CollK

We will be driving from Milan to Castellina (Tuscany), we're keeping the car for 5 days and then dropping it off in Florence (maybe the airport?). I'm trying to figure out what location to rent from in Milan. We will be staying at Hotel Berna and it looks like there is a Hertz location very near the hotel at Via Cappellini 10 but I'm worried that driving out of the city from there will be difficult.

Would picking it up from one of the airports be better? Any help is appreciated!

PalenQ

If you could arrange for a Sunday or at least Saturday drive ot of Milan the traffic is much less horrendous IME than on weekdays.

For airports the older airport right near town would be I think much more on your way that the new Malpensa - about 40 miles east of Milan.

bobthenavigator

Malpensa is west of town, of course, and is too far.
Linate is the close airport and is not hard to access route out of town. I would not do it during rush hour in MIlan.

Jean

We once picked up a car near the Centrale train station (don't remember which company), and it was an easy shot to the A1. Normally, I wouldn't dream of driving in Milan, but this really wasn't bad.

I would search the route on maps.google.com and see how it sounds.

LoveItaly

My husband always picked up our rental cars at the Centrale train station and returned them there also. Having said that he was very comfortable about driving in the large Italian cities, many people are not. The only time it was a sort of a nightmare was one time around 4:30PM, commute time of course but all that meant was that it took a lot longer to get out of Milan, we were on our way to Verona. Having said that he enjoyed while stalled in traffic viewing the beautiful Italian female office workers that were on their way home, lol.

CollK

Thanks everyone for the advice. I think we'll brave the drive through Milan and rent from Hertz at the Centrale train station. My husband doesn't mind driving through the city - I'm the one that gets stressed about it. We were in Athens a few years ago and mistakenly followed our GPS right through the center during the commute hour and managed to survive. I did check the route on the map and it doesn't look too bad - that is ......as long as we don't make any wrong turns!