TravelFam

We plan to rent a car during our 4 day stay in Tuscany. More than likely Siena since our lodging is 12 mi from Siena. From Siena we head to Cinque Terre. We purchsed a Trenitalia Pass Saver which allows us to travel 5 days in 2 months (paid for extra day).

Would it make more sense to pick-up and drop off in Siena then train to La Spezia? Or pick-up in Siena and drop off in La Spezia? What can we expect as far as drive time, tolls, etc.? Whether by car or train I suspect we should leave in the morning.
Our 13 day travel itinerary is as follows:
Rome to Sorrento (or Naples)
Sorrento to Venice (overnight sleeper)
Venice to Siena
Siena to Cinque Terre
Cinque Terre back to Rome.

Thank you in advance!

ira

Hi trav,

You will save a lot of time and money of you fly Naples to Venice.

See www.volareweb.com

GeoffHamer

If "TravelFarm" has purchased a rail pass, it will not be cheaper to fly anywhere in Italy as the train journeys are already paid for. It would almost certainly be cheaper to buy ordinary train tickets, rather than get a pass but if the pass is already bought, then that's irrelevant.
An overnight train will waste less time than flying because you will be travelling whilst sleeping instead of taking up time when you could be sightseeing or whatever.
For the Cinque Terre, you should look at train connections to whichever village you're going to: try Siena to Monterosso (or wherever) on www.bahn.de. Don't check schedules to La Spezia unless you're actually going to staying there.

TravelFam

Thank you both for your replies. Yes, the rail pass has been bought, paid for and in hand. We thought since we were traveling with our son that the night train would be a better choice.

I suspect I did not word my original question properly. It was about how to deal with the car we want to rent. We'll probably rent it in Siena since we'll be staying in Monteroni d'Arbia. After 4 days we head to Cinque Terre.

Should we drive as close as we can get to Cinque Terre and find a car drop off point there, or drop the car back off in Siena, then take the train to CT?

My apologies if I was not clear earlier. I'm still new to this posting board. Everyone has been extremely helpful.

Thank you again.

GeoffHamer

As I said before, you should look at the train connections to see which is more convenient. Only you know what time you want to travel or where you're going - each of the villages in the Cinque Terre has its own station so you don't need to go to La Spezia.

TravelFam

We're still planning and need the advise of the experts of this wonderful resource with regard to car rental. First I must say that I'm shocked by the price! AutoEurope, which is "all inclusive" (CDW and Theft insurance) for two days will cost approximately $250 usd for 2 days! Picking up in Firenze and dropping in Siena.

I "think" we have decided to train from Venice into Firenze. Plan to visit one big site (either Uffizi or Accadamia). Pick up a car in Firenze at the end of the day and drive to San Fabiano for a three nights. Drop the car in Siena (at the tune of $40 usd) and spend our last night at Hotel Borgo Grandaie in Siena (San Fabiano was booked for this night, thus 2 lodgings in Tuscany area).

The questions we are pondering is:
1. Is it worth the $350 to rent a car for two days in Tuscany? We'll drive from Firenze to San Fabiano (12 km). We want to head back to Firenze for another tou the next day. Bus, train or car?

2. Our plan so far says to pickup car Wed Firenze and drop off Friday, same time, in Siena. Problem is we will have one more day, Saturday, in Siena area w/o a car. Sounds like a day stuck in the area.

From Siena, we plan to train to Riomaggoire, with a pit stop for 2-3 hours in Pisa (what's Italy w/o Pisa?). Then continue on to Cinque Terre.

So far we've spent the better part of two days over this dilema. The CDW part is very confusing, but we've decided to bite the bullet and just get it. Even though our credit car company assured us we don't have to. Seems with AutoEurope you don't have a choice.

So bottom line, is $350 for a 2 day car rental in the Tuscany region worth it?

Thank you all in advance for your comments and reply.

bobthenavigator

Are you sure that your rental is not a 3 day minimum? And, why not drive to Pisa and drop there.

