shaganappi

Four of us are travelling to iItaly. We are thinking of renting a car in Rome and driving to our b and b near San Gimignano. In Rome we are staying at a hotel near the Termini. Is it feasible to rent a car at the station, and drive from there?
Also, is it fairly easy to drive from San Gimignano to Venice and return the car there? If so, Where would a good drop off be in Venice? Thanks

bobthenavigator

I have done it from Rome, but you had better be a very confident driver with a very good map--not easy.

I prefer to train to Orvieto and get the car there.

As for Venice, I would drive it and drop the car at Piazzale Roma at the end of the causeway.

Pegontheroad

We picked up a car in Florence and drove it to Siena, San Gimignano , Monterrigione, Cortona, Assisi Sorrento, and Paestum. Some time after Paestum we got rid of the car, and we spent a couple of days in Rome before our last night, in Milan.

I am an elderly woman, though I generally am fearless, and I drove all over Italy.

I'm not crazy about dropping off a car in the middle of a city. I much prefer to drop it off at the airport and then take some other form of transportation into town.

I don't mind picking up a car within the city, but not dropping it off there.

Jean

Anyone who drives the car and is not an EU citizen will need to have an International Driving Permit.

http://europeforvisitors.com/europe/...ing-permit.htm

nytraveler

We have driven cars out of Rome several times - but found locations that had easy direct routes to the ring road.

In Venice you need to make sure whoever you rent from has an office at Piazzale Roma - the furthest you can get into Venice with a car (end of the causeway). From there you can hop on a vaporetto or a water taxi - if your budget allows - and if your hotel has a private dock or is in the immediate vicinity of a public one. But most hotels do not - and then you will have to haul your luggage along the sidewalks and up and over one or possibly more bridges. Get VERY specific directions to your hotel from the nearest dock before you decide how to do this.

(We are past the stage of hauling our own luggage around, and use water taxis and pick only hotels that have private docks - so the bellman can just get the luggage from the boatman.)

tedgale

The drive from Florence to Venice is pretty boring. Unless you think there'd be a big cost saving, I would not bother. Train is fast and can be cheap with advance purchase.

Ditto for driving out of Rome. I've done it but if you're near Termini, the train seems kinda obvious.

The express train to Florence is only 1h30. But driving out of Central Florence CAN be nightmarish. Pick up in Orvieto could be better.

There are a couple of car rental places just opposite the station in Orvieto. One even allowed us to leaves luggage in their office after we returned the car, when we wanted to visit the town.

Orvieto is lovely. Much more interesting than San Gimignano, IMO.

DAX

We drive in & out of Rome many many times even going back to the days before there was a navigation system, the only thing to watch now is the ZTL Zona Trafico Limitato which may render you expensive multiple tickets if you don't pay attention to the white circle with a red circumference traffic sign. Maybe we're too cheap and too lazy to take a train to pick up our rental car in a small town near Rome to make it easier to drive out. We just don't like the hassle of lugging our luggage up & down the train just to rent a car. We have a pretty good sense of direction, we study the route on the computer before picking up the car and use the navigation system only as a back up. The last couple of years, we didn't bother to study the map and only relied on the navigator so we tend to miss one turn and ended up risking a ticket by driving through a small part of the ZTL to get back into the proper route, well we never got a ticket! We did the same driving around in Florence (which is not advisable) but agin we were very lucky that we never got a ticket which could have come months later ( it's been 9 months, so no ticket). The best advice is to stay away from driving inside Florence, just enjoy the beautiful Tuscany countryside.

It's super easy to drop off the car at the train station in Venice where you can hop on the water taxi into Venice. No worries about ZTL there as you'd come to the train station before you get into Venice. You will enjoy Tuscany so much more with a car, in fact it is a prerequisite for touring Tuscany.

shaganappi

Thank you all so much for your input. Always nice to know from folks who have been there, what the best plan is!
Now for some fun questions. We have one week inTuscany, and plan to sightsee. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. We have been thinking a day in Florence ( with car parked) We think we would like to visit Pisa, Lucca, Volterra and Sienna. If you think there is somewhere else we should go, love to see your suggestions. We have never been before. We are mulling over our car rental thanks to your input, may just take trains and rent car for Tuscany

DAX

In that case take the train into Florence, leave the suitcases at the station and when you're ready to leave Florence, then pick up your car at the train station or if you want to make it easier to get out of town, take a taxi (€10-15) to the Hertz car rental station on Via del Sansovino, 53, Florence which is far south of the ZTL area so you can hop on the freeway and head south to Sienna etc. Some people like picking up at the airport on the outer west side which is about a €25 taxi ride and often times the rate may be more if you pick up from the airport. Just compare the rates, I think Europcar may not charge more from the airport. As far as destinations, you should just do a search on Tuscany threads. I like the more southern towns like Cortona, Montepulciano, Montalcino, San Quirico etc. San Gigmignano and Siena is also popular for those who has never been to Tuscany. Buy & read a guidebook because we all like different towns.

Jean

I prefer picking up the car in Orvieto which, as others have mentioned, is a very interesting town. It's also a great starting point for driving north into Tuscany.

But if you decide to follow DAX's plan regarding the rental car pick-up on Via del Sansovino, note the open hours for this office:

M-F 8:30a-6:30p
Sat 8:30a-12:30p
Sun Closed

I wouldn't show up 30 minutes or less before closing, and I wouldn't want to be driving to an unfamiliar destination in in unfamiliar surroundings in the dark. You don't want to rush through the rental process, