Drive Italy.

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Amy Baker is making me want to hop right back over to Italy to check out some of these spots! This isn’t the first time I’ve heard that Lake Garda is a can’t miss location.

Ever hired a car on your travels before? If so, you are likely to have hired one for a day trip, perhaps to traverse the hills or see the lakes by your hotel. But why not compare car hire and allow for a more extended adventure? It’ll be like you’ve teleported your own car to the airport and it showed up having had a makeover along the way.

So where to go? One of the greatest drives is from the French border with Italy, across the north of Italy, or in the direction of its heart. From the border the long Mont Blanc tunnel stretches into the country, cutting its way through the mountains and lending the idea of driving the Batmobile through it to your imagination.

Once you come out on the Italian side, continue on to Lake Garda. One of the most breathtaking lakes on the planet, it’s worth staying here for at least a night. It’s the largest lake in Italy and is beset on all sides with wonderful red-roofed green-shuttered Italian houses as well as vineyards and olive groves. There are numerous restaurants around the lake positioned high up to get the best view of it. And there are all kinds of watersports for trying your hand at (or enjoying if you’re more experienced) as well as climbing and pony trekking.

From Lake Garda, carry onwards to fair Verona, where Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet was set. The city is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, having gained the status to protect its architecture including structures like the Roman amphitheatre, the Arena. The Arena is more like the Colosseum in Rome than the few leftover steps lots of amphitheatres have been reduced to. This contributes to the reason Verona is referred to as ‘Little Rome.’

From Verona, you have two options: head across to Padua and Venice or go south to Bologna and from there, Florence.

Padua is pretty old, perhaps even the oldest city in Italy and its university is Italy’s second oldest. It’s a student city, so if you’re after a lively nightlife you’re in the right place. Venice is an Island, and a fragile one at that. There are no cars there so you won’t be able to drive the hire car to it. Stay in a town nearby instead and leave the car behind while you go and explore the Grand Canal by gondola, see the Bridge of Sighs, San Marco and St. Mark’s Basilica.

In the other direction, Bologna has not only Italy’s but the possibly the World’s oldest university, the University of Bologna which was founded in 1088. Bologna is also Italy’s culinary capital. Then there’s Florence, one of Italy’s finest cities. Visit the Uffizi Gallery, filled with the great masters of the Italian Renaissance. Here is Michelangelo’s David and Brunelleschi’s Dome. When you have had your fill of Italy, drive back the way you came, drop the car off and enjoy your carefree journey home after that.

Author Bio: Amy Baker loves to write about her travels, ranging from guides to Disneyland through the eyes of Mickey Mouse to articles about drinking snake blood in Vietnam.

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*Please remember all photos on this website, unless otherwise noted, are copyrighted and property of Beers and Beans Travel Website, Nariko’ s Nest Weddings & Bethany Salvon. Please do not use them without my permission. If you do want to use one of them please contact me first because I do love to share and I would be flattered. Thanks!