Motorail from Vienna to Livorno - 2017 - Back through Austria and Slovenia. - Michael Bailey Michael Bailey European | Translator | Family Man | Blogger | Traveller Primary Menu British in Austria From Brexit to Ex-Brit UK Referendum Blog 2016 Vienna Expats Vienna for Visitors – tip list Vienna – my home since 2000 Where to drink beers… Where to eat Austrian food… Where to drink cocktails… Where to stay… Rick Stein’s Long Weekends – Vienna Locations Get out of Town – ideas for day trips away from Vienna Skip to content Search for: Home 2020 June 27 Motorail from Vienna to Livorno – 2017 – Back through Austria and Slovenia. Motorail from Vienna to Livorno – 2017 – Back through Austria and Slovenia. Published on 27th June 2020 27th June 2020 by mdgb Kranska Gora In 2017 we motorailed to Livorno and drove back with a somewhat snaking route via Südtirol and Slovenia. I think you will spend 236 seconds reading this post Pisa Lake Garda Mantova Vineyards close to Bolzano Leaving Lienz Hotel Bar, Park Hotel Laurin Border Crossing, Tarvisio Kranska Gora Ljubljana Stainz, View to the Schloss by Night In 2017, we decided in light of the successful motorail trip to take our eldest son down to the Italian coast for a few days, followed by a drive back through parts of Italy, Austria and Slovenia through back to Vienna. The trip was a longer one than we had done the summer before and the intention was to see parts of South Tyrol (Südtirol), East Tyrol (Osttirol), Carinthia and Slovenia, before heading back through to Vienna with a stop-off in South Styria (Südsteiermark). This post also ties into the 2016 motorail post, and it is possible to combine sections of the route used for that trip into the route used on this trip. The motorail from Wien Hauptbhf leaves in the early evening, and you arrive at around 7:30 in the morning at Livorno. It is worth checking that your car height is below the maximum – we had to do a height check, and we saw someone removing a roof box and rails off their car in a mad panic. The height restrictions are lower than on the Motorail to Feldkirch, so it is worth making sure you check your car model including the year of build. I’ve also heard stories of people deflating tyres to scrape under the limit – definitely not advisable, especially if you have problems getting on or off the car transport coaches. As with the previous year, our first few days were spent locally, admiring the surrounding areas and relaxing after the journey down. And of course for those who fancied time on the beach, that was exactly the reason to head to the coast. We were about 30 minutes away from Pisa, so went over there for the day to see the sights (and not to take pictures of us pushing over the leaning tower). Once we started our return journey, we headed up to Parma via a lunch stop in La Spezia. We stayed in a converted pasta factory in Parma (as a business hotel it was empty during what is a traditional holiday season). For our next leg, we drove up to Mantua for lunch and then on to Lake Garda, choosing to skip Verona as we had both previously been there. The hotel in Garda was very disappointing, and proof that the star rating could be abused. We headed on further up along Lake Garda and then up into the Alpe Adige (Südtirol) to Bolzano (Bozen) where we stayed for a couple of nights at the excellent Park Hotel Laurin – think Agatha Christie style hotel, with a beautiful walled garden directly in the city centre, excellent cocktail bar, and a glorious brunch. (Note: Bolzano/Bozen can be easily reached through the Brenner Pass if you were to fancy travelling from Innsbruck as part of the return leg having motorailed to Feldkirch). From Bolzano/Bozen, we pressed on through to Lienz, where we stopped for lunch, before heading on through the Gailtal, and towards Villach. We then took a turn down to the Slovenian and Italian borders, stopping off for an overnight stay at Kranjska Gora, just over the Slovenian border. (Note: as an alternative if you wanted to stay in Austria, Carinthia’s lakes, e.g. the Wörthersee and the Millstättersee are worth a trip, and staying over for a night or two, and you could also consider the Großglockner Hochalpenstrasse from Lienz to take you up to Kaprun or Zell am See as an alternative to going through Carinthia). In Slovenia, we had a relatively short leg, with a quick trip down to Lake Bled and then on into Ljubljana. We spent a couple of nights in Ljubljana and were able to do most of what we wanted to see on foot from the city centre, and then headed up towards Graz via Maribor. Since we had been to Graz before, we opted instead to stay in Stainz south of Graz at the Stainzerhof, where there was an excellent restaurant in the hotel, and which was also very quiet. From Stainz, we headed back up to Vienna, stopping on the way to have some lunch in Baden. (note: you could also take in the Steirische Weinstrasse for a couple of days if you want to extend your trip) or alternatively take a slow route back through Burgenland to add on a day or two. Note: Please check regulations related to travel and any restrictions that apply due to Covid-19. While neither Alpe Adige (Südtirol) or Slovenia are subject to traffic restrictions at the time of writing, readers are advised to check government travel warnings. Oeingang, Provinz, StreckeCarinthia, Gailtal, Italy, Osttirol, Slovenia, Styria, Südtirol Related Articles Tapetenwechsel Heading out for drinks post-lockdown… 20 Years in Vienna – Geocaching Nightwalk Post navigation Previous Previous post: Across Austria by Motorail and back by car Next Next post: 20 Years in Vienna – Geocaching Nightwalk Leave a Reply Cancel reply Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked * Comment * Name * Email * Website Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. Δ This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed. Search for: Recent Posts Facebook fixes I would love to see Football and Boy Racers in Heiligenstadt Out and about in Alberner Hafen Mental Decluttering Heading out for drinks post-lockdown… Recent Comments mdgb on Rick Stein’s Long Weekends – Vienna Locations Jeannette Newton on Rick Stein’s Long Weekends – Vienna Locations mdgb on Rick Stein’s Long Weekends – Vienna Locations Mike Walker on Rick Stein’s Long Weekends – Vienna Locations Mental Decluttering - In-house translation - Outside the Box on Mental Decluttering Archives August 2022 June 2022 December 2021 June 2021 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 February 2020 December 2019 November 2019 June 2019 May 2019 December 2017 August 2016 Categories Deppat Gerstel Glotzen Grätzl Hawara Health Kickerl Lepschi Oeingang Oida Provinz Social Media Strecke Tschocherl Wien Meta Log in Entries feed Comments feed WordPress.org Copyright © All rights reserved. Theme: Minimal Grid by Thememattic