Tag: italy

Categories
Germany Planning a Trip

Getting from Munich to Venice

Venice is a one-of-a-kind city but it’s also a very controversial one: you can either love it from the first minute or hate it just as fast. There are plenty of things to do in Venice and none has to be very touristy or part you with a lot of money.

Munich is a major travel hub in Germany and is particularly a good idea if you plan to take the train to explore more of Europe.

Quick summary

With no buses linking Munich to Venice and the connecting flights starting close to €150 one way , the cheapest alternative remains the train. Book in advance and you’ll pay about €60 one way and if you travel by day also get rewarded with stunning views along the way.

Flights from Munich to Venice

There are two airports to use when flying into Venice, but the one handling flights to/from Munich is Venice Marco Polo Airport (VCE). It is located 8 km from the city and is hub for Air One, Alitalia CityLiner and Volotea. The airport mostly receives seasonal flights.

Direct flights to Munich are operated by Lufthansa and the airport used is Munich International Airport (MUC), the second busiest airport in Germany. It is hub for: Air Berlin, Augsburg Airways, Lufthansa, Air Dolomiti, Air Independence, BinAir, Condor, Hamburg International and TUIfly.

Even during the shoulder season in mid-September 2012, expect to pay from € 450 for a direct flight, one way and from €147 one way for a connecting flight via Dusseldorf on Air Berlin. Unfortunately , the fares don’t go down during the low season, either. In fact, you can pretty much consider flying into Venice an expensive affair, no matter when you plan to travel.

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>>Airfare to Venice
>>Cheap flights to Munich

Trains from Munich to Venice

A very scenic way to get between Munich and Venice is by train. Bahn.de lists all the connections between the two cities.

The direct trains leave Munich daily at 11:31 a.m. (Venice Santa Lucia), 6:57 pm (Venice Mestre) and 11:40 p.m. (Venice Mestre). The travel time is between 6h40 min and 9 h. Single savings fares start at €59 (morning train) and €53 (the night train). Standard single fares start at €82.80 (morning train) and €114.80 (the night train).

On the way back , catch the direct trains at 1:14 a.m. (Venice Mestre), 1:34 pm (Venice Santa Lucia) and 9:05 p.m. (Venice Santa Lucia). The same fares apply.

Please note that the fares depend on how far in advance you purchase the ticket and which train you choose. Rail passes can be used on these trains.

Driving from Munich to Venice

Both Germany and Italy are part of EU and the Schenghen area, which means you won’t be paying surcharges for taking the rental car across the border. However, do make sure you ask the rental company if you may cross borders in the car.

The shortest route – 476 km – between Munich and Venice is on SS51 and the drive takes about 5 h. The route passes through Austria. You might want to drive on A22 although it’s a slightly longer route (543 km) but the driving time is about the same and it also passes through Austria.

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Photo by cuellar

Categories
Things to Do

Seeking Out Celebrity in Italy

When we are surrounded by something all the time, it loses its allure – even if it’s something that’s supposed to be enticing. The rest of the world might shriek when they see celebrities walking down the street, but in LA? That would be a lot of shrieking. Angelenos are famously unflappable when it comes to celebrity, and with good reason. But what about when LA residents go on vacation?

Popular wisdom holds that we become different people when we travel – we lose inhibitions, we try things we would ordinarily shun, and we indulge in things we might call guilty pleasures back home. In other words, when LA residents go on holiday to Italy, there’s no reason not to get a bit giddy should you come upon any of the places where movies were shot.

Who among us, no matter how jaded, can avoid the comparison with “La Dolce Vita” upon seeing the Trevi Fountain? Or think of “Roman Holiday” when sticking our own hand into the Mouth of Truth? It should be no different, then, seeing any of the movie hotels in Italy, getting a peek at rooms or grand hotel lobbies where famous scenes were filmed.

Some of the more famous movie hotels may be out of reach of the average traveler, but that doesn’t mean you can’t look at them from the outside and recall what parts of the movie were filmed there. For instance, there really is a gorgeous room in Venice’s Hotel Danieli where Angelina Jolie left Johnny Depp sleeping on the sofa in “The Tourist.” The stunning Positano hotel in the film “Only You” starring Marisa Tomei and Robert Downey Jr. is Le Sirenuse, and it remains a boutique budget-buster to this day.

One movie hotel you might actually be able to afford is the Hotel degli Orafi in Florence, made famous by the 1985 movie “A Room With a View.” As you might imagine, some of the rooms in the hotel overlook the Arno River – but (and this won’t surprise you if you’ve seen the movie) some of the rooms don’t have river views. In other words, if re-living the movie is your top priority, book room 414 or another of the rooms on the river-side of the building.

Above all, it’s okay to fawn over the places in Italy that have served as the backdrop for films over the years. The truth is there are plenty of reasons to fawn over them anyway.

Tempted? Book cheap tickets to Florence and find out what your itinerary could look like if you were spending 4 days in Florence.

photo of Hotel Danieli lobby by quatre mains

Categories
Croatia travel guide

From Croatia to Rome

When you’re making a tour of Mediterranean Europe, it makes sense to include both Croatia and Italy on your list. There are some similarities between the countries, especially when you’re comparing the Croatian coastline with Italy’s Adriatic coast, and if you’re already in Croatia then it’s absolutely worth it to get over to Italy for a little while. Croatia remains cheaper overall as a tourist destination than Italy, so if you’re traveling on a strict budget it’s a good idea to spend more time in Croatia – but there’s only one Rome in the world, right?

There are many choices when it comes to getting to Italy from Croatia (and vice versa), and if you’re on the Croatian coast you can definitely look into the overnight ferries. They’re economical if you’re already in the cities from which they depart, and if you have the time to spare. Flying between the countries used to be more cost-prohibitive, but with the number of discount airlines that have cropped up in recent years it can be a really inexpensive trip.

There are more options on discount airlines on flights to Milan, but you can often find cheap airfare to Rome on airlines that aren’t even considered “budget carriers.” Many will offer one-way fares and last-minute specials, so it’s always worth checking. This is especially true if you’re further inland in Croatia and closer to an airport like the one in Zagreb than a port city.

If you time your visit right, you can save money on a visit to Rome by avoiding the more expensive hotels in Rome and opting for hostels instead. Even outside the high season, you’ll likely pay more for a Rome hostel then you paid in Croatia, but you’ll still get a good deal on a bed and be able to save money for more fun things like food and attractions.

And speaking of attractions, you probably don’t need to be told about all the things to do in Rome – it’s home to so many famous sights that you probably already know what you want to see there. But besides the Colosseum, Forum, and Vatican City there are all kinds of churches, museums, and historic attractions that are less well-known but equally interesting. Many of the lesser-known sights come with cheaper entry fees and shorter lines, too, so you won’t waste your vacation standing in line and you won’t spend all your travel budget on admission prices.

photo by thelastminute