chonchi

My husband and I are planning our 2nd trip to Italy this May and need some advice on our itinerary.
This is what we have so far:
(We have already been to Florence & Venice)

Cinque Terre (3 days)

train to Tuscany(3days)- where to stay?
should we rent a car? Where is the best city to rent from?
Anyone driven the Chianti road?
We would love to drive through scenic roads. Any suggestions?

Rome- 4 days

russwuf

do yourself a favor....hire luca garrapa of hills and roads tours to guide you through tuscany. He resides in siena but will pick you up at your hotel or where ever you may be staying and professionally guide you through the countryside. Write him and tell him the sort of places you wish to see and he will reply with a proposed itinerary drawn from his knowledge of the area and experience. That being said he is very flexible while on the road to deviate from a planned itinerary if the occasion arises. We had a group of 4 that used him to tour through the chianti region...down to siena...across "travertine valley" to cortona to stop at our favorite restaurant in cortona..osterio del theatro...the straccetti marinated in chianti wine sauce is to die for......
I hired a guide for a couple of reasons...the logistics of renting and returning a car and negotiating the roads especially at night well..you can imagine...plus utilizing a pro guide allows you to sit back and enjoy the countryside views and relax...and after all isnt that what a trip is all about?
Now some folk love the freedom and have no problem renting and driving themselves...and that is fine, but there are advantages of hiring a guide as well as you can see.
I would pick a town that you can walk around at night and there still be some semblance of activity and the streets havent been rolled up after business hours...say Florence etc. but that is just me.
using the train to get around is easy and cheap. If you do rent a car, there is car rental in Chiusi, which is on the way to Florence via train or you can continue onto Florence and there are rental places there.

Tobie_T

We rented a car in Siena, and returned it there after 5 glorious days of seeing the region. We had no problem with navigation and it gave us the freedom to see and do as we wished.

The Chianti drive was extremely enjoyable and we also spent time going to Volterra and Florence, while staying just outside San Gimignano.

We used autoeurope.com with good results but there are other options.....

chonchi

Hi Tobie,

how did you arrive in Siena to pickup the car?
We are taking a train from Cinque Terre and I believe the only way to get to Siena by train(2 changes Pisa & Empoli).
That is a bit of a hassle for us.
What would you recomend we do to not have to change trains?
Where to stay? Where to pick-up car?

thanks!

ira

Hi C,

Pick up your car in La Spezia and drive to Tuscany.

From whence do you depart Italy?