Entries with airport tag

Verona Arrival And Information

If you’re flying to Verona’s Valerio Catullo airport at Villafranca, 10km away, you can get into the city by a regular APT bus (every 20min 7am-midnight; L7000/3.62) from the airfield to the train station and Piazza Cittadella, near the city centre. Otherwise, unless you’re staying in the youth hostel, you’re only likely to need a bus if you don’t fancy the fifteen-minute achievement from the train and bus stations to the centre. To achievement to the centre from here, turn right outside the train station (keeping to the right-hand side of the road – there are some busy junctions) then left at the main junction with the broad Corso Porta Nuova, which leads straight to Piazza Bra, site of the Arena and the hub of Verona. Bus tickets must be bought before boarding the bus, either from the machines alongside bay A or from the tabacchi inside the train station ticket hall. They cost L1500/0.77 and are valid for any number of journeys within an hour.

The main tourist office is on the central Piazza Bra, within the old town walls beside the Palazzo Municipale (Mon-Sat 9am-6pm; tel 045.806.8680, www.verona-apt.net ). There is an additional office at the train station (daily 9am-6pm; tel 045.800.0861) and a room-finding service , Cooperativa Albergatori Veronesi (CAV), at Via Patuzzi 5 (Mon-Fri 9am-6.30pm; tel 045.800.9844); Via Patuzzi runs parallel to Via Leoncino off Piazza Gallieno in the southeast corner of Piazza Bra. You can rent bikes in summer from stalls in Piazza Bra. For Internet access, head for the small shop on platform 1 at the train station (Mon-Sat 7.30am-7.30pm) or to Diesis , on via Sottoriva 15 (Mon-Thurs 11am-11pm, Fri & Sat 11am-midnight, Sun 3pm-8pm; L15.000/7.75 per hour).

Category: Verona

About Treviso

Treviso

The local tourist board are pitching it a bit high when they suggest that the waterways of TREVISO may remind you of Venice, but the old centre of this brisk rustic capital is certainly more alluring than you might imagine from a quick glance on your way to or from the airport. Treviso was an important town long before its assimilation by Venice in 1389, and plenty of evidence of its primeval position survives in the form of Gothic churches, public buildings and, most dramatically of all, the paintings of Tomaso da Modena (1325-79), the major artist in north Italy in the years immediately after Giotto’s death. The general townscape within Treviso’s sixteenth-century walls is often appealing too – long porticoes and frescoed house facades give many of the streets an appearance quite distinct from those of other towns in the region.

Category: Treviso

Directory

AIRLINES Alitalia, Via Bissolati 11 (information tel 06.65.643; 24hr domestic flight information tel 06.65.641; international flights tel 06.65.642); British Airways, Via Bissolati 54 (tel 06.485.480; Fiumicino airfield tel 06.6501.1513); TWA, Via Barberini 67 (tel 06.47.211; Fiumicino airfield tel 06.6595.4921). Note that most other airlines are either in or very close by Via Bissolati and Via Barberini. AIRPORT ENQUIRIES Fiumicino tel 06.6595.3640/06.6595.4455; Ciampino tel 06.794.941.

AMERICAN EXPRESS Travel office and exchange facilities at Piazza di Spagna 38 (Mon-Fri 9am-5.30pm, Sat 9am-12.30; longer hours in the summer; tel 06.67.641).

AUTO CLUB D’ITALIA (ACI) tel 06.49.981; 24hr recorded information tel 06.44.77. Italy’s automobile club has an English-speaking staff that can help you with driving or repair information at little or no cost. If you belong to an autoclub in your home country you may be entitled to free services. Call their free recorded number for weather and road closure information.

BIKE AND SCOOTER RENTAL Collalti, Via del Pellegrino 82 (tel 06.6880.1084; closed Mon) does cycle rental and repairs; Rent-a-Scooter Motoservices, Via F. Turati 50 (tel 06.446.9222) is the best deal for scooters and offers a 10 percent discount to Rough Guide readers; Romarent, Vicolo dei Bovari 7a (tel 06.689.6555) and Roma Solutions, Corso Vittorio Emanuele II 204 (tel 06.446.9222/06.687.6922) rent both scooters and bikes.

