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-   -   Driving from Milan to Siena? Or Rome to Siena? (https://www.fodors.com/community/europe/driving-from-milan-to-siena-or-rome-to-siena-789883/)

Shanna Jun 13th, 2009 11:47 AM

Driving from Milan to Siena? Or Rome to Siena?
 
Hi - we're planning a quick get-away to Italy and there are better fares into Milan than Rome, but we're headed to a place outside of Siena for the entire one-week stay. Can anyone offer information about the driving time/conditions from Milan vs Rome? Many thanks.

willit Jun 13th, 2009 12:45 PM

It is just over 100km further from Milan than Rome - 370km (230 miles) against 265km (165 miles). Driving times would be about an hour longer from Milan.

I have not Driven from Milan to Tuscany, but Rome to Siena is quite straightforward.

Shanna Jun 13th, 2009 01:50 PM

Thanks. I've not driven in Italy at all, so I expect any drive to take twice as long as it should. Plus my navigator is directionally challenged. There will need to be a lot of upstream planning on my part. It may depend on arrival times since I'm not keen on driving in the dark. Can you tell me at about what hour it will be dusk mid-July? thanks!

laurie_ann Jun 13th, 2009 02:25 PM

Shanna, try www.timeanddate.com. It has a sunrise/sunset feature you can choose by location. For Rome on July 15 sunrise/sunset is at 5:48 AM/8:43 PM.

ira Jun 14th, 2009 07:57 AM

Hi Sh,

It is almost 4 hr by car (almost entirely autostrada) from Milan to Siena.

If you are starting in the US, I suggest that that is too risky to attempt in a jet-lagged condition.

You can take the shuttle bus from MXP to Milano Centrale and the train from Milan to Siena (via Florence) in about 4:30 hr.
http://www.trenitalia.com/cms/v/inde...0080a3e90aRCRD

You can also take the shuttle train from FCO to Rome Tiburtina (not Rome Termini) and the bus (http://www.senabus.it/) to Siena.

Either way, you arrive safely, have a night's sleep and pick up your car in Siena.

Enjoy your visit.

((I))

Shanna Jun 14th, 2009 11:09 AM

Thanks to all for the good info. I'll consider all the options - if we were staying in a city or if I were traveling alone, I'd opt for trains but we'll be out in the boonies. Interestingly, I'm never jet-lagged outbound; coming back I'm 24 hours flat out asleep! thanks again.

ekscrunchy Jun 14th, 2009 11:17 AM

I would choose Rome. You can plot out the route on ViaMichelin.com, but you probably already know that. The signage in Italy, at least in the areas that I have driven in which include Tuscany and near Rome, is so far superior to that in the US that you almost do not need a map unless you are veering off onto tiny, unsigned roads.

What is your point of departure in the US?

kleeblatt Jun 14th, 2009 11:22 AM

I've known people who have spent hours trying to leave Milan by car and just never found the right exit.

Shanna Jun 14th, 2009 05:00 PM

We're leaving from Philly - and it's too late now - we're going into Milan. I hope getting out of the airport won't be as difficult as going thru the city. And yes, we'll be driving sw of Siena to a farm situated on its own 2000 acres. It looks to be a pretty straight shot from Milan to Florence to Siena, then, well, I guess I'll drive around the countryside and enjoy it. I've been to this place before - five years ago - and it isn't easy to find but I wasn't driving and didn't really pay attention. But the folks there speak excellent English so I'll cross my fingers. Wonder if T-Mobile still rents overseas phones? Thanks eks for the viaMichelin - didn't know about that; I'll give it a try. Been a while since I've gone a-wandering and there are a lot of new sites out there. schuler - sounds like the trouble i had in england with the round-abouts - fortunately, we just kept going around until we figured out which exit to take. all great fun - mostly in retrospect! thanks all for the advice.

macswim Jun 14th, 2009 06:03 PM

Shanna, Will you give us an update on how your experience was when get back? We have the same dilemma and have booked our flights to Milan in August (least expensive by far) and have booked our place in Tuscany (before we realized how difficult a drive it may be). Any advice you can give us from your experience would be very much appreciated.
Thanks and have a wonderful and safe trip!

prichy12 Jun 17th, 2009 10:54 AM

Yes, please let us know. Also are you flying out of Milan to return home?

