Car rental outside of Rome
 

I'd like to rent a car at the end of our few days in Rome; don't want to drive in the city. We'll be heading north on a Saturday (into Tuscany, will be returing via a stay in Orvietto), so that's when we want to pick up a rental. Question is, where should we try to book a rental from? I'd really like to heed the "not driving in Rome" advice - but on autoeurope.com, it seems like you only have major cities. Don't want to do the airport 20% surcharge thing, certainly...<BR>Or, if it's in Rome, does anyone have a particular pickup point to recommend?<BR><BR>Experienced visitors, thank you for answering one more dumb question!!

Hi Mark. We had the same question about a month ago. Wanted to rent a car for driving in Tuscany, but didn't want to rent in Rome. We decided to take the train from Rome to Siena and pick up a car there. Siena has a Europcar office (you'll need to take a taxi -- we wer charged 5 euros -- from the train station as the office is out of the way in an office/industrial park) and both AutoEurope and Kemwel arrange rentals through Europcar (we used Kemwel.) <BR><BR>When we stopped in Chiusi to transfer trains on the way to Siena, I noticed either a Hertz or Avis office right across the street from the train station so, if you prefer either of those car rental agencies, that's another option. <BR><BR>Good luck. Driving in Tuscany is wonderful!

Thanks Capo! Would you recommend we take the train to Orvietto and try renting there? (I'm still trying to find Chiusi on the map...) About how much do those tickets cost?<BR><BR>Anyone else have other suggestions?

Mark, I can't remember how much the train from Rome to Siena cost but it wasn't a lot. <BR><BR>I checked into renting a car in Orvieto but neither AutoEurope nor Kemwel contracted with anyone there. Don't know if other car rental agencies might be located there. <BR><BR>To find Chiusi on your map, look north of Orvieto on the autostrada.<BR><BR>If you want to drive between Orvieto and Siena, or around Orvieto, then yes, try to pick up car there. Otherwise, I'd recommended renting in Siena. Other larger cities near Siena, like Arezzo, probably have Europcar offices as well.

Capo, we rented from AutoEurope and returned our car in Orvieto. AE contracted with Avis at that time. <BR><BR>Mark, AutoEurope has gotten a lot of positive reviews on this site. We've used them three times without problems. Go to their website, www.autoeurope.com, and if there's no information about picking up a car in Orvieto, phone them to be sure. They have an 800 number.

Thanks everyone - autoeurope seems to be offering best rates, but no Orvietto, only Rome - so maybe I'll try driving out of there after all. I'll keep looking at options - thanks much.