# I Gioielli del Doge - Venice in November



## Lucky Larry (Mar 16, 2010)

We just traded for I Gioielli del Doge.  We will be there the first week in November and then traveling the region of Parma, and over to Genoa.  

I have two questions I would like your input.  What is the weather in November in Venice and the region of Italy we will be traveling?  

The second is about renting a car or taking a train.  Should we or not.  We are use to driving and it fits our way of traveling, that is, we don't really have a destination in mind most of the time.  We wander and stop where we want, find an inn or hotel and off the next day.  We mostly tour in the countryside as we find the scenery and people to be the most authentic.  

Lucky Larry


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## Jimster (Mar 16, 2010)

*drive-train*

Well your car will be useless or nearly so while in Venice.  In fact, it will be a costly liability.  Train travel in Italy is not like train travel in the USA.  You can get almost anywhere by train.  I always opt for the train when I can.


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## Wombat (Mar 16, 2010)

Train travel is very cheap and convenient in Italy. Look up www.trenitalia.com for timetables & fares. The station in Venice is Venezia Santa Maria. If you take a car, you may want to stay in Mestre, on the mainland across from Venice island, where hotels are cheaper .. but it is a drab place, and nothing beats the experience of staying in Venice itself


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## SciTchr (Mar 17, 2010)

*Can you do both?*

Larry,
We also received an RCI trade for I Gioielli del Doge. We will be there in May 2010. We are staying in Rome for 4 days (no car), in Tuscany at Il Poggio, another RCI trade (renting a car for the week) and then we will train up to Venice for the week at I Gioielli del Doge. I am sure you know that you  do not want to have a car in Venice as it is costly to park it and you can't use it. Have you considered training for part of your trip and then renting a car since you like to drive? We are looking forward to the train, but then we have never done this before.

Also, which apartment did you receive? We got Smeraldo.


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## Lucky Larry (Mar 17, 2010)

I should have been more clear.  We are thinking about hiring a car after Venice, to travel to Parma and on to either the Milan or Verona airport to travel home.  Your adice to take the train is helping me rethink our trip.  We could take the train to Parma and rent a car there, using Parma as our base to explore.  Then we could turn the car in and take the train to the next big city.


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## Laurie (Mar 17, 2010)

I'd advise renting the car the day you check out of your Venice TS. It's not at all hard to drive out of Venice - the car rental places are conveniently located at the edge of Venice and the roads out of town are easy. You can save yourself trainfare to Parma, and travel as you describe - this is exactly what we did after checking out of I Gioielli del Doge. 

Then you can turn in your car right at the airport you leave from - usually for no extra $. Most Euro rentals (such as thru www.autoeurope.com) allow different pickup and dropoff locations in the same country for same price.  

IMO airport locations for dropoff are way easier than in-town train terminal locations. Why hassle with luggage and all that, plus the extra transportation cost and time, when you can get right to the airport?

Have a great trip - I know you will!


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## Lucky Larry (Mar 17, 2010)

*Doing both after leaving Castello apartment in Venice*

That's what I thought.  My limited experience is that the traffic in the cities is not something I want to join.

The apartment we assigned to us is Castello, at 5871 S. Marina Calle del Dose.

What will the weather be like in Venice and over to Parma in November?


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## thheath (Mar 17, 2010)

I was in that area in October and it was nice but cooler than I expected and wetter.

I believe the poster that's going in May will find better weather.


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## caterina25 (Apr 10, 2010)

The area of Parma is located in central Italy called Emilia-Romagna and the best place to tour this region is to start in Bologna.North of Bologna is Parma and to the south is Florence.You would be able to drive in these regions.In Venice there no cars only boats.Get a good tour book before you go and prepare a rough plan on what you would like to see.Good Luck!


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