MichaelT Jun 17th, 2009 12:58 PM

Shanna,

We're doing a little bit of the opposite 2 weeks from Friday. After a few days in Rome, we're driving east to Abruzzo, south of Pescara. After 3 days there, we head northwest to Siena but via the scenic (longer) route along the Adriatic towards Ancona. From Siena, we head north to Milano where we're dumping the car (assuming we and the car are still alive).

I've got a friend we're visiting in Sovicille for a couple of days and she's given me some tips about the drive between Milano and Siena. One thing she suggested was that we stop in Parma for lunch since it's about the halfway point between Milano and Siena. She runs a cooking school in Sovicille and has said there are some great food spots not far off the autostrada around Parma.

Not sure when you're leaving but I'll be happy to share my experience going in the opposite direction when we return in mid-July.

I'm also curious to know which farm you're staying at SW of Siena. We are doing the same and I've looked at a few of them.

macswim Jun 18th, 2009 04:52 AM

MichaelIT, I would love to hear how your drive goes when you return mid-July. We will be leaving in August. I was looking at stopping in Parma on the way from Milan to Castillena in Chianti, but someone on another thread suggested it might be difficult to park the car? Anyway, if you do find a good lunch spot please share!

macswim Jul 20th, 2009 07:21 AM

Hi MichealT

Wondering how your trip went and how the drive went from Siena to Milan?

MichaelT Jul 20th, 2009 10:51 AM

macswim,

We actually did a last minute detour for part of the trip. Leaving Siena, we decided to take a side trip to Pisa for the obligatory photo op and then we drove to Parma and onto Milano.

A straight shot between Siena and Milan is about 3 hours, most of which is on the Autostrade. Getting to Linate Airport in Milano was only 1 hour from Parma. While some of the maps tell you it's 4 hours, the calculate that at driving 90kpm. If you're driving that slowly on the Autostrade, you might as well be on the shoulder! We ran 120-140kph and were getting passed frequently, once even by a Smart Car!

The Autostrade is a very fast and easy drive... its 6 lanes and it moves very quickly, averaging about 110kph in the slow lanes. Getting off the Autostrade to get to Siena (probably in about Arezzo) is a 4 lane highway that also moves very quickly. Once you get into Siena in can get a little trickier depending on where you're going but overall, it was a very easy drive.

We had lunch in Parma but it's hard to judge since we hit it on a Sunday afternoon and with everything mostly closed, parking was a breeze. The parking areas were well marked and we basically headed towards the centro, parked and then walked a bit before having lunch in one of the squares.

I will tell you the best investment I made for this trip was a Garmin GPS with the Italy maps loaded. We drove about 1,400km on the trip, mostly on smaller, remote roads in Tuscany, Marche and Abruzzo and it was invaluable. If you're sticking to major roads, maps or ViaMichelin directions will be easy to deal with but if you're going off into small towns and remotes areas as we did, you might want to think about borrowing, renting through your car agency or buying a GPS.

The thing I loved was that Google Maps, with a free download patch from Garmin, will plug any Google Map GPS coordinates right into the GPS for you. We had a couple of very remote places that involved dirt roads and the GPS guided us there very easily. We all agreed that it probably saved us hours on our overall drive and with only one exception, it nailed each location, roundabout and country road we ventured down.

The exception was humorous as well. In Francavilla al Mare in Abruzzo, there is a tunnel, a few kilometers long, that runs under the city so you can bypass the city. After driving it twice, once in each direction, I realized that our GPS location was above it!

Driving in Italy was fun and much easier than I expected and we never would have experienced Tuscany as we did if we weren't driving it. Good luck and enjoy your trip!

macswim Jul 20th, 2009 12:28 PM

Thank you so much! You have really put my mind at ease. I really cannot tell you how much I appreciate your post. Glad to hear you had a wonderful time.


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