knoxvillecouple

Four of us will be spending a couple of weeks in Tuscany, CT, and the Lakes region the last two weeks of September, 2012. I had originally planned on keeping the car for the entire period, but am now thinking that a car really won't be of that much use in the CT or the Lakes region (probably stay in Bellagio, Menaggio, or Varenna) and actually may be a liability instead of an asset. We'll likely pick up our car in Orvieto or Chiusi for our week in Tuscany (flying into FCO). If we decide to not use the car for the CT or the Lakes, maybe drop off the car in Pisa and use trains and ferries (and probably a cab or two) for the rest of our trip (flying out of Milan). Or we could keep the car until we get to Milan and drop it off there (either before our 3-4 days in the Lakes region.

I'd appreciate advice from the Fodors experts. We've "done" trains and automobiles in Italy before, but never been to the CT or the Lakes.

TIA,

knoxvillecouple

knoxvillecouple

I meant to say before OR AFTER our time in the Lakes region. Sorry

Michael

The car will give you more freedom in the lake region, especially if you decide to take an excursion into the mountains themselves. This is where we stayed, and there is parking available (free at the time):

http://www.ilperlo.com/en

Mimar

I agree with dropping the car. Best place is probably Pisa airport. It's close to the highway and open 24/7. No need to wend your way into a strange city with unknown ZTLs. You'd need to take a train from the airport to Pisa Centrale and switch to a train to La Spezia.

Jean

You need to think about what you're going to do with your time at Lake Como. Obviously, having a car allows you to drive to places and see things that are not near a ferry stop. But you'll be paying the daily rental, perhaps daily parking, and a higher fare on the ferry. (The car and driver are one fare, and then the three others would be pedestrian passengers. There are some discount options for passengers but not a good discount for cars unless you stay longer.) Finding legal parking in the towns can be difficult, and, if you're there on a weekend and the weather's nice, parking will be even more difficult in the towns. There's also a chance you might have to wait in line to get onto a ferry with the car if it's particularly busy.

bobthenavigator

The key factor to me is there are 4 of you and the car will be so much more convenient. I would keep it as far as the city of Como and then take the ferry to your base location on the lake. If you fly home from Malpensa then hire a driver to MXP---we did all of that in 2009.