first trip with motorhome to italy.

[stuartg]

Hi this year I will be taking my first trip in my motorhome to Italy. Has anyone any tips.; good areas to visit.are there good and easy places to park for the night, (ie. Aire de camping car). Any advice ,tips and recommendations gratefully received,thank you

[StuartO]

I've only done Lake Garda and the Dolomites/NE Italy, but enjoyed it.

 

Not as many aires as France or Germany but there are some and you might even find one that isn't too crowded if you are very lucky.

 

Italian motorways are potentially very scary, especially if you get under people's feet and I wouldn;t dream of going into any big cities but it is possible to survive Italian driving and even to enjoy it.

 

We used Camping Fusina to visit Venice and that worked well, with a regular ferryboat from just outside the entrance, across the Lagoon. There are lots of campsite near Lake Garda ranging from smaller, terraced ones on the lakeside towards the North, to huge, resort-type sites around the SE corner, with all sorts of facilities. We stayed at a nice site near Sirmione which was quite and spacious in low season but was clealry configured to cram them in tightly for high season.

 

The best months for Italy are April and September; it gets very, very hot in between.

 

 

[Petra]

We have visited Italy many times with the motorhome and would recommend getting an ACSI card which are well used in Italy and saves a lot of money. There are not as many aires but there are many sostas, some of which are like mini campsites whilst others are just car parks. It is well worth getting the German Board Atlas which despite being in German is not too difficult to understand and gives a lot of useful places to stop in Europe not just in Germany. It can also come in handy if you travel down through Germany. If you are travelling to the south of Italy (it is long way) you tend to park up on car parks which we did when we went down to Sicily. Italian drivers are not as bad as some people make out, they do drive fast but have much better lane discipline than the Brits. It is best to keep out of big towns and cities as was advised. Traffic is horrendous and a good sat nav is very useful. We would definitely recommend Camping Fusina for Venice and there are lots of campsites down at Riccione on the seafront. It is also worth going up to San Marino and there are a couple of aires that you can stay at as well as cheap diesel.

[alan k]

It all depends on how long you've got, what time of year, what sort of things do you like to do ( mountains, beach, sight seeing, do you want to visit cities or smaller places, what about culture, renaissance or earlier, wine areas), how far you want to drive, do you want to tour or stop in just one or two places, do you want to use all singing all dancing campsites or area di sostas.

 

Sorry its all questions. Northern Italy takes about 3 days from Calais, we've always liked the combination of the Dolomites and the Lake Garda, opportunities to visit Verona and Venice from Garda, for a 2-3 week break. However we now go in May or September for 6-8 weeks, we've done most of the Italian Coast in about 9 weeks. We also did Umbria and Tuscany in about 6 weeks, a bit too many churches and not enough wine but a super holiday We've tended to do the big Cities as a City Break long w/e but in the winter, much easier to get into the popular museums etc and much less crowded and not hot.

 

For Area Di Sosta and camperstops (mini campsite for motorhomes) you'll need a guide. Italy can be a bit of an acquired taste, not as clean or tidy as France never mind Germany but brill with helpful people, you just need a few words, pl thanks, wine bread etc and its great. In peak periods (August) campsites can be rammed full, no 6m rule here, and families move to campsites for 4 weeks and take everything!!

 

I'm just about to book the ferry from Cittavechia ( near Rome) to Palermo for 4 weeks in Sicily and then we'll drive back in May and June.

 

If you can be more specific, I'll answer what I can

 

alan

 

 

[Brian Kirby]

We've done a few forays around Italy, and agree with most of the above. If you enter from the north, across the Alps, you get more chance to adjust to Italian driving. It is different, but once you get the idea, no worse, IMO, than anywhere else in southern Europe. The fun builds up as you travel south. Best thing is just to watch at first, and then to join in with the flow - but not too wholeheartedly. The Italians have a somewhat liberal approach to most road rules, and one just has to accept that. They do as they want, and if a sign saye they shouldn't, they do it anyhow! One just has to be alert and concentrate. The only caution I would offer is to observe the speed limits. The Italian police mount covert radar traps, but the locals seem to know where they are, or will be. As a stranger, you won't!

 

Area de sosta is Italian for Aire camping-car. Similar, but often, it seems, with few facilities. However, there are quite a lot in and around towns, and they can be very useful for parking if wanting to visit. Try this website for info, though there are others: http://tinyurl.com/mstfxmz But, as with many things Italian, what you will find when you arrive may not be what is claimed to be there. It pays to travel with at least one fall-back option just in case!

 

We've been down (roughly) the Adriatic side of the Appenines to Puglia and back up the (roughly) Mediterranean side, across the Po valley west to east via Turin (campsite within walking distance of the centre, so drove down Corso Regina Marghertia - it wasn't that bad, honest! :-D) and Milan, and criss crossed the Italian Tyrol en-route to Hungary, Slovenia and, always, Venice. We tend to target the towns and cities, and there are usually campsites nearby, with good public transport, or within walking distance.

 

I think there is more superb art, architecture, and historically interesting towns per square kilimeter in Italy than any other European country. So much so that it is not always in the best of condition, for want of finance to maintain it and display it at its best. If you want to get into anything major, such as the Ufizzi in Florence, consider pre booking. Even in spring/autumn the crowds and the queues are hours long. For Venice, just walk. Once you break away from the main signposted tourist drag between Piazzale Roma and Piazza San Marco the crowds thin out and in some of the districts you can have the place to yourself. If possible get in on at least one evening, after the coach parties have gone. On a warm, dry, evening, Venice after dark is sheer magic! OTOH, if it is raining and cool, it definitely isn't at its best. Despite being on an island in a lagoon, so being surrounded by water, and having canals for streets, Venice really doesn't "do" rain very well!

[HymerVan]

In amplification of Brian's point about Italian driving it needs a degree of care to get used to. On ordinary roads Italians will overtake where it is entirely inappropriate and consequently you may well have to drive onto the verge to avoid a head on collision. There is more or less an expectation that other drivers will react to sort out bad driving but this works both ways if you make a mistake. If ongoing traffic is flashing you you can be pretty sure there is a problem ahead most likely a speed trap.

When manoeuvring be very careful to check mirrors on both sides of you vehicle because Italians especially motorbikes will overtake on either side, especially small bikes coming up the (UK offside) in towns. Italians also seem to drive at one of two speeds, flat out or dead slow.

Don't let the above put you off but do take special care and exercise good road observation. Finally do not be tempted to adopt an aggressive driving style just relax, let the bad driving happen (you are not going to change it) and concentrate on defensive driving. It is a great country.