Thinking about driving from Rome to Venice with stops in Umbria and Tuscany. Is this wise or should we use the train? My fear is the added mandatory insurance, highway tolls, parking costs, and gas prices. Would it be easy to use the train or not? Would bus be easier?

BETWEEN the two cities, the driving is fast and easy (though often fogged, in spots) - - but it's both ends that will take all the fun out of using a car.<BR><BR>And the train is SO easy, and SO fast.<BR><BR>I am a very strong proponent of having a car in Europe - - and especially in Tuscany and Umbria. Buts appeal is very much limited to BETWEEN these two cities.<BR><BR>A lot depends on how much time you want to spend getting from one to the other (only 90 minutes by train - - could fill a nice 5-10 days, by car!)<BR><BR>Best wishes,<BR><BR>Rex<BR>

Thanks! Are there trains that go direct between Rome and say Siena?

Nope. Rome-Siena connects through Chiusi to a small regional line, according to my Thomas Cook's Rail Guide.<BR><BR>About 3 hrs. You could drive it almost as fast (unless it took you an hour to get out of Rome - - which it can!)<BR>

Try:<BR><BR>http://www.raileurope.com/us/rail/fares_schedules/index.htm<BR><BR>Siena is off the main rail line. You'll find that most of the hill towns in Tuscany can accessible only by car.<BR><BR>A few years ago we rented a car for a few days in Florence and drove through Tuscany. One longer runs Venice to Florence, Florence to Rome we used the express trains.

We just got back from Italy. We also considered whether to drive or take the train. As we were traveling with a 15 month old, we decided to get a car. One of the main reasons was that watching the baby and the luggage on the trains and stations would be a hassle. It was a bit annoying driving in the cities (Rome, Naples and Florence). We got lost quite often but that way we got to see some different sights! All in all, driving in Italy is harder than in the US but is not all that bad. They drive faster there, the cars are smaller and driving in the cities is probably no worse than driving in a large city like New York City.<BR>RG

You can avoid driving in the cities by picking up the rental car at the airport. There is no need to drive in Rome or Venice and there is always easy transportation from the city to the airport.

If the area you want to explore is between Rome and Florence why not rent a car in Rome, explore Tuscany and Umbria, drop off in Florence, and then take a train from Florence to Venice. We did this in Sept and it was quite easy. We drove out of downtown Rome and into downtown Florence and we had no problem though we may have been lucky. You could also drop off at Florence airport and shuttle into downtown train station.

I appreciate all the input! I suppose I am more concerned with the cost getting out of hand since I heard you must park outside of Siena (costly?) and Venice, highways charge tolls, taxes and insurance are supposedly outrageous and gas is so high. <BR>I definetly prefer the mobility of a car but just fear the rental costs with all I listed above. I do like the idea of dropping off in Florence and taking a train to Venice - something I had not thought of.

Your fears are justified. Car rentals are probably more expensive in Italy than in any other place. Everything including taxes are sky high. It's not an exaggeration to say that it's often twice as expensive as Germany.<BR><BR>Also, beware of drop off charges. They can be considerable.

In October 2001 we flew to Rome, trained to Florence, toured through Tuscany, rented a car in Siena for a couple of extra days in Tuscany (definitely needed a car and we could stop and go when we wanted to) then drove to Venice through a portion of Umbria. Not a beautiful drive but interesting and we enjoyed it. <BR><BR>I think the car was $198 for 3 days including insurance (autoeurope.com). Spent about $30 in gas plus about $10 in tolls. We only used the AutoStrada (toll road) when other options seemed to difficult. Definitely worth having a car in order to see the out of the way places in Tuscany and to be free to decide when we would come and go.<BR><BR>Dropping at the airport in Venice (on Sunday) was very easy. Traffic along the way was all locals out for a Sunday drive (much much different than the Sunday drives we are used to in the South). We had originally planned to drop at the Train station but the Avis rental there was closed on Sunday. Called and got very good directions to divert to the airport.<BR><BR>I would recommend the car unless you are going to spend a large portion of your time in the cities.<BR><BR>DFW 1/7/02

Dear Sed, When we went our objective was to NOT drive on the autostrada or in cities! We used the train mostly, but picked up a rental car in Siena, used it throughout Tuscany, drove down to Orvieto and around Umbria, then dropped it in Orvieto. For a week it was about $260 including insurance & taxes. Gas was high, we drove a lot. We preferred to drive on the secondary roads, so paid no tolls. Just make sure your itinerary coordinates with rental office hours. Orvieto office was closed Sundays.

We arroived late at night at the Rome Airport. Flight had been delayed and we rushed to car rental to find that Thrifty where we were booked had CLOSED !!! Hertz cost more but they were open and we rented thro them and left a nasty broken Italian message cancelling Thrifty. Took some doing after we got home to get them NOT to charge us. We stayed at a hotel near the airport(had to awaken the manager)and spent a few (too few) hours sleeping.Took off next a m for Siena. Right off the bat we were whistled and honked from all over. Thank Goodness as we were about to try to enter freeway on a one way wrong way street.The 2 female officers were,we were sure,writing us the world's longest traffic ticket while we tried to "bad Italian" explain. What the long "ticket" was was their attempt ,using an Italian/English Dictionary, to give us directions !!! I would loved to have written them up to their superiors for their kindness but I don't even know where we were!Anyway we got to Siena just fine and our hotel (a Best Western) had parking. The bus to old Siena stopped right in front of the hotel. One needs to be sure of the schedule however as by the time we had dinner in Siena the bus sevice had stopped for the day.We took a taxi and expected to be ripped off...$5 very VERY reasonable.This was March 2000.Our whole Italian experience was NICE nice people.Had to park away from Assisi but short walk from parking to our hotel (La Fortezza-charming).We parked at our hotel in Rome (another Best Western) and rode city buses which was great to get around and also to sight see the city Those bus drivers deserve medals for driving in Rome.Like everywhere try to avoid the commute hours.My husband got up and offered his seat to a lady and she almost fainted !!

The advice is quite helpful. I'm just listening to all the experiences and trying to piece together our trip at this point!<BR>Right now I have a rental in Milan for $75 for the week! Not bad! Obviously taxes and insurance are not included. Thinking now about going to the Cinqueterra, Tuscany, and Venice. I hate missing Rome but the prices and headache are a concern. I did check into dropping a rental off in Florence but it was too costly. Also the single day rentals were running around 45 per day without tax/insurance - far more than my 75 per week at Milan. Looks like we will do the milan loop or just go to Rome and take the train/bus route to the amalfi coast (although that plan seems to have its own headaches - like strolling around the coast looking for accom. with luggage.<BR>thanks for all the input!!