dwzemens

OK, I am a lucky man. My wife and I stumbled into an offer to stay with a group of friends for FREE at this villa near Chiusi.

http://www.homeaway.com/vacation-rental/p17296

Has anyone had experience with this particular villa?

Can anyone offer generic suggestions for where to rent a car? Rome? Chiusi?

Any other tips for a week long stay here are welcome and appreciated.

bobthenavigator

Lucky you !
Get your car in Chiusi. Read some good guide books about south Tuscany---you will love the location.

dwzemens

Thanks Bob --- much appreciate the comment!

kybourbon

Lucky you! Do they need any more friends?

Are you flying into Rome? Pisa? If either and you don't plan to spend time there, then I would get the car at the airport and not even go into the city.

So much to do in the area since you are a very short car ride from Orvieto, Montepulciano, Pienza and many other hill towns (drink the wine!). You will also be within an hour drive of Siena and some great towns in Umbria (Chiusi is pretty much on the Tuscany/Umbria border). Then there are the thermal baths a few minutes from Chiusi (Chiancano Terme and others).
http://www.comune.chianciano-terme.s...p_eng/home.asp

So many choices, so little time. lol

dwzemens

@kybourbon,

Thanks for the info. I don't know where I am flying into as this offer just came to us yesterday.

In checking FF miles I am having a hard time getting a flight out of Rome that doesn't leave me at AMS for an overnight layover and a morning flyout home.

I will check Pisa as a city to fly into/out of, but the connections with my FF carrier, NWA, are generally not that good into Pisa.

sheri_lp

We took the train very easily from Rome to Chiusi and the very nice Silvio at Hertz picked us up at the train station. They're also conveniently located directly behind a nice grocery store!

dwzemens

@Sheri,

Thanks for the info. Will we have to take the train in from the airport to Termini station and then to Chiusi, or is there a train from the airport that would head there directly?

WebVisionItaly

Is this not heaven on earth?


http://www.webvisionitaly.com/catego...p;ref_item=345

Lucky you are! Buon Viaggo!

sheri_lp

We originated from Termini, I don't think you can get there directly from the airport. I stayed at a place near Montepulciano and loved it. Your villa looks wonderful!

dwzemens

Thanks again to everyone. The Web Vision video is pretty neat, too.

kybourbon

You don't need to limit your FF search to NWA. You can use your ff miles for any of the Skyteam partners (Delta/Continental/etc.). I would post an FF question on Fodor's airline forum as some of the flight experts that hang out there have access to paid websites that show more info that what you will be able to find. They also will know all the possible connections.

FWIW - I almost always can find Skyteam ff availability to Zurich (or Geneva), if you don't mind a bit of a drive (rental cars are cheaper there)or a train trek (sometimes you can get the 19€ discount from Zurich to Milan).

dwzemens

Thanks kybourbon.

When I do check my FF throught he NWA website it does occassionally show me both Continental and Delta flights as well, so I *think* that it is searchingt those flights, too.

Zurich, eh? That would be kind of a long drive to southern Tuscany, no?

LJ

Another alternative (assuming you are renting a car anyway) is FF into London and transfer to Ryanair and into Perugia-about an hour away from your fab villa.

zoecat

I always have better success calling the Skyteam partner number rather than searching via the website when booking FF flights. You might try that option.

Flying into and out of Bologna is also a good option with NW.

Not sure if Florence is an option, but renting the car at the Florence airport is easy (the airport is very small) and a breeze to navigate to Southern Tuscany.

Lucky you- the villa looks great and the area is beautiful.

Enjoy!

dwzemens

@zoecat,

Is the Florence aiaport actually PSA at Pisa?

kybourbon

dwzemens - No, you don't understand. There's availability and possiblities that only elites can access or people pay to join certain websites. The people that do this have much more interest because they are flying constantly so it's beneficial to them. Those are the people on the airline forum or Flyertalk.

No the Pisa airport (PSA) is not in Florence (FLR).

Are you using the Japanese NWA website? It used to show more options than their US website.

dwzemens

Thanks again ky.

Japanese NWA site? I am intriqued by the possibility...

dwzemens

I tried NWA Japan, but it wanted me to supply a local address in Japan along with my FF number for registration.

Scared me off it did!