we are going to italy for our honeymoon during the 1st week of november. we will be taking a train from rome to siena. someone recommended renting a car when we get to the train station and driving to our hotel, the grand continental. should we do this? is it hard to drive in italy? are there places that we should drive to nearby? any info you can provide is appreciated!!

You do not want to drive in Siena but you do want a car to see Tuscany.

tara,
You don't want to drive to the Grand Continental, take a taxi. If you want ideas on where to drive to see tuscany e-mail me and I will send it to you.

May I suggest a bus from Rome to Siena - it is both quicker, cheaper and gets you close to the centre of town rather than the railway station which is about a mile from the centre - all of it uphill.

www.sena.it

We rented a car in Venice and drove to Tuscany. We drove into Sienna from where we were staying in Montalcino (which I recommend seeing). Don't be intimidated by driving in Italy - it was not that hard (and we even drove into Rome). Just make sure one of you is a good navigator while the other person drives. And that you understand the parking rules - we got a ticket in Sienna. You don't really need a car while in Sienna, but I would recommend renting one and going out into the countryside.

We rented from Sixth in Sienna. Their office is on the outskirts of town, making it easy to head out to Tuscan towns from there. We took a taxi (only about 10E's) to the car rental place. We made the mistake of driving in Sienna itself. Bad idea, but we frankly got lost and ended up in the old part of town.

Hi tara,

I also recommend taking the bus from Rome Tiburtina to Siena.

You don't have to lug your baggage onto the bus. It takes you into Siena.

If you are going to tour Tuscany, you will want a car.