dlb0821

Hello, We are traveling to France in May. We arrive in Paris, stay 3 nights, take the train to Marseilles and will rent a car to drive to our rental in St. Cyr Sur Mer. We are planning to stay for a week and leave for Italy on a Saturday. This is where I'm not sure what to do and would love to hear your experience and ideas. We need to travel from St. Cyr, Sur Mer to Panicale Italy. The closest train station to Panicale is Chiusi. I thought (naively?) we could travel from Marseille or Nice to Chiusi in one day. So far, by train, we can get to Florence in a number of legs, and then I think I can get a local train to Chiusi where we will need to rent a car. The car is part of the issue because it means we will need to arrive in time to pick up the car. I didn't want to rent the car in Florence because we need to be at the airport in Rome by 9 am ,for a noon flight on the day we leave. What do you think? If any of this is unclear, please ask and I will clarify. And THANK YOU for your help.

TimS

I don't know why you want to avoid picking up a car in Florence just because you will fly out of Rome.

I don't know what car rental agency you plan to use, but Auto Europe's site says that their outlets in both Chiusi and Florence close in the early afternoon on Saturdays. The exception is the Florence airport outlet which is open late into the evening.

Auto Europe's site says that there is an after-hours drop box at the outlet at the Toulon train station. You could drive to Toulon early in the morning, drop your car, and take the train to Florence. Take a bus or a taxi from the station to the airport and pick up a car there. Buses run every 30 minutes.

TimS

Adding to my previous post. If you leave Toulon at 08:11, you'll arrive in Florence at 19:15.

If you're willing to get up early and drive to Nice, you can drop your car at the Nice train station, leave there at 09:53, and arrive in Florence at 17:00.

For detailed timetables use the German Rail site, www.bahn.de.

StCirq

I've picked up cars several times in Chiusi (both Hertz and EuropCar, rented through AutoEurope). They will arrange for someone to meet you at the Chiusi office on a Saturday afternoon if the office is closed. Never had a problem. They'll give you a number to call to reach the guy who's coming to open the office.

It's an easy drive from Chiusi to Panicale.

dlb0821

Thank you both. I had wondered if anyone had done this before and it helps to know you have. I also found a flight from Nice to Rome that gets us there in just a litle over one hour. I thought we might do that instead because then we can take the train to Chiusi and get there earlier in the day. I like trains, but 7 hours on the train is a lot. Even if we pay extra for plane baggage, it is about the same price.