Jim_Zurer

>The CDW part is very confusing, but we've decided to bite the bullet and just get it. Even though our credit car company assured us we don't have to.<<

I would be interested to learn more about your credit card company assuring you that they would cover the CDW for your rental in Italy. In my experience, it is just not possible. It would be useful to see if you get that assurance in writing.

>>train pass<<

Too bad about buying the train pass for Italy....since point to point fares are so inexpensive, train passes rarely an economical option in Italy.

Jim Zurer

ira

Hi Trav,

CDW is required in Italy. The Autoeurope contract seems to cover everything - that's pretty good.

ssachida

250E seems about right for a 2 day rental. Apparently, the car is a good deal money-wise when you rent by the week, daily rentals are super expensive. Thats approx what I will be paying in Nov, though my rental is from Hertz. Check if you can bus/drive up to Florence and train it from there. The schedules aren't great from Siena.

TravelFam

>>> To: Jim Zurer
"would be interested to learn more about your credit card company assuring you that they would cover the CDW for your rental in Italy. In my experience, it is just not possible. It would be useful to see if you get that assurance in writing."<<<

Our credit card company, Captialone, referred us to visa.com/benefits (same link I've seen posted elsewhere in the forums). I took the extra step to call them to ask for clarification on everything, on two different occasions - just to see if they all told the same story. They did. They assured us that CDW is not required in Italy. That's where the conflict comes in. Throughout this forum and others and some rental car places - it says CDW is mandatory because it's the law. Yet, when you book directly through Avis or Hertz, it's optional. I have also read that while it's optional at the later, it does not mean that when you get there they can't force you to take it. The Visa person told us to take a copy of the benefits page with us because it's in b/w and there's a phone number to call if necessary. We finally decided to just do it-for piece of mind.

>>train pass<<

We did it this way because several friends recommended it, especially since we want to travel first class. We still have to make our reservations because we are still planning our attractions schedule. We figured we'd do that when we arrive at the nearest Amex shop or train station.

>>>bobthenavigator
Message: Are you sure that your rental is not a 3 day minimum? And, why not drive to Pisa and drop there. <<<<

The cost of the rental car was more than we expected. We want to keep it low so 2 days should be enough to drive around Tuscany from our lodging at San Fabiano. Our last night in the region will be directly in Siena, we figured we'd hang around there to see the sites.

We thought about dropping in Pisa or La Spezia (original post), but after thinking about the responses, we figured we'd only rent the car for 2 days and train from Siena to Pisa, jump off for a couple of hours to see the tower and eat lunch. Then jump back on the train from Pisa to Riomaggoire (leaves every couple of hours).

I must say this is the best forum I've ever been on. It's been my pleasure to read responses from travel saavy people, such as yourselves, willing to share their experiences and offer solid advise. Not to mention the prompt responses. Because of my experiences on this forum I've decided to try to keep a travel journal to share with others on this forum.

Thank you all! You're awesome!

Jim_Zurer

>>Yet, when you book directly through Avis or Hertz, it's optional<<

The question is not whether the CDW is optional...the question is whether you can use your credit card's insurance to cover you in Italy if you decline the full coverage.

The answer is no....you can buy optional third party insurance, you buy the car company's insurance or you can self insure--for example, if the "excess liability" is Euro 800, you will liable for the first Euro 800 or damage.

If you rent in France or Switzerland and drive into Italy, your credit card insurance can be used for the CDW coverage.

But I have yet see any credit card insurance used to take care of this liablility in Italy.

AutoEurope's US contracts routinely provide full coverage...their contracts overseas--for example in the UK--don't.

bobthenavigator

You miss my point. I supect that your cost for 3 days is the same.

Leanders

I cannot answer much of your question, but thought I could add a little info. I recently spent a week south of La Spezia (Cinquale) where we drove to the Cinque Terre as a day trip (4 adults and 4 kids). We had intended to park in La Spezia and take the train from there. However, we could not find a place to park anywhere near the train station. So, after driving around for 30 minutes in La Spezia we drove to Riomaggiore and had no trouble parking there for the day (although it was still reasonably early in the a.m.). We then walked from Riomaggiore to Manorola, boat to Vernazza and train back to Riomaggiore. Best of luck!