CAR RENTAL All the usual suspects have desks at Fiumicino, and well-posted signs lead you to a number of rental booths in the parcheggio multipiano at Termini. In the city centre itself, there are, among others, Avis, Via Sardegna 38a (tel 06.4282.4728), Hertz, Via Veneto 156 (tel 06.321.6831), and Maggiore, Via Po 8 (tel 06.854.8698).

CAR REPAIR Call 116 for emergency breakdown service. Otherwise, consult the ACI or the Yellow Pages under Autoriparazioni for specialized repair shops.

CLUB ALPINO ITALIANO Corso Vittorio Emanuele 305 (tel 06.683.2684).

DENTIST The Ospedale di Odontoiatria G. Eastman, Viale Regina Elena 287b, has a 24-hour emergency service (tel 06.8448.3232). If you’re an EU citizen be sure to take your E111 form, which entitles you to buy a “ticket” for a consultation – currently L26,400.

DISABLED TRAVELLERS Although changes are in the works, Rome can be quite a challenge for those with disabilities. Contact the Consorzio Cooperative Integrate-COIN, Via Enrico Giglioli 54a (tel 06.2326.7504, toll free in Italy tel 800.271.027), who have English-speaking 24hr information on their phone line, and produce a guide, Roma Accessible, which contains information on accessibility to major sites, museums, hotels and restaurants. Also, their Web sites – www.coin@inroma.roma.it and www.andi.casaccia.enea.it/hometur.htm – have additional information.

ELECTRICITY 220 volts. If coming from the US buy an adaptor before you come as they are more expensive once you get here.

EMBASSIES Australia, Corso Trieste 25c (tel 06.852.721 or for emergencies toll free at tel 800.877.790); Britain, Via XX Settembre 80a (tel 06.482.5441); Canada, Via Zara 30 (tel 06.445.981); Ireland, Piazza Campitelli 3 (tel 06.697.9121); New Zealand, Via Zara 28 (tel 06.441.7171); USA, Via Veneto 119 (tel 06.46.741).

EMERGENCIES tel 113. Both the Police and the Carabinieri have offices in Termini. Otherwise the most central police office is off Via del Corso in Piazza del Collegio Romano 3 (tel 06.46.861), and there’s a Carabinieri office in Piazza Venezia to the right of Via del Corso.

EXCHANGE American Express; Thomas Cook, Piazza Barberini 21a (Mon-Sat 9am-8pm, Sun 9.30am-5pm), and Via della Conciliazione 23 (Mon-Sat 9am-8pm, Sun 9.30am-5pm). Post offices will exchange American Express traveller’s cheques and cash commission free. The last resort should be any of the many Ufficio Cambio, almost always offering the worst rates (despite “no commission” signs).

HOSPITAL In case of emergency tel 113 or tel 118. Otherwise the most central hospitals are the Policlinico Umberto I, Viale del Policlinico 155 (tel 06.49.971), and the Santo Spirito, Lungotevere in Sassia 1 (tel 06.68.351), near the Vatican. The Rome American Hospital, Via E. Longoni 81 (tel 06.22.551) is a private multi-speciality hospital with bilingual staff.

INTERNET Museo del Corso, at Via del Corso 320 (Tues-Fri 10am-8pm, Sat 10am-10pm, Sun 10am-8pm, closed Mon; tel 06.678.6209); Netgate, Piazza Firenze 25 (Mon-Sat 10.30am-10.30pm; tel 06.689.3445); Internet Point, Via Gaeta 25, Mon-Sun 9am-12am; tel 06.4782.3862). All offer Internet access for around L10,000 an hour.

LAUNDRY Onda Blu, at Via Principe Amedeo 70b and Via Lamarmora 12 (both regular 8am-10pm); Wash and Dry, Via Della Pelliccia 35 and Via Della Chiesa Nuova 15/16 (both regular 8am-10pm). All offer a wash including soap and tumble-drying for about L15,000 for a 6kg (15lb) load.

