Of course!
We tend to be kind of noise-sensitive. I've slept with a white noise machine for many years and occasionally, I'll use earplugs. But I prefer not to. So I'm continuing the search. Will let you know what we come up with.
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Northern Italy Going to Piemonte this summer
- Thread starter David
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We tend to be kind of noise-sensitive. I've slept with a white noise machine for many years and occasionally, I'll use earplugs. But I prefer not to. So I'm continuing the search. Will let you know what we come up with.
jan
100+ Posts
For those of you staying in Alba--if you have a car, dinner ANT in Novello is an absolute must! One of the best meals of my life! It's about a 20 minute drive.
And for Orta--if you are looking at Airbnb, Stefano has his own site: ortaflats.com which is a little cheaper for the exact same properties.
We loved our recent 3 night stay in Orta, followed by 3 nights in Novello!
And for Orta--if you are looking at Airbnb, Stefano has his own site: ortaflats.com which is a little cheaper for the exact same properties.
We loved our recent 3 night stay in Orta, followed by 3 nights in Novello!
Ian Sutton
1000+ Posts
A big shout out to you for sharing this - thank you!
I'll always choose local letting agencies (or indeed direct private lets where they have a web presence), over multi-national aggregators. From local knowledge and support, to putting more money into the local area, and if that's cheaper for us, then it really is a win-win.
Thanks from me too, Jan. I actually checked ortaflats.com before seeing your post (but after reading your blog post in which you mention it!) and unfortunately, the apartments that Stefano has are too small for us. But they look beautiful.
After looking and looking and looking at options in Orta and not finding something that would work for us, I decided to book this house in Levo, a little town above Stresa. We'll be there for 5 nights and will definitely spend a day or two driving over to Orta. The place in Levo is far enough away from the Stresa scene to be very quiet (but with the fabulous view of Lago Maggiore), but Stresa is quickly reachable for restaurants and other diversions. We also plan to drive up to the mountains one day while we're there. So it seemed like a good home base for us. The host seems very good - responsive, informative - lots of good reviews, etc.
Next - Autoeurope. We've decided on a full size car - at Autoeurope, all the full size rentals seem to be automatic transmissions in Milan. Interesting. And I see that if I book at the Milan train station as opposed to Malpensa, I can save $600 over a 13-day rental! I'll be training to Milan from Emilia-Romagna, and staying in a hotel right across from the train station the night before the rest of my party arrive from the US, so this seems like a no-brainer. Anyone see any reason why I shouldn't? Thanks.
Ian Sutton
1000+ Posts
That does indeed sound like 600 good reasons to hire from the train station! That said, I believe Auto-europe are an aggregator rather than a rental company, so are those prices as comparable? The best rental companies are typically fair & reasonable, whilst the worst can be frequently dreadful. Others here will be able to advise relative quality.
Whilst not ideal to start driving in the middle of a busy city, there are mitigations:
- Familiarise with the ZTL, so you can avoid entering it
- Act like a toboggonist: Plot the route you plan to take in advance, even to the extent of tracing it on google street view, so you can see features and points where you need to change lanes / key junctions. That familiarity can really de-stress driving in a hectic location
- Timing: I'm not aware of peak times in Milano, but am guessing that 7-10am is busy and likewise in the late afternoon / evening. Sundays would be ideal, but if not I'd probably aim for ~2pm to be driving out of the city.
Whilst not ideal to start driving in the middle of a busy city, there are mitigations:
- Familiarise with the ZTL, so you can avoid entering it
- Act like a toboggonist: Plot the route you plan to take in advance, even to the extent of tracing it on google street view, so you can see features and points where you need to change lanes / key junctions. That familiarity can really de-stress driving in a hectic location
- Timing: I'm not aware of peak times in Milano, but am guessing that 7-10am is busy and likewise in the late afternoon / evening. Sundays would be ideal, but if not I'd probably aim for ~2pm to be driving out of the city.
I would lean towards the 600 savings, unless it seems to good to be true sorta thing? We booked through Europcar a month ago and a 12 day midsize/auto with one way rental was "all in" just under 1k. I just ran the same info through Autoeurope and it was basically the same price.
also I'd be curious how Autoeurope handles their deductible? some places will require a huge deductible be put on a credit card, not a fan of that. Couple years ago Europcar emailed us after we returned home asking if we had been in an accident, they included a photo. Fortunately I had my photo's and video of that pre-existing damage. A company that requires a large deposit/deductible might make you work hard to retrieve your money?
Thanks for all of that, everyone. I've rented through Autoeurope a number of times. They offer an option that has no deductible. For our 13 day rental, it's $300 extra (Full sized car, automatic, base price $1800, plus the all inclusive insurance $2117). For me, paying the $300 is worth it for the piece of mind. I've scratched cars twice in Europe over the years (actually, once I knocked off a side view mirror), but I've had this coverage. When I've returned the car, no problem at all and no questions asked.
Beerman, I just checked the Autoeurope price against the Europcar price and Europcar basic rate for the same car is $2100 and when you add in comparable insurance, it's over $2400. So I'll go with Autoeurope.
Ian, I'll be picking up the car on a Sunday morning in Milan near the train station, so I don't think I'll have to worry about traffic. The one thing I need to get more familiar with are the tolls on the roads where it's done automatically. From what I remember, you drive through the part of the road where there's a charge, a photo is taken of your license plate number as you drive past, you have to go on line and look the record up via your license plate number, and then you can pay by credit card. Have you done this?
Beerman, I just checked the Autoeurope price against the Europcar price and Europcar basic rate for the same car is $2100 and when you add in comparable insurance, it's over $2400. So I'll go with Autoeurope.
