travel52

We are picking up a car in Florence and driving to Assisi, Tuscany and then want to drop it off before going to the Cinque Terre. If we add an extra night in Tuscany, it will be a Sunday drop off. That may be too complicated with limited office hours/locations through autoeurope.

My question: Where is the best place to drop our car off before taking the train to the Cinque Terre (Monterosso al Mare). I thought perhaps Genoa, but the only location open on a Sunday is the airport. I don't know how big the airport is, or how complicated it would make things.

I know someone has done this and will have the answer. Thanks!

StCirq

First off, Assisi is in Umbria.

And a car rental location doesn't have to be open for you to drop off a car. If you arrange it ahead of time, you can leave the car (with a full tank of gas), plus the green insurance booklet, and the keys in the drop-off box. Just be sure to take pics of the car in case they come back later and say you dropped it off and there was damage, when there wasn't.

So wherever you want to is fine.

travel52

We are going from Florence to Assisi and then to Tuscany. After our stay in Tuscany (San Quirco) we will drop the car off and go to the CT. Sorry, for the confusion.

Thanks for the tip about taking pictures of the car.

Is there a better place than Genoa for the car drop off?

freberta

We did this last year. Initially, we were going to drive to Vernazza and then return the car the following day to La Spezia and take the train back to Vernazza. But instead we decided to drop the car off in Lucca on a Saturday (the office was closed and we left the car parked on the street, as we were instructed) and took the train to Vernazza from Lucca the next day. It worked out well for us.

travel52

That's an idea. How long of a train trip is it? Did you take a taxi from the car drop off to the train station?

Does anyone know how far it is from San Quirco in Tuscany to Lucca?

Thanks a lot.

sebinah

We recently had to drop off a car on Sunday morning to train to Monterosso. We wanted to drop it off in La Spezia but after a lot of checking, the best we could do for a Sunday was to drop it off at the Pisa Airpot. Then we took a taxi to the Pisa Centrale station and managed to get a train that made few stops before Monterosso.

Have a great time. We really loved the Cinque Terre.

freberta

My husband dropped us off at our hotel in Lucca and then drove to the car rental office, which was just outside the walls of the city. He walked back to our hotel. The following morning we walked from our hotel (2 large duffels on wheels plus two kids) to the train station, which took about 10 minutes. We first had to take a train to Viareggio (about a 20-minute ride), then to La Spezia (also a very short train ride). At La Spezia we took the local train that stops in all the Cinque Terre towns. It was a very easy trip (even with all our luggage and kids). It was much easier than driving to Vernazza from Lucca and then figuring out how to return the car.

bobthenavigator

La Spezia is the closest.

travel52

Thanks for all of the suggestions, I'll check them out.

grosenb

Make sure you know the time the rental office closes before you head out to return the car.

We were supposed to drop the car off in La Spezia but got there after the office closed. We ended up driving to Genoa and take the train to CT. It was a pain.

Gail

travel52

I am thinking that the Pisa Airport might be our best option. We could take a quick look at Pisa (never seen the Leaning Tower before) and then take the train to CT. Does anyone know how long it would take to drive from San Quirco to the Pisa Airport? And next question: how long is the train ride from Pisa to Monterosso in the CT?

zeppole

For the record, there is a car rental office in Rapallo, and from there it is a simple train ride to Monterosso al Mare. The car rental office is down the street from the train station.

If you are going to drop off the car in Pisa, see if it's possible to drop it off at the central station, rather than the airport. If you drop it off at the airport, you will have to come back to the central station.

If you want to see the Torre Pendente, drive there first, so you don't have to haul your luggage all over Pisa. If you don't like leaving luggage in your car, I believe the central station has a left luggage room. But double check to make sure it is open on Sunday.

slangevar

Bookmarking (I love it when you find the answer to the exact question you were about to ask!)

panecott

Ditto on Gail's advice re the office hours at La Spezia. I was lucky and got there just as the office was closing for lunch - a three hour break. The clerk was decidedly annoyed at having to delay her lunch.
I asked what would have happened if the office had been closed when I got there and she shrugged and said I'd have just had to wait.

Mimar

For driving distances and times (and tolls), look at one of the mapping sites like www.mappy.com or www.viamichelin.com.

bobthenavigator

I could tell you the answers but you really need to learn to fish for yourself:
www.viamichelin.com
www.trenitalia.com

I agree that Pisa is a good answer.

Jean

And if you want to climb to the top of the Leaning Tower, make reservations:

http://www.opapisa.it/index.php?id=16&L=1&T=2