LIBRARIES The British Council, Via delle Quattro Fontane 20 (Mon-Tues & Thu-Fri 10am-1pm, Wed 2-5pm; closed Aug & Christmas; tel 06.478.141), has a lending library, for which yearly membership costs L100,000. Non-members are, however, allowed to use it for reference purposes for free. There’s also a library at the American church of Santa Susanna, Via XX Settembre 14 (tel 06.482.7510), which also has a good noticeboard for finding work, accommodation and so on, and at the American Studies Center, Via M. Caetani 32 (tel 06.6880.1613), though this last is for reference only.

LOST PROPERTY For property lost on a train call 06.4730.6682 (daily 7am-11pm); on a bus tel 06.581.6040 (Mon and Fri 8.30am-1pm, Tues-Thurs 2.30-6pm); on the metro tel 06.487.4309.

MODEM If you want to use your laptop’s modem, bring a plug adapter and check with your Internet service bourgeois to be sure you can access your statement from Italy.

NEWSPAPERS English newspapers are acquirable the same day of publication later in the afternoon at newsstands in Termini, Piazza Colonna and Via Veneto. The International Herald Tribune, acquirable at most newsstands, is printed in Italy and includes an Italian news supplement.

PHARMACIES Piram, Via Nazionale 228 (tel 06.488.0754) and Farmicia della Stazione, Piazza dei Cinquecento (tel 06.488.0019) are both open 24hr, year-round.

POST OFFICES Rome’s main post office is at Piazza San Silvestro 18/20 (Mon-Fri 9am-6pm, Sat 9am-2pm; closes midday last Sat of apiece month). Other post offices are usually open Mon-Sat 8.30am-1.30pm. The Vatican Post Office, located on apiece side of St Peter’s Square and in the Vatican Museums (Mon-Fri 8.30-7pm, Sat 8.30-6), is run by the Swiss postal service and is more reliable, faster and a bit more expensive than the often unreliable Italian post.

RADIO Radio Centro Suono (101.3 FM), plays more interesting music than most of the local broadcasting stations; for regular rock, try Radio Rock (106.6). Radio Citta’ Futura (97.7) plays a variety of alternative sounds, and at 10.30am regular has information on what’s on in Rome.

TELEPHONES All phones take phone cards acquirable at most tabacchi, bars, and newsstands for denominations of L5000, L10,000 and L15,000. Very few Italian phones take coins, but those that do can be found around Termini.

TIME Rome is one hour ahead of GMT, six hours ahead of Eastern Standard Time, and nine hours ahead of Pacific Standard Time in North America.

TRAIN ENQUIRIES For general enquires about schedules and prices, tel 1478.88.088 (daily 7am-9pm).

TRAVEL AGENTS For discount tickets try the CTS offices at Via Genova 16 (tel 06.462.0431) and Corso Vittorio Emanuele II 297 (tel 06.687.2672), both open on Saturday mornings, when all the other travel agents are closed. Other good places to try are Viaggiare, Via San Nicola da Tolentino 15 (tel 06.421.171), who have some English-speaking staff, and Elsy Viaggi, Via di Torre Argentina 80 (tel 06.689.6460).

Category: Rome

Arrival

By air

Rome has two airports : Leonardo da Vinci, better known simply as Fiumicino, which handles most scheduled flights, and Ciampino, where you’ll arrive if you’re travelling on a charter, or with Go or one of the other low-cost European airlines. Taxis in from either airfield cost around L80,000, more at night, and take 30-45 minutes; they’re worth considering if you are in a group but otherwise the public transport connections are reasonable.

Fiumicino is connected to the centre of Rome by direct trains, which make the thirty-minute ride to Termini for L16,000; services begin at 7.37am, and then leave hourly from 8.07am until 10.07pm. Alternatively, there are more frequent trains to Trastevere, Ostiense and Tiburtina stations, apiece on the edge of the city centre, roughly every twenty minutes from 6.27am to 11.27pm; tickets to these stations cost L8000, and Tiburtina and Ostiense are just a short metro ride from Termini, making it a much cheaper (and not necessarily slower) journey; or you can catch city bus #175 from Ostiense, or city bus #492 or #649 from Tiburtina, to the centre of town. These cheaper alternatives do inevitably, however, involve a certain amount more bag-hauling.

