frtom

We are a party of four, arriving in Rome on October 2. We will travel immediately to Assisi for 6 days and then two of us will return to Rome for our final three days (the other two are going on).

Since we want to travel around the countryside some during our stay in Assisi, we plan to rent a car when we arrive in Rome and drive to Assisi. However, I would like to avoid the 14% airport surcharge.

I notice I can pick up a car in Rome without the surcharge at the "Stazione Termini" or at the "Roma Termini Rrs". Are these different stations? Can they both be reached easily from the Da Vinci airport? Which would be a better choice? I assume four people can travel from the airport to Rome fairly reasonably.

Would it make sense, instead, to pick up and drop of the car in the downtown Fiumicino agency? How convenient/expensive is it to get there from the airport?

Thanks for your advice.

Grinisa

You can take the express train from FCO to Termini station. For four people, the train is going to run about 40 Euro. Then you will have the added hassle of driving your way out of Rome, which isn't the most enjoyable activity, even for those experienced with driving in Italy. We always rent a car at the airport and have paid a lot less than 14% for the surcharge. I'd shop around. To me, the extra money spent on the surcharge is well worth not having to drive/train all the way into the city and then get back out again. FCO is very convenient to the GAR autostrada which links to the A1 and will take up toward Assisi. By the time you go into Rome, get a car, and get out again, you'd be 2/3rds of the way to Assisi if you'd have gone from the airport. A taxi to Fiumicino from the airport is about 20-25 Euro for two people, slightly more for 4 and luggage.

Budman

I agree with Grinisa. We were going to do the same thing, but the cost/time/aggravation of taking the train into Rome with all that luggage (my wife's kitchen sink) after an all-night's flight, it was more than worth it to rent at the airport.

BATUFFOLINA

I agree with the above advices: it is better to rent a car directly at the airport. This will save you the money to take a cab or the shuttle to Termini AND (more important) you won't get stuck into the city centre, which can be really terrible. From Fiumicino airport you can get easily into the GRA (Grande Raccordo Anulare) which is the "belt" around Rome. Get a good road map like the Michelin spiral road Atlas (IMO easier to read rather than s normal map that you have to unfold and spread) so that you know where to head and where to drive from Rome.
Try Auto Europe which has always good prices, and has had good reviews among the fodorite travellers.

turnercindy

I believe that the 14% airport surcharge is only on the base rental price, not on all the taxes and surcharges, so it's really not as bad as it might seem. I compared prices at the airport and the train station, and the cost of the train tickets exeeded the savings on the rental. And we will also be leaving the city right away, so figured out that it will be much easier to leave from the airport. I'm glad the experienced previous posters are confirming my thoughts.

Eleni

no no no no no! everyone is right -- you DO NOT want to be driving around downtown Rome. Not fun, not worth it. We are very used to driving in Europe, and the center of Rome is particularly bad. We've had good luck with low car rental rates throught www.autoeurope.com, and with picking up and returning cars to the Rome airport.

ctd02

Everyone is correct. Driving from Termini (south of the city centre) out of Rome (going north) is not a great idea. You often dont know where you are in Rome when you are walking, the streets change names and directions at random; driving would be far worse. And it doesnt save you money anyway.

I dont have the map in front of me, from memory to get to Assisi from the airport head onto the GRA in the direction of Firenze. There are plenty of signs. However, rather than go up the A1 you probably have to go to Terni (I believe exit 6 - I remember this because, attempting to head into the city from the GRA, somehow I ended up on the road to Terni - only for a short time). Anyway, this is generally a single lane (each way) road that is in good condition. Be prepared to get stuck behind a truck for a while. However, once you get to Terni you can hop on the 'Umbria ring road' which is dual lane and zoom up to Assisi. I haven't done this trip, but I think its probably between 2-3 hrs driving.

Depending on what everyone in your party is doing/how they are doing it, you might want to look at dropping the car off in Perugia and training back to Rome. However, if you want to drive back to Rome you can either drop off at the airport and catch the train in (simplest, although takes a bit of time) or get a drop off point north of the city centre. Some of the rental companies drop off at Villa Borghese, which is what I did (exit 6 . . .) and its not too bad, only a few turns and on main roads. You need a good navigator and the main road you come in on turns into a one way road (the wrong way) at an annoying location. Anyway - its still 30min+ from the GRA to the drop off point, but you save probably 1hr or so in comparison to dropping back at the airport (check if this results in a drop off fee).

mackie17

We will be in Rome for 3 nights and plan to then rent a car to drive north. (at this point have not finalized stops - but will end up with family at agriturismo in Piano del quercione in hills above Viareggio).

Thought it best to pick up the car in town and just head out. The price of transport to the airport along with hassle of bags, etc. - seemed easier to pick up car in the city.

Any thoughts on this plan?

Budman

That's a great plan!! Depending upon who you are renting from, you could probably drop it off at the airport when departing without any drop-off charges.