Car rental in Florence or Chiusi?
 

We are renting a villa for a week near Pienza and will be traveling there from Florence. Our plan is to tour Florence on foot, travel to villa and spend week touring Tuscany by car, then go to Rome before flying home. Our options are to take train from Florence to Chiusi, rent car and return to same rental location, then train to Rome OR rent car at Florence airport and drive to villa and return car to Chiusi train station before taking train to Rome. The cost seems to be about $100 USD to return car to different location.




Keep in mind we will have 1 week to tour Tuscany with our car so we will most likelyl be backtracking to the Chianti area later, especially since we plan to rent bikes in this area for the day. My husband will also need to get used to driving in a foreign country so leaving Florence airport may be stressful vs. taking off from Chiusi. It's about 40 minute drive from Chiusi to villa. Thanks!

I would opt for Chiusi - it's small and the car rental agencies are right there by the train station. It's very easy to head out of town.

Not sure why there would be a $100 return fee - airport fees? I've never paid one.

Why not rent in Florence---airport or not---and return to Orvieto. There should be no charge for returning at different location--you must be seeing the airport surcharge.
Why the fixation on Chiusi? It is not really convenient. If you did train somewhere for pick up then Siena is a better option. The other advantage with getting the car in Florence is to stop at San Gimignano as you head south, or take S-222 thru Chianti on your way to Pienza.

The travel agent for the villa recommended Chiusi for car pick up since it is also a train hub and car rental office is at the train station. The extra fee was for returning car to a different city than pick up but that may have just been the company I got a quote from. Our prime consideration is ease in driving and not having to backtrack to the villa.

If renting in Florence, would you pick up the car in the city or airport? Most airports are close to the main highway so I thought it might be easier than trying to navigate the city streets out to the highway.

We plan to go to Orvieto either during the week we're at the villa or the day we return the car. Will probably go with Auto Europe for car rental - do you know if their office is near train station in Orvieto?

I would rent the car from the Florence airport. It is tricky driving out of Florence, and if you accidentally end up in some restricted zone you could get hit with a fine. We have returned a few times to the airport, and it was very east getting there.

ok, so I meant easy getting there!

I think Chiusi makes a lot of sense. But you do need to pay for a train journey as well as the car rental. Otherwise definitely the airport, which is close to the A1 freeway.

Orvieto would make a good place to drop the car.

Auto Europe is a broker, a middle-man, so it's not they who have offices in Orvieto, it's the rental company they contract with. But Orvieto is an AE option.

Some issues:

Do you need an automatic? They might be harder to find in Chiusi.

You have to make sure you arrive in Chiusi during the open hours of the car rental office.

Where to leave your luggage while you tour Orvieto (assuming you drop the car first). Maybe the car rental agency will keep your bags. Or I seem to remember some hotels will store your bags for a fee.

We plan to get manual transmission. We are aware that the rental car agency in Chiusi closes at 11am on Saturday and is closed on Sunday. Which now answers my question because we'd have trouble getting to Chiusi via train by 11am to pick up car. I was only considering drop off, not pick up of car - figured we'd easily be able to get there in time to drop car off. So we'll probably pick up car in Florence. Seems crazy to pay for train when we could use car.

The villa is in Montefollonico, north of and between Pienza and Montepulciano.

The airport is NW of the city so you have to exit on A-11 to the ring around Florence which will add about :30 to your trip.
The best option is to pick up at the Borgo Ognassanti location near the Vespucci bridge---a straight shot south toward Siena and avoids all ZTLs. Yes, the car office is near the train station in Orvieto.
The reason for the extra charge was using a local rental agency in Chiusi---you do not want to mess wth that.

At Orvieto, I would drive around the tufa bluff to the west side and enter town there near the Duomo--parking is behind the Duomo. Then, drop the car as you return to the station.

I have twice picked up a rental car in Chiusi on a Sunday. AutoEurope arranged for the owner/an employee to make a special trip to the office to open it and get me my car - at no extra charge the first time and a $25 fee the second. Not sure if that's typical, but it sure was helpful to me!

Not sure how it would be more convenient or economical to get you and your luggage to the train station and loaded up just to then reload everyone in a car when you got to Chiusi(especially if there are kids or you're a heavy packer). There are in-town rentals within Florence proper, not the airport. Have one of you walk/cab over to the nearest, swing by the hotel and pick up the others/luggage, and then hit the road.

I've done that in reverse (dropped off wife/luggage at hotel, then dropped off car, then walked 15 minutes back to the hotel). It's not hard. Have very good directions with you before you even leave home and you'll be fine.

For all my bravado I must admit I still ended up in a historic zone and got a ticket via remote camera. My mistake. But the hotel easily had that waived. It's pretty routine if you're staying in a hotel in the central part of town.

Follow Bob the Navigator's instructions for picking up the car in Florence on Borgo Ognisanti.It was very easy to leave the city from that location.

We picked up a car on Borgo Ognisanti back several years ago, and even though we are fairly good drivers, it was a little dicey getting out of Florence. We didn't have trouble following the directions, but dealing with the cars shooting out as us from all sides was a little tense. This was our first trip to Italy, so maybe if we were to do it again, it wouldn't seem so scarey. The past two trips we have returned to the Florence airport instead of into the city even though we were spending the night in the city before flying out the next day.

I'm planning something very similar. Rent car at Borgo Ognisanti near hotel then drive down to Pienza / Montepulciano area where we're staying for a few days. Drop rental car off at Chiusi train office the catch train to Rome. Question: what's the advantage of dropping the car off in Orvieto. Will I be avoiding a drop off fee or is there another advantage. thanks. First trip to Italy and driving outside the U.S.

Just more convenient---closer to the train station and a much nicer town to visit. Talk to Autoeurope---I believe it is Hertz that is closest.