There are no direct connections between the city centre and Ciampino . Hourly buses run from the airfield to the Anagnina metro station, at the end of line A – a thirty-minute journey (L2000), from where it’s a twenty-minute ride into the centre. Failing that, you can take a bus from the airfield to Ciampino overground train station, a ten-minute journey, and then take a train into Termini, which is a further twenty minutes. The BA budget offshoot, Go, incidentally, lay on their own bus to Piazza Santa Maria Maggiore, half an hour after the arrival of apiece of their flights, but it’s no quicker and they charge L18,000 for it.

By train

Travelling by train from most places in Italy, or indeed from other parts of Europe, you arrive at Stazione Termini , centrally placed for all parts of the city and meeting-point of the two metro lines and many city bus routes. There’s a left-luggage artefact here (daily 5:15am-midnight; L5000 per piece every 12hr), but bear in mind that they won’t accept plastic bags; note that the Enjoy Rome office will also look after its customers’ luggage.

Among other rail stations in Rome, Tiburtina, is a stop for some north-south intercity trains; selected routes around Lazio are handled by the Regionali platforms of Stazione Termini (a further five-minute achievement from the regular platforms); and there’s also the COTRAL urban train station on Piazzale Flaminio, which runs to La Giustiniana – the so-called Roma-Nord line.

By bus

Arriving by bus can leave you in any one of a number of places around the city. The main stations include Ponte Mammolo (trains from Tivoli and Subiaco); Lepanto (Cerveteri, Civitavecchia, Bracciano area); EUR Fermi (Nettuno, Anzio, southern Lazio coast); Anagnina (Castelli Romani); Saxa Rubra (Viterbo and around). All of these stations are on a metro line, except Saxa Rubra, which is on the Roma-Nord line and connected by trains every fifteen minutes with the station at Piazzale Flaminio, on metro line A. Eurolines buses from outside Italy terminate on Piazza della Repubblica.

By road

Coming into the city by road can be quite confusing. If you are on the A1 highway coming from the north take the exit “Roma Nord”; from the south, follow exit “Roma Est”. Both lead you to the Grande Raccordo Anulare, which circles the city and is connected with all of the major arteries into the city centre – the Via Cassia from the north, Via Salaria from the northeast, Via Tiburtina or Via Nomentana from the east, Via Appia Nuova and the Pontina from the south, Via Prenestina and Via Casilina or Via Cristoforo Colombo from the southeast, and Via Aurelia from the northwest.

Category: Rome

Listings

Airport enquiries tel 0541.715.711. Car rental Avis, Viale Trieste 160 (tel 0541.51.256); Europcar, Via Giovanni XXIII 126 (tel 0541.54.746); Mondaini, Viale Tripoli 160 (tel 0541.782.646).

Emergency tel 112.

Doctor Rimini Soccorso on 24hr call, tel 118, or Infermi hospital tel 0541.705.111.

Internet access Main tourist office L4000/¬2.07 per hr.

Laundry Lavanderia Italia ‘90, 11e Viale Giusti, just off the seafront between Piazzale Tripolo and Piazzale B. Croce.

Pharmacy Via IV Novembre 39/41 (daily except Thurs 8.30am-12.30pm & 4-8pm; tel 0541.24.414); when closed, details of all-night services are posted outside.

Post office Main office on Largo Giulio Cesare (Mon-Fri 8.15am-5.30pm, Sat 8.15am-1pm); smaller branch at Piazzale Tripoli 4 (Mon-Fri 8.10am-1.30pm, Sat 8.10-11.50am).

Taxis Radiotaxi Cooperative (tel 0541.50.020 or 0541.51.488); 24hr rank outside the train station.

Telephones Telecom Italia at Piazza Ferrari 34 (summer regular 8am-10pm).

Travel agent Miramare, Piazza Ferrari 22 (tel 0541.28.820), does discount tickets.

