A tour through Italy with your own car

If you want to make a trip through Italy, in most cases you can do it with your own car. If you do not have a car or do not own a suitable car, you can always opt for car rental, even if you already want to drive from the Netherlands or Belgium. But in this article I want to talk about a tour with your own car. What are the most important tips and tricks now?

Italy as a destination for your tour

Italy is a great destination for your car trip. You will find beautiful sights in all corners of the Italian peninsula (the largest number UNESCO World Heritage Sites even), the climate lends itself well to a longer trip and you can enjoy good food and drinks everywhere. But where in Italy are you going?

North, center or south?

Your tour of Italy can focus on the north of Italy, the center of Italy or the south of Italy. If you have the time, you can even consider a tour around Italy. For example from the far north to the far south and back again.

In the north of Italy we have the following tips:

• Turin
• Milan
• Verona
• Venice
• Trento
• Dolomites
• The lakes: including Lake Garda, Lake Como, Lake Iseo, Lake Maggiore

For middle of Italy We have the following recommendations for you, among others:

• San Marino
• Tuscany, including: Lucca, Pistoia, Pisa, Siena, San Gimignano
• Umbria: Lake Trasimeno, Perugia, Todi, Assisi, Gubbio
• The Marches: urbino, Corinth, Ascoli Piceno, Senigallia
• And of course Rome

are you going to the south? Then these are real tips for your tour:

• Apulia: Alberobello, Lecce, Gallipoli, Otranto, Baric
• Basilicata: matera
• Calabria: Tropea, Reggio Calabria
• Napels, Mount Vesuvius, Pompeii, Amalfi Coast
• Sicily (worth a tour alone)

Process your own preferences

Obviously there is much more to see and do. Your route therefore largely depends on your own preferences. Nevertheless, we would like to emphasize that you should take the time for any tour through Italy. Traveling around Italy also means enjoying la dolce vita, being open to new experiences and being able to be flexible. You can't get everywhere in Italy by highway and the country is large, so the distances are long.

For example, you need at least 3 weeks for the highlights in Northern Italy. And even then you hardly get any rest because you have to move every day. Can you allocate more time for your tour? All the better!

The journey there

First of all you have to get to Italy. For many Dutch the shortest route is the Switzerland route: Cologne, Frankfurt, Karlruhe, Basel, Lucerne, Gotthard, Bellinzona, Chiasso/Como and then further into Italy via Milan.

Tip: get to the Gotthard tunnel early. It may be best to plan an overnight stay in Switzerland and head out early the next day. In high season the waiting time for the tunnel can be considerable.

As an alternative route you can drive via Austria. In that case, follow this route: Cologne, Frankfurt, Würzburg, Nuremberg, Munich, Innsbruck, Brenner Pass, Chiusa, Bolzano, Verona and then continue in the direction of, for example, Bologna. Of course, the Austria route is a lot further and longer.

Belgians can choose to travel via France, via Luxembourg, France and Switzerland or via Luxembourg, Germany and Switzerland. The route via France has the advantage that you do not have to pay a toll for Switzerland. Of course it is a bit longer to drive to Tuscany.

Tip: if you don't want to drive to Italy in one go, there are plenty of options for hotel stays en route to Italy.

Car vignette and toll

You need a motorway vignette for both Austria and Switzerland. For Switzerland you pay €35 for a year. That is also the only option. Do you want to travel through Austria? Then you can opt for 2x a 10-day vignette (round trip). That will cost you twice € 9. You can also purchase a vignette for 2 months or a year, but it is relatively expensive.

For the Brenner Pass you have to pay an extra amount in addition to a vignette. The costs for the toll of the Brenner Pass in 2018 are € 9,50 for a single journey. There is no additional toll for the Gotthard tunnel in Switzerland.

Up to and including Tuscany you will also lose about € 40 in tolls. Tip: make sure you have a credit card, so that you can quickly pass the toll gates. If you go deeper into Italy, this amount naturally increases even further. You can avoid highway tolls by taking national and provincial roads, but the journey will take much longer.

Tour Tuscany

Some regions in Italy are so large that they are suitable for a tour on their own. Specifically we would like to mention Tuscany. This region covers about half of the Netherlands and there is a lot to see in medieval towns, special remains from earlier times and cultural activities.

How about doing a long road trip there to Tuscany Pisa, Lucca, Florence, San Gimignano, Siena, Vinci and more special cities and towns? And meanwhile enjoying those beautiful winding roads over Tuscan hills flanked by cypress trees?

Allow at least 2 weeks to tour of Tuscany and see 'all' highlights.

Sicily tour

Did you know that Sicily is the size of Belgium? And a lot less highways, so the distances are great. If you want to see the 'whole' island, you will soon be busy for 2 weeks. Sicily is an ideal destination to discover during a tour of the island. From Mount Etna to the Temple Valley and from the salt flats bin Trapani to the Aegean Islands. Sicily offers an exceptional diversity of landscapes, cities and culinary traditions.

What you need to bring?

What you should take with you on a tour of Italy largely depends on the type of trip you are going to make. If you've booked all your accommodations in advance and you sleep in hotels or holiday homes, you don't need that much. Your passport and a credit card will suffice, so to speak. If, on the other hand, you are going camping, it is useful to work with a packing list that contains all camping equipment.

What is mandatory in Italy to take with you are a warning triangle en reflective vests for every passenger. But you should already have those in the car anyway, because they are almost mandatory throughout Europe. Please note that in Germany and Austria a first aid kit obligated. So you should also have it in the car. Not required, but might be useful Fire extinguisher.

You should also think of winter tires and possibly snow chains, depending on when you go to which region.

Of course, before you leave, you ensure that your car is checked thoroughly. You can check the level of the fluids and oil yourself and make sure that your tires are properly inflated. You should consider taking your car to your garage for service or a holiday check.

Check your car insurance and your travel insurance. Especially if you are staying abroad for a long time, it is nice if you can fall back on good insurance in the event of an emergency. Through the ANWB you can get roadside assistance coverage for the whole of Europe, so that you also receive roadside assistance in Italy.

Traveling with the camper

Of course you can also opt for a trip with a camper. Italy is a very camper-friendly country and you have beautiful camper routes to choose from. If you don't have a motorhome yourself, it is now very easy to rent one from private individuals.

For more information about traveling by motorhome, see this page.

Have you made a tour of Italy yourself? Do you have any tips for other Italy lovers? Then leave a comment below!