Practical Information for visiting Udine

Udine is on the main line from Italy to Austria and is the natural base for the region's interior.

The station has direct trains to Venice in about an hour and twenty minutes, to Trieste in a little over an hour, and north through Tarvisio towards Villach and Vienna.

Cividale del Friuli is twenty minutes away on a branch line.

By road, the A23 runs north to Austria and meets the A4 south of the city; Venice is about ninety minutes and Ljubljana about two hours.

The nearest airport is Trieste–Ronchi dei Legionari, forty minutes south with its own station; Venice, Treviso and Ljubljana are all within two hours.

Buses serve San Daniele, the wine hills and the Carnic valleys.

Coverage for mobile networks is good on the plain and patchy in the mountain valleys.

Udine is a safe and quiet provincial city and visitors are not a target.

Petty crime is low and the usual care around the station at night is sufficient.

The hazards are weather and terrain. Summer thunderstorms here are violent, with hail large enough to damage cars, and they build fast over the Alps in the afternoon.

Winter fog on the plain is dense and is the main driving risk in the region.

Snow and ice on the roads north towards Tarvisio are serious from November to April, when winter tyres are a legal requirement.

The region is seismically active, as 1976 demonstrated; modern buildings here are built to a high standard for exactly that reason.

In the Julian and Carnic Alps, weather changes quickly and there are still unexploded First World War munitions on some ground; do not dig or collect.

Emergency services are reached on 112.

No vaccinations or special precautions are needed; standards are those of Italy generally.

The flat centre makes Udine easy for anyone with limited mobility, the castle ramp excepted.

Summer humidity on the plain is high and makes the heat harder than the temperature suggests.

Ticks are common in the hills and mountains of this region, and tick-borne encephalitis is present along this whole Alpine border; anyone walking or working in woodland should check, and vaccination exists for those regularly exposed.

Mosquitoes are a nuisance on the lower plain and around the lagoon in summer.

Udine has a large hospital with a full emergency department and is the medical centre for the whole region outside Trieste.

Pharmacies operate a published night and holiday rota.

EHIC and GHIC cards are accepted; travel insurance is worth having, particularly if you plan to walk in the Alps.

The single emergency number across Italy is 112, reaching police, ambulance and fire, generally with English-speaking operators.

Other numbers still in use: 113 police, 118 medical, 115 fire.

The Azienda Sanitaria Universitaria Friuli Centrale hospital in Udine has a full emergency department and is the referral centre for the region's interior.

For mountain rescue in the Julian or Carnic Alps, call 112 and ask for the Soccorso Alpino; helicopter response operates from Udine.

Report thefts to the Carabinieri or the Polizia, both with stations in the city, for the report an insurer will require.

The nearest consulates are in Trieste, an hour away; embassies are in Rome.

If you are crossing into Austria or Slovenia, the emergency number is 112 there as well, and a European health card is accepted in both.