Category: Rimini

Arrival, Information And Getting Around

The train station is situated in the centre of Rimini, on Piazzale Cesare Battisti, ten minutes’ achievement from both the sea and the old centre; the town’s main bus station is just south of here on Via Clementini; and bus #9 runs from the airfield (information tel 0541.715.711), to the train station (7km) every thirty minutes. Tickets cost L1700/¬0.88, and can be bought at the airfield bar. There’s a tourist office right outside the train station on Via Dante Alighieri (April-Sept Mon-Sat 8am-7pm, Sun 9.30am-12.30pm; Oct-March Mon-Sat 9.30am-12.30pm & 3.30-6.30pm; tel 0541.51.331). They have a list of hotels and will help find a room, or pass you onto the Promozione Alberghiera – except in the peak of the season (first two weeks in August), when normally you don’t stand a chance if you haven’t booked ahead. The main tourist office, at Piazza Federico Fellini 3 on the seafront (April-Sept Mon-Sat 8.30am-7pm, Sun 9.30am-12.30pm; Oct-March Mon-Sat 9.30am-12.30pm & 3.30-6.30pm; tel 0541.56.902, www.riminiturismo.it ), offers the same service and a board outside showing vacancies when everything else is closed. For accommodation, you can bypass the tourist office altogether and go straight to the Promozione Alberghiera for somewhere to stay (June-Sept regular 8am-8pm; tel 0541.52.269); they have offices in the station and opposite the beachfront tourist office. The Centro di Informazione Comunale, in the Municipio on Piazza Cavour (Mon-Fri 8.30am-1pm & 2-7pm, Sat 9am-1pm; tel 0541.704.112), gives information on cultural events, often in English. Getting around is best done on foot, at least within the town centre. But if you need to use the buses, buy an orange ticket from a tobacconist or newsstand; it gives 24 hours’ unlimited travel in Rimini and the surrounding area (including Santarcángelo, Riccione and Bellaria) for L5000/¬2.58; an eight-day ticket costs L20,000/¬10.33. There are also a couple of nightbus services .

Category: Rimini

Listings

Pisa

Airlines Air Dolomiti (tel 167.013.366); Alitalia (tel 1478.65.642); American (tel 02.6791.4400); British Airways (tel 1478.12.266); Continental (tel 055.476.454); Delta (tel 1678.64.114); KLM (tel 06.652.9286); Lufthansa (tel 02.8066.3025); Meridiana (tel 055.230.2416); Ryanair (tel 050.503.770); TWA (tel 055.239.6856); United (tel 1678.825.181). Books Libreria Internazionale, Via Rigattieri 33, stocks English books.

Car rental Autoeuropa (tel 050.506.883), Avis (tel 050.42.028), Europcar (tel 050.41.017), Hertz (tel 050.43.220), Liberty Rent (tel 050.48.088), National/Maggiore (tel 050.42.574), Program (tel 050.500.296), Sixt (tel 050.46.209), Thrifty (tel 050.45.490), Travelcar (tel 050.44.424). All are based at the airport.

Hospital Santa Chiara, Via Roma 67 (tel 050.992.111).

Internet access Internet Planet, Piazza Cavallotti 3 (tel 050.830.702, www.internetplanet.it ); Internet Point, Via dei Mille 3 (tel 050.830.701, www.koinepisa.it ). Both have long opening-hours and charge L3000/¬1.55 for 15min (less for students). Internet Surf, open regular until 1am at Via Carducci 5 (tel 050.830.800, www.internetsurf.it ), lets you pay by credit card.

Laundry OndaBlu, Via San Francesco 8a.

Left luggage At the airfield (daily 8am-8pm; L5000/¬2.58 per piece per day).

Lost property At the airfield (tel 050.849.400).

Parking There are car parks outside the Porta Nuova, just west of the Campo dei Miracoli, and west of the train station on Via Battisti. Parking in the historic centre is severely restricted: yellow spaces are off-limits, blue spaces are charged by the hour, day and night, and white spaces are free only if you display a chit from your hotel, signed, stamped and dated. The airfield long-term car park P2 is free.

Police The Questura is at Via Mario Lalli 1 (tel 050.583.511).

Post office Piazza Vittorio Emanuele II (Mon-Fri 8.15am-7pm, Sat 8.15am-noon).

Taxi Radio Taxi Pisa tel 050.541.600.

Category: Pisa