Driving to Florence from Munich

I'm trying to decide whether to fly, train, or drive to Florence over Easter. Anybody have an idea of approximately how long it would take to drive there? I would NOT be leaving on the first day of school holidays, or returning on the last, so I would hope to avoid the terrible jams then.

Got an opinion on which is the best transport option? So far, driving is probably the most expensive option, given I'll have to rent a car. Direct train takes 8.5 hours and is cheapest, flying is not much more expensive, but it takes 4 hours with one stop.

I went once with the overnight train, and as its the overnighter, its a little slower, but we left around 10:30pm and arrived in Florence around 6am. So the train is not bad, only problem is, depending how much you pay, the sleeper carts are 6 people. So it gets a little cramped.

Most of trains and flights are booked out. I tried getting flights and night trains to venice, rome , paris! all booked out for the easter work! Driving is the best way.

I do it in about 5 hours. Garmish-Mittenwald-over the top past Innsbruck-Brenner and autostrada all the way.

Between 5 and 6 hours (or more) depending on how fast you drive and traffic . A tip would be to get your vignette the day before and pay the brenner video maut online.
https://primaryserver.videomaut.at/webshop/onlinekauf.jsp

eastern weekend = traffic.

on a good day (leaving mu @ 4 a.m.) , i'll need 3.5 hrs. to just right before turning off to lake garda. another 2 to florence. drove mu-southern tuscany 2 summers ago and we needed 10 hours (doing around 130 as much as possible).
i think speed limit in italy is 130.

Try to drive on a Sunday in Italy as trucks (as in Macks) are banned from using highways...

For anyone who is interested, I went to EurAide today and bought a train ticket.

Got a great deal, too: 154,20 Euro for two people round-trip, day trains Munich to Florence. Another 12 Euro for seat reservations. The trip takes 8 hours (probably longer, as it's Italy), but that was a lot of money saved over renting a car or flying. (I got the Sparpreis 50, which I think means 50% off the normal price. Travelling over the Easter holidays, I thought that was pretty good.)

Unfortunately, the money I saved on cheap train tickets will go right to the hotel.

Heading down to tuscany in the car tomorrow for a long weekend. Is it easy enough to find reasonably priced accommodation?

Considering it's a long weekend in a lot of neighboring countries meaning Italy will be stuffed with more tourists than usual, the short answer is "no".

Try http://www.venere.com

@[email=tench]tench[/email]

I think tourist season has started already. I was in Florence a month ago for a weekend. It was still easy to find cheap accommodation. I recommend you checking ww.hrs.de before going there. No, I don't want to sound like a running billboard for them, but this is the way I have gotten really cheap accommodation everytime!

@[email=cinzia]cinzia[/email]
5 hours by car is normal

Watch out for traffic jams on the autostrada in the mountains/hills just north of Florence (between Florence and Bologna). I was once stuck there for 3hours on the way back from a Radiohead concert. Also, I've taken the overnight train a couple of times and they always have very early arrival times (i.e. 5am) and they drop you off at a minor station in Florence near the Soccer stadium and not really close to main station (St. Maria Novella).

@elfenstar: There exists a speed limit in Italy?? I don't thnk so.

on the subject of speed limits, ther is a speed camera westbound on the Mittlerer ring, between Salzburg and Garmisch motorways. Near the road works.

...unfortunately

I'm looking into a trip to Florence in March, and was hoping to fly there. Unfortunately, per the Alitalia website, the main airport (FLR) is shut down until the end of April. It appears the closest place to fly into is Pisa, which doesn't seem all that close, and would prefer not to have to mess with trains, planes AND automobiles (you've seen the movie!).

So I started looking into the overnight trains mentioned in this thread, but the bahn.de site will not give me fares for those itineraries. I'm guessing that may be due to the date being too far out? But it is only a month awa. Anyhow, does anyone know the approximate price for a roundtrip train fare to Florence? (Or maybe I need to be given remedial search tips for the website ).

And I guess renting (hiring) a car is another option if it turns out that is cheaper for 2 people.

Any help/suggestions would be appreciated!

On my way out the door but I took this trip last week. When I get home tommorow I will PM details if you want. Ugh also if I do not ...send me a reminder, my mind wanders at times

Winglette -- I used to live in Florence and would regularly take the train to Munich to visit my brother. The train is excellent! Get a window seat and be prepared for some breath-taking views as you go through Austria and the N. Italy. It's like the fucking Sound of Music with rolling green fields and snow-peaked mountains in the background (during the Summer). The day train is about 90 € one way (that was back in 2000), and it's an 8 hour train ride. You don't need to switch trains at all, which is nice. I think it leaves once per day in the morning putting you in beautiful Florence in the early evening. Not too shaby.

Fly to Pisa - it's no distance at all. About an hour by car, and perhaps a little less by train IIRC. You can also see the leaning tower whilst you're there. Don't bother with Pisa itself though - it's a dump.

also trained it from pisa to florence. maybe a 2 hour train-ride. did it via rome just to see el leaning towero. they might even have a shuttle since the florence airport is closed.

"Sparpreis" offers start at 29 Euros one-way, if you are flexible date-wise.
Check on the Deutsche Bahn website, www.bahn.de.

Thanks, all very helpful comments. Sounds like it won't be as difficult as I thought.

What you need is a boyfriend who's prepared to actually help out when it comes to the organisation of trips like this.

Tell him I said hire a nice car and drive the whole way - probably a 7 hour drive, but you'll see some stunning scenery when you cross through the Alps, and then you could perhaps take an extra day or two to explore Umbria and Tuscany - my two favourite places on Earth (so far - Disneyland coming in a close 3rd).

I've done to Volterra (near Pisa) in just over 6hrs in a Twingo so in a fastish car not on a Bavarian holiday, you should be able to go quicker.
Just over an hour on the train transfer or you can get a shuttle bus from Pisa airport to Florence central station (which is often quicker - no transfer time to station) for not much cash.

therein lies the problem! he's admittedly lazy. that is why we all know that winglette wears the pants in la casa.

HA, yeah right!

Unfortunately this is going to be a quick weekend trip, so driving would really eat into the holiday. Sounds like an ideal roadtrip though, adding it to my list for things to do after I buy a kickass car . I've been dying to visit Tuscany, hopefully this fall.

In doing more research (http://www.trenitalia.it/en/index.html), looks like the train from Pisa to Florence is extremely cheap, 5.1EUR each way. Not sure if it's always this price, or if it is a special deal while the FLR airport is closed. I also found flights on odopo.de for 179EUR for the dates/times I want. Not too shabby.

Thanks again all for your help!

I see what you mean - but it really is only 6 hours by car door to door (driving reasonably quickly but no need for a formula 1 performence). By the time you have messed about waiting at the airport and transferring to trains the time difference could well be negligible. Of course there's a risk it'll be a blizzard in the alps but its all motorway so should be ok - it is a scenic drive (apart from the boring bit over the Po valley)

@boomtown_rat
Yes, very valid point. Problem is we would be leaving Friday at 6pm, at which time it would be dark out, so would miss out on the scenic view. Same issue driving back Sunday evening.

I have been to Florence before, and it did not seem like a car-friendly type of place. Parking seemed impossible. Has anyone found otherwise?

@Elfenstar -

true. Most likely not that much fun doing all that driving in the dark either


the one time I went it was in the car and I did find a reasonably central on-street spot to park for a few hours. I've no idea if there are car parks though (I guess a hotel would have one)

It is awful to park there centrally if your hotel doesn't have a dedicated parking place. There are park and ride schemes available though.