Flying into France and flying out of Naples. Looking for recommendations.

Should we rent a car or just take trains? I'm leaning towards renting a car for the added flexibility.

Naples is NOT a great place to visit. But if you are going to go there then make sure you go to Pompeii.

Naples is a **** hole. Be prepared for wall to wall garbage, pickpockets and surly Italians.

Do not rent a car in Naples. Parking is impossible and it will get broken in to.

Pompeii and the Amalfi Coast are great places to spend your time if flying out of Naples. I really enjoyed Sorrento and Capri. I also agree with everyone here, just use Naples to fly out of and nothing else.

Naples isn't THAT bad. It is "real Italy." There is some cool stuff to see there (some mentioned above). I found far more "surly Italians" in the north/central than the south, BTW. Since I assume you're a pilot by your username - you most likely possess the nerves of steel it will take to drive in Naples - it gets pretty C&W in places and traffic rules are seldom followed.

How many days? Florence, Rome, Sienna, Orvieto, are all on the way if you choose to take the main autostrada and make a few detours. If you take the coastal road through Italy, Pisa is worth a relatively short stop. Lots of small towns and such. Monaco is interesting to drive through, but probably not a stop, touristy and extremely expensive. A little further up the coast is Menton. Similar beauty, lower prices.

I made this exact trip as a passenger once, driving straight through the night. We were in NIce, parked our Volvo 240 station wagon near the beach. When we returned to the car in the afternoon, some kind soul had used one of the large rocks from the beach to break out a window and steal my luggage (filled primarily with my dirty clothes). Bought some blankets, packed up and drove the whole way home with a large broken window providing some cold A/C.

We are landing in Nice on July 4th and leaving Naples on July 17. From what I've gathered, we likely wont spend a lot of time in Naples. Likely won't get a car in France because renting in one country and dropping off in another comes with a heavy fee. Thinking of spending a day or two in Nice and/or Monaco/Monte Carlo. Then take the train from Nice to Genoa and picking up a car here. We'd likely hit up the following towns:

Cinque Terre
Pisa
Venice
Florence
Siena
Rome

Will be my first time in Europe but my fiance has been and I've heard the train system is great, but it still can't be as efficient as having a car?

Eze, France between Nice and Monaco is a very cool medieval town over looking the Mediterranean. There is a rick steves video of it online somewhere. Pisa is cool, but the historic part is relatively small so it can be done in a day. Walk to the top of the leaning tower if you are able. I still regret not doing that but we were pressed for time.

Trains work outstandingly well. Not like in America.

Quote:

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We are landing in Nice on July 4th and leaving Naples on July 17. From what I've gathered, we likely wont spend a lot of time in Naples. Likely won't get a car in France because renting in one country and dropping off in another comes with a heavy fee. Thinking of spending a day or two in Nice and/or Monaco/Monte Carlo. Then take the train from Nice to Genoa and picking up a car here. We'd likely hit up the following towns:

Cinque Terre
Pisa
Venice
Florence
Siena
Rome

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That's a hard core itinerary. You're going to be exhausted. That is a lot of stops and a lot of time used traveling between them. FYI - You're not going to be able to drive in any of these cities either because of the ZTLs. You'll have to park outside and walk or use public transport into town. It's not a big deal in the smaller towns, but rental cars in large European cities are largely more of a pain than anything else. We just got back from Italy on Saturday and had a car in Tuscany, but dropped it off before taking a train back to Rome.

Yeah, we might drop Venice given the location compared to the other stops.

We have done that same trip. If I were you I would drop Venice and Pisa. Florence was my favorite place and Siena was my wife's favorite. After we finished the touristy stuff in Rome we really enjoyed just exploring the city.

Is it too late to change your return flight? I'd dump Pisa and Naples, but keep Venice and try to fly out from there.

yeah, flight isn't changing

Naples is my least favorite city in Europe. Been there twice on my way to Capri. Skip all those other places and go straight to Capri or another spot on the Amalfi coast.

Used syringes in the streets of Naples last year. Overrun with illegal aliens from the middle East.

We spent 3 weeks traveling thru Italy a couple of years ago. Our original plan was to rent a car then we decided only to rent in Tuscany. Ultimately decided to only use trains. BEST DECISION EVER! Have fun!

The only city on your proposed itinerary that will be a PITA without a car is Siena. The rest are easily accessible via the train system and you won't have to go to the hassle of stashing a car somewhere.

I think we've settled on:
1 night in Nice
2 nights in Cinque Terra
4 nights in Florence
1 night in Siena
3 nights in Rome
2 nights on the Amalfi Coast

That's a lot of moving around.

It's been trimmed down too. I've tried lump it more but you pick your battles. I'm not too concerned though, we are both pretty active so being on the move is nothing new, we might just run a marathon somewhere in the middle.

I'd skip Siena and instead use a day for transition b/w Rome and the Amalfi Coast. You can stop and see Pompei on the way which is a solid half day and a really cool experience.

Why fly to Nice? That makes a lot of extra travel to where you're going.

Four nights in Florence might be too many, but yiu
Could make a day trip to somewhere like Montepulciano.

If you're flying into Nice carve out sometime to check out Monaco. As well as all of the sights, playing a little blackjack there can be fun. It feels like you're in a James Bond movie. Word to the wise though, if you blackjack give the dealer the chip he obviously wants as a tip. If you go that will make sense.

SwissAgg said:

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Why fly to Nice? That makes a lot of extra travel to where you're going.

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Using reward travel so we had to be a little flexible to fly business class.

You certainly don't want to rent a car with that itinerary because parking will be a major pain or nonexistent (CT).

I actually think Naples makes a good day trip, but I would never consider staying there overnight. We took the fast train from Rome to Naples, walked around for a few hours, had pizza at one of the famous pizzerias there and were back in Rome in time for an evening stroll and dinner in Trestevere.

If I were you, I would cut a day from Florence and spend two nights in Siena. I think it deserves a full uninterrupted day. If not Siena, then I would add a day on the Amalfi Coast...one day for the towns along the Amalfi Coast and a day for Pompeii and Sorrento.

There is no perfect itinerary though! Enjoy the trip!

TXCityAggie said:

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You certainly don't want to rent a car with that itinerary because parking will be a major pain or nonexistent (CT).

I actually think Naples makes a good day trip, but I would never consider staying there overnight. We took the fast trying from Rome to Naples, walked around for a few hours, had pizza at one of the famous pizzerias there and were back in Rome in time for an evening stroll and dinner in Trestevere.

If I were you, I would cut a day from Florence and spend two nights in Siena. I think it deserves a full uninterrupted day. If not Siena, then I would add a day on the Amalfi Coast...one day for the towns along the Amalfi Coast and a day for Pompeii and Sorrento.

There is no perfect itinerary though! Enjoy the trip!

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This is good advice. I concur.

There is a really good museum in Naples. It is the National Archeological Museum. This

museum is one of the coolest that I have seen. The original pieces from Pompeii are housed

here.

The Pilot said:

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SwissAgg said:

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Why fly to Nice? That makes a lot of extra travel to where you're going.

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Using reward travel so we had to be a little flexible to fly business class.

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OK. Understood.

We may cross paths. We fly into Florence on July 4 and Fly out of Rome on July 10.

Here's our breakdown:
2 nights in Florence
1 night in Assisi
3 nights in Rome
3 nights in Almafi Coast

Okay, we all need to get together in Florence for drinks one day, my wife and I will be there from July 4 to July 10.