Florence is serviced by two airports; its own and Pisa International Airport. Although the latter is located a good 80 kilometres from the centre of Florence, it is becoming an increasingly popular choice for travellers to the city as it is used by many budget airlines including Vueling, Easyjet, Wizz and Ryanair. On the other hand, Florence airport is serviced by the bigger airlines such as KLM, BA and, of course, Alitalia. Both airports are connected to central Florence (S. M. Novella train station) by bus. From Pisa Airport, the Terravision (www.terravision.eu) transfer bus leaves from the Elenco Corse outside the arrivals hall. The full journey takes 70 minutes and costs 10€ one-way (16€, return) for adults. Buses run from 8.40am to 12.20am but the bad news is that there are long gaps between services. Whilst these have been designed to coincide with flight arrivals, flight delays may cause you to miss your connection, so brace yourself for a wait before you finally arrive at your holiday apartment. Arriving at your accommodation from Florence Airport is a lot quicker. The Volain bus (operated by the local company ATAF, www.ataf.net) departs every half hour and the journey takes 15 minutes. ...

None but one Barcelona apartment on Holiday Velvet has a car park attach to it but there are plenty of public car parks in Barcelona, even in the historical center (Barri Gotic and Borne). The cost ranges from 20 to 30 Euros per day, although some busy car parks (la Rambla and Barceloneta) may charge up to 50 Euros a day. If you are travelling to Barcelona by car here is a useful list of car parks in each central area (most of them are 24 hour parking): PUBLIC CAR PARKS IN BARCELONA BORNE DISTRICT »Aparcament Born: Pl Comercial, 1, +34 932 683 834 »see Google Map »Aparcament Princesa: Via Laietana, 20, +34 933 107 835 »see Google Map PUBLIC CAR PARKS NEAR LA RAMBLA / RAMBLAS »Aparcament Eden: C Nou de la Rambla, 12, +34 933 179 032 »see Google Map »Aparcament Interparking La Rambla: C la Rambla, 20, +34 933 011 142 »See Google Map »Aparcament Manuel Serna Royuela: C Pintor Fortuny, 19, +34 933 171 383 »See Google Map PUBLIC CAR PARKS IN BARCELONA BARCELONETA DISTRICT »Aparcament Barceloneta Centre, Carrer del Baluart, 27, +34 932 217 529 »see Google map PUBLIC CAR PARKS IN BARCELONA GRACIA DISTRICT »Aparcament Dolores Zorita Villalba, Carrer Bretón de los Herreros, 8, +34 932 183 509 »see Google map Photo ...

Here at Holiday Velvet we often get asked about where you can leave your luggage whilst you are waiting to 'check in' to your apartment or after you have 'checked-out'. Whilst you can always ask the owner directly if they are able to look after your bags for a few hours, left luggage facilities still exist at many major train stations and other transport hubs. These days, most of these facilities run on an automated locker system (gone are the days when you checked in your bag in as you would a coat in a nightclub). Remember that they may fill up at peak periods. Rome When arriving at Termini Station on the Leonardo Express train from Fiumicino airport, you can leave your baggage in the ‘piazza’ on the lower-ground floor (follow the ‘Deposito bagagli’ signs). It’s open 6am-midnight, 7 days a week. Venice ‘Deposito bagagli’ is available at Santa Lucia Train Station (open 6am-midnight daily). Cooperative Trasbagagli is a private company that will not only store you luggage for you, but take it by boat to your place of accommodation, saving you schlepping bags over the bridges and canals. They have two offices in Venice; one at the Piazzale ...

The centre of Rome is for walking or travelling by bus or tram. If you are looking to park your rental car in Rome it will probably be much cheaper to hand it back to the rental company and hire another car when you wish to leave your Rome accommodation. But, if that is not an option and you do wish to park your rental car in Rome, it does require a certain amount of advance planning. The historic centre of Rome is out of bounds to all cars that do not have a special pass and there are cameras and police at the entry points waiting to enforce the restriction. If a rental car does enter the historic zone then the fine is at least sixty Euros. If you proceed to park in the forbidden area, your car will receive a second fine, will have its wheel clamped or may even be towed away. Assuming that you are not deterred from driving in Rome, there is on street parking in certain areas but without a resident’s permit, it is necessary to keep buying a parking ticket and that can get very expensive. So, the solution to parking your rental car in ...