Visit Rimini

To fully explore all that Rimini and its surrounding province can offer, with full independence, you’ll probably want to either bring your own car, or hire one there. That may sound daunting, but we’ve gathered together some of the info you’ll need to make the most of the motoring experience.
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Driving on the Auto-Strade in Italy

Rimini is directly connected to the Auto-Strade (motorway/highway) network. The famous A14, which runs from Bologna to the Adriatic coast, and all the way down to Taranto in Puglia, covering a distance of 743,4km, has two exits to Rimini – Rimini Nord & Sud. The autostrade operate on a toll basis. You take a ticket when entering the system, and pay upon exit. For guidance, here are some price guidelines for both cars and motorbikes.

• Bologna (Fiera) → Rimini (Nord)Distance 101.8km, Toll €5.30. Average travel time – 1 hour 7 minutes.
• Bologna (Fiera) → Rimini (Sud)Distance 105.2km, Toll €5.30. Average travel time – 1 hour 10 minutes.
• Rimini (Sud) → Ancona (nord)Distance 86.1km. Toll €4.50. Average travel time – 57 minutes
• Rimini (Sud) → Milan (via Bologna)Distance 307.3km. Toll €16.70. Average travel time – 3 hours 24 minutes
• Rimini (Nord) → Rome (A24 Tangenziale Est)Distance 455.3km. Toll €26.10. Averaget travel time – 5 hours 3 minutes
• Rimini (Nord) → Florence (via Bologna)Distance 203.1km. Toll €11.40. Averaget travel time – 2 hours 15 minutes

Prices are intended as a guide only. Check with www.autostrade.it for up to date prices.

Tips for the Autostrade

• Try to plan your trip outside of predictably heavy traffic times. For example, during the summer months you can virtually guarantee heavy-traffic flows on Friday afternoon/evening in the direction Bologna-Rimini, as people rush to the seaside for the weekend, and the opposite on Sunday afternoon-evening when they return.
• You can check the real time traffic conditions on the Autostrade Italia site, by clickin here.
• A penalty points and fines system is in operation in Italy, and that includes on the Autostrade. Contrary to what you may have heard, there is a speed limit of 130km on the Autostrade, which may be lowered depending upon road conditions (weather and road works). Pay attention to signs, and ignore the poor example that may be set by drivers around you.

Paying on the Auto-strada

There are a number of options for paying your toll on the autostrada.

• Pre-Paid Viacard You can buy pre-paid passes called viacard, for 25, 50, or 75. These are available at service stations, autogrill, and in many tabaccherie throughout Italy. They are ideal for someone who is going to use the network a reasonable amount, and doesn’t wish to use credit card or loose change at the toll-booth. It allows you to pass through the blue channel, which often has less of a queue for exiting.

• Credit CardVisa, Mastercard, Diners, and American Express credit cards are accepted methods of payment, without any additional toll processing costs.

• CashCash is obviously an accepted method of payment. There are cashier manned toll-booths, which will give change, at each exit, although at peak times the queues for these may be lengthy.

Make sure you take a ticket entering the network – avoiding the telepass entrance. This is reserved for autostrade users who have signed up for a telepass, which involves fitting a signaller to the registered car. When exiting, choose the channel appropriate to payment. Blue → self-service for credit card or viacard White with cash symbol → Exact cash, no change given White with hand & cash symbol → cashier – change given Do not use the Telepass channel. Driving through this, without the telepass signaller, will make you liable to a hefty fee.

Service Stations

It is still fairly common to find service stations that are precisely that – service stations – so don’t be surprised if, when you pull into the forecourt, there is someone waiting to take your keys and fill up the engine. At the same-time it’s becoming more and more frequent, particularly outside of normal working hours, to find self-service pumps where you pay beforehand into a machine. Most of these have english language instructions included on the machine, though using them is not necessarily the easiest thing in the world. As many of the ‘self-service’ stations run with an automat, it’s clever to ensure you have change and a selection of different small denomination bank-notes, in order to deal with the petulant nature of the machines! Some handy translations for the forecourt:

• Super → 4 star
• Senza piombo/Benzina verde → Unleaded
• Il pieno per favore → Fill her up please
• Mi può controllare l’olio / l’acqua? → Can you check the oil/water for me?
• Mi può controllare la pressione delle gomme? → Can you check the tyre pressure for me?

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