Europe Travel Answers

Have you checked the driving distances, routes and estimated timings on www.viamichelin.com? Some of your planned journeys are very long even without delays caused by traffic congestion. Trying to see the Amalfi coast (Amalfi is at least 3h 10 mins drive from Rome, and quite possibly more if you meet the inevitable traffic congestion) and Herculaneum (which means driving into and through the suburbs of Naples) will be a long and exhausting day, imo. Better to choose one or the other. Or neither, and visit somewhere nearer to Rome. Bled and both sets of caves is also a very busy day, with a lot of driving. Better to visit Bled and one set of caves (the Skocjan ones are better than Postonja, imo, being far less touristy).

I too had issue with the Dubrovnik part--first of all, Dubrovnik is the size of a postage stamp. Two days is more than enough (I was pretty done with it in one day, actually). You'll find yourself wanting to do day trips from there (Cavtat, Korcula, etc. are possibilities). The other thing I would point out is that it is quite a haul from Dubrovnik to Plitvice Jezera--not really day trip material. You may not realize how slow you will have to drive on Croatian roads. They are generally one lane in each direction, and you're sharing the same road with all the cargo traffic. A distance that might be do-able in Spain (or wherever) in two hours will take a lot longer in Croatia.

1. Are you planning on driving or taking the train to the Naples area? As someone noted, driving in the Amalfi area can be an adventure (the driver doesn't see a whole lot), and there is no rail service on the south side of the Amalfi peninsula (where Amalfi itself is), so you have to rely on buses...basically, I would agree that trying to do Herculaneum and the Amalfi Coast is too much for a day trip - UNLESS you meant the north side of the Amalfi peninsula (where Sorrento is) - this is reachable by private rail line that happens to have stops at both Herculaneum and Pompeii. Doing the train from Rome down to Naples, then switching to the private rail line to Herculaneum, Pompeii, Sorrento, whatever, is at least doable in a day, although a very long one. 2. Rome to Villach...that's nearly 800 kilometers, or over 7 hours on the road - assuming there are no traffic problems. Do you realize that you will drive through Venice Mestre (the mainland part of the city) on the way and pass within 30 kilometers or so of Trieste before you turn north for the last segment up to Villach? 3. Were you making a day trip to Vienna? That's nearly a 4 hour drive from Villach. On the other hand, it seems odd to go up to Vienna for a day and a night, and then go back to Villach. 4. Is there something special about Villach (like family)? Honestly, I would consider skipping Villach but take the overnight train from Rome to Vienna (dep 19:10, arr 08:42), stay in Vienna for a while, taking a day trip out to Salzburg (many trains run from Vienna to Salzburg). Note that you can take an overnight train from Vienna back to Venice (dep 20:40, arr 08:34) before starting your tour to Trieste, and points east. 5. In any case, while I am a fan of driving in Italy because it lets you see a lot of out of the way places, this seems like an awful lot of driving. In several cases, you may be well advised to avoid wear and tear on yourselves by taking the train...and since spending the night on a train saves you a hotel room, the costs isn't nearly as high as it appears... Bill

I'm wondering but I won't ask you (and it's not my business too) why are you doing a trip so heterogenous... Anyway I would do other way, NOT driving so much and for so long point-to-point and first I would do Roma to Bari, then dubrovnik... (you might consider you may go to dubrovnik from Ancona or Venice and saving miles of driving). Also I do not how many of you, but if you are alone or at least two persons, by plane with Malev or Croatia airlines to Sarajevo it could cost less then ferry, car, insurance.... and save days, not hours... different matter if you travel with famil or 3 or more.. I do not know if you were elegible with your ticket to Rome and back home, you should check, many times it's possible to buy and AirEuropean pass, this pass allows travel thru most of Europe, you must purchase the coupons outside of Europe, each leg it doesn't cost much. So you may reconsider your trip and save time, stress and.. money. You might also consider low cost carriers, ie from Naples you do not need to go back to Rome and then to Austria, have a look at http://www.skyeurope.com/ how much it would cost a flight from Naples to Vienna.... frustrations can be avoided, all towns you want to go are reachable in 26 days, there are people who did [much] more in less time, but save at least time with some flights in between :-)

thanks to everyone for your advice, i really appreciate it! i'm currently looking at other options and trying to play around with the itinerary. we are staying with friends in villach and plan to spend some more time there than other places. we're actually planning on making that our 'base' while we're in austria, and then seeing surrounding places from there. so far, i have decided to scratch the amalfi/herculaneum plan from the trip and save it for another time. Also, rather than drive from venice to dubrovnik, we will take a ferry from ancona to split and make stops along the way in croatia if we're too tired to drive.

One suggestion: Get a good map first. Have a look where the places you want to visit are in relation to each other. You are doing a lot of odd things here. - You are driving from Villach to Trieste and then back to Villach, en then drive to Venice the next day. Better to visit Trieste on route from Villach to Venice. - Venice to Dubrovnik on one day is impossible. A day trip to Plitvicka from Dubrovnik is also not in the realm of real world possibilities. The smart thing to do here is to stop over at Plitvicka on the way to Dubrovnik. (And have another stop over at Split, which is really worth a visit). Also, if renting a car in Italy, check that you are actually allowed to take it where you intend to take it...