Padona along the way, both with a lot of gems worth exploring.
I've only covered 8 nights as I'm not sure if the full 12 days are in Italy or not.

In any case, I do suggest some planning ahead as far as where to stay, remaning flexible with what you see and do each day but having your base already out of the way so that you can explore carefree ;-)

For lodgings --- take a look at http://www.tuscanyaccommodation.com - you can search for a place in Chianti, Lucca and Pisa -- but if you also want to see properties in Genova, Camogli and Levanto, do your search here: http://www.discovertuscany.com/book/?hotel=/city/it/genova.html&label=webp-forum-cabriolet

You can of course decide to wait and book the day before - but your choices will be limited by what you find available!
 
Hi Lourdes
Thank you so much for taking the time to response and giving tips!
I will have a look at some accommodations in each area we want to stay overnight and probably book the first nights and the rest of it along the way, so we can still stay flexible.

We planned the whole time to be in italy, so therefore we may stay some more days in cinque terre and tuscany because I think those are the "big" destinations and maybe leave out venice so that it's not too much.

Do you think we will be alright with driving around? Would you recommend us to drive to parking garages outside the City centres (for example when going to Pisa) or any other tips?

and the last question: Can we buy a cheap prepaid simcard in italy with Internet?

thanks so much! Natalie
 
You're welcome!

YES, spend more time at each place so you enjoy it more. Take your time, Italy is best enjoyed slowly.

I think you will do fine - just follow signs for parking (P) as they usually will never lead you into a road/street you shouldn't enter into. All the small towns have them at start or end of the town so just pay attentions to signs and don't go anywhere where there seems to be limited traffic - those are marked ZTL - zona a traffico limitato - which means limited traffic zone. If you see mostly pedestrians, it is likely cars can't drive there. If you see large poles with cameras pointed down into the street and a sign with ZTL, don't keep going! ;-) Pisa, Lucca, Florence, Siena - all have ZTL areas, but these are the historical centers. You will find parking outside of the centers readily, although most of it is paid parking. Do pay and note the time - small towns like to go around and give tickets to get revenue that way.

Finally - yes, you can easily buy a prepaid SIM card here in Italy that includes data, TIM is the main carrier and generally has good deals.
 
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