Ian, I'll be picking up the car on a Sunday morning in Milan near the train station, so I don't think I'll have to worry about traffic. The one thing I need to get more familiar with are the tolls on the roads where it's done automatically. From what I remember, you drive through the part of the road where there's a charge, a photo is taken of your license plate number as you drive past, you have to go on line and look the record up via your license plate number, and then you can pay by credit card. Have you done this?
Ian Sutton
1000+ Posts
Hi David
I think 2012 was the last time we were on a toll road, so it's possible it's changed. Back then we only used cash, which was handy as we were in a UK car, so driver sat on the right, allowing the passenger to sort out the cash.
Back then there were lanes marked like the ones in this photo
Telepass being the drive steadily through and charge to a card / account.
The advice I'd give, is not just to get into lane early, but have the navigator advising which direction to go in after the toll booth, as invariably there was a junction directly after the toll booth, often resulting in cars sweeping left to right or vice-versa, which could be disorientating / stressful. Knowing you needed to bear right, or head straight on made a big difference, as quickly pointing the car in that direction helped inform other drivers of where we were going.
I think 2012 was the last time we were on a toll road, so it's possible it's changed. Back then we only used cash, which was handy as we were in a UK car, so driver sat on the right, allowing the passenger to sort out the cash.
Back then there were lanes marked like the ones in this photo
Telepass being the drive steadily through and charge to a card / account.
The advice I'd give, is not just to get into lane early, but have the navigator advising which direction to go in after the toll booth, as invariably there was a junction directly after the toll booth, often resulting in cars sweeping left to right or vice-versa, which could be disorientating / stressful. Knowing you needed to bear right, or head straight on made a big difference, as quickly pointing the car in that direction helped inform other drivers of where we were going.
I believe that in this case you need a small card/device that is purchased beforehand :
Telepass Base: One Device, Many Services | Telepass
With the Telepass Base offer, you can travel on the motorway and use the same device for all your mobility payments: ferry, parking and much more. Discover now!
What I do IAC is check how the entry and exit gates look like on Google Street View before I do the actual drive, just to be better prepared as to which lanes I need to go through...
I believe the "free flow" toll sections were paid by the rental company on our credit card, I'll check with my Director of Finance later when she gets home ;-) We have had issues with credit cards during travel, so we make sure we keep cash on hand. Pulling up to the tolls we avoid yellow (Telepass) , avoid blue (credit/debit).... if we need change we go to the white sign with hand and coins symbol and if we have exact amount we go to coin symbol with no hand.
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Thanks for the information about the Telepass. I'm fine with normal tolls – I, too, pay cash and that has been just fine.
I was actually referring to my experience this past summer. We were driving from the Dolomites to Malpensa (stayed at the Villa Malpensa the night before departure, which I would highly recommend) and in the area north of Milan between Como and Malpensa, I started seeing signs on the highway saying that motorists were responsible for toll charges being assessed as they drove through that area on that highway. I'm sure it's only on some roads, but we were on them without knowing the rules. I didn't quite understand how it works so I asked at the hotel and they explained that I could pay the way I described - going to the toll organization website, entering your license plate number, and then paying online by credit card. I suppose that the car rental company could have charged me after the fact if they received a bill, but I just thought I would take care of it then and there, since I could.
I was actually referring to my experience this past summer. We were driving from the Dolomites to Malpensa (stayed at the Villa Malpensa the night before departure, which I would highly recommend) and in the area north of Milan between Como and Malpensa, I started seeing signs on the highway saying that motorists were responsible for toll charges being assessed as they drove through that area on that highway. I'm sure it's only on some roads, but we were on them without knowing the rules. I didn't quite understand how it works so I asked at the hotel and they explained that I could pay the way I described - going to the toll organization website, entering your license plate number, and then paying online by credit card. I suppose that the car rental company could have charged me after the fact if they received a bill, but I just thought I would take care of it then and there, since I could.
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I'm learning more about these "Free Flow" autostrade without tollbooths, managed by Pedemontana:
www.pedemontana.com
The map leaflet appears to be only in Italian, and it looks like the roads covered are A60, A59, and A36. The site gives a few ways of paying tolls; if you establish an account based on a rental car's license plate, one hopes it works to limit it to the time you have the car and you aren't charged tolls for when someone else has the car.
Home - Autostrada Pedemontana Lombarda
The map leaflet appears to be only in Italian, and it looks like the roads covered are A60, A59, and A36. The site gives a few ways of paying tolls; if you establish an account based on a rental car's license plate, one hopes it works to limit it to the time you have the car and you aren't charged tolls for when someone else has the car.
Hi Andrew -
The link you provided seems to be broken, but I think this is the page you suggested :
Good point, Andrew. Last summer, after I paid the tolls online and returned the rental car, I didn't hear anything more. I assume that they allow for that somehow?I'm learning more about these "Free Flow" autostrade without tollbooths, managed by Pedemontana:
Home - Autostrada Pedemontana Lombarda
The map leaflet appears to be only in Italian, and it looks like the roads covered are A60, A59, and A36. The site gives a few ways of paying tolls; if you establish an account based on a rental car's license plate, one hopes it works to limit it to the time you have the car and you aren't charged tolls for when someone else has the car.
Ian Sutton
1000+ Posts
Ah! That sounds similar to the dartford tunnel / millennium bridge in the UK, where it records the registration plate and you have a number of days to pay before they chase it (for an increased amount)
Exactly. My Italian is good, but when the signs started turning up, I didn't quite understand exactly what they were communicating, nor the protocol. Luckily the guy at the hotel explained it.