GaryZ

Gosh! I have had a vacation home near Como for many years, always drive there (of course), but have no idea what you are talking about

13901

Is the bus running between Como and Malpensa no longer active?

boboqui

I ended up driving around the entire lake after I assumed (yea, I know) that Menaggio must be right next to Bellaggio. It was amazing! We stopped at Domaso for a late lunch at Casa Da Mario, the owner's father was an American who emigrated in the early 1900's, and his wife and mine became friends and communicate daily on fb.

The tunnels on the east side of the lake blew my mind, there are so many, and so long, and I mean really long. I wonder when they were made and what justified such expense, plus their maintainence must cost a fortune. I was surprized that even though Italy was (or is) going thru tough times, the road is very well maintained, and in excellent shape!

Next I drove to Bardolino in Lake Garda and then on to Venice, no problems whatsoever. The tollls accepted cc and I joined the Italians in our shared passion for auto-racing (i let them win, because I figure they have a better idea of where the speed radars are). What's a ZTC and a ZTL?

Parking in Verona was a challenge but not much different than anywhere else.

I had 2 large suitcases which were a lot easier to manage in the car than when we took the train back from Venice Mestre, where there are no ramps, elevators, escalators, so I had to carry our heavy spinner suitcases up and down the steps to the platforms. Another difference between traveling by car and train is that you better be early, having missed the AMS-PAR train that cost me $500 dollars, I was hours early in Mestre, which is 12 minutes from Venice and something like New Jersey! And when the train stopped in Vicenza, I thought it looked great and would have explored if I was traveling by car.

boboqui

Duplicate

GaryZ

Sounds like the perfect trip - congratulations!

You might have missed this, but there is a very convenient car ferry to Bellaggio from Menaggio, that leaves frequently throughout the day.

The Italians, along with the Swiss are "tunnel-masters," although the Swiss ones are in impeccable condition and are better lighted.

It really is a blast, to drive 160+ km/h for hours on end, although the lanes are more narrow than US ones, so it does take some effort...and supposedly while the bigliettos (autostrada toll tickets) are time-stamped, I've never had an issue arriving "too" early at a toll booth.

Forstbetrieb

Tutor will be your friend...

http://www.autostrade.it/it/tecnolog...icurezza/tutor

Perche

Very cool app!

Duke787

Bumping up this thread. Does anyone have experience with these folks for an MXP to Lake Como (Bellagio specifically) car transfer

http://www.airportcitytransfer.com/t...-in-milan.html

They are significantly below the other companies I've searched so I'd like to use them but want to make sure they aren't priced so low because of some big negative I'm missing.

It looks to be company based in the UK that does airport transfers throughout Europe? Perhaps they are just the middleman and would book us via a 3rd party taxi?

Perche

Almost all car services in Italy are run by middle men. For the most part, car services only exist on the internet.

Some of the ones in Italy are just a guy operating a website out of an apartment in Atlantic City, New Jersey, London, Berlin, or anywhere else but Italy. When someone books a ride with them, they see if they have know drivers in that city, and they send them a text.

Each driver is probably enrolled in 5-10 car services. Except for rare cases, there is no real car service company, with actual cars and employees. It comes down to who the guy in the UK calls whether he is on time, doesn't show up, or shows up drunk. The guy operating the website in the UK doesn't have any control over anything, and never met any of the drivers.

Companies like this don't even own a car. It's just a website. Note that on their web-site they advertise that they can pick you up at the airport in Brisbane or Perth, Australia, Salzburg or Vienna, Austria, from Montenegro and Morocco, Istanbul, Chicago, Fort Lauderdale, Geneva, Majorca, or wherever. It's not an actual company with an office, cars, and drivers

They are all paper companies, or websites. You book with them, and they try to contact a driver in that city. It's not a company with a fleet of cars in airports all around the world. It's a guy in an apartment with a website. You take our chances with any of them. They may know a reliable driver in Rijeka airport in Croatia, one of the airports they claim to serve, a somewhat reliable driver in Sharm El Sheik airport in Egypt, another one of their airports, and and an unreliable one in Vilnius, Lithuania, another place where they are, "located."

Car services are guys in Manhattan or Manchester who have a website. You give them your credit card info, and they try to find a driver for you. This one seems particularly ambitious because he claims to be able to pick you up at the airport anywhere from Civitavecchia (the cruise terminal in Rome), to Cancun, Mexico.

From the area code, he runs a website out of London. For sure, he has never met any of his drivers in Istanbul. Nobody can provide a rating of this company because he claims to have cars in Malta, Mauritius, and Milan, and he doesn't. You are not hiring his companyd, you are hiring whatever driver he happens to be able to find for you in the 75 places around the world that he claims to have cars in.

Do something simple. Call them up in London, and ask for their address. I'll bet they barely understand english, and will refuse to provide you their address, because the company does not exist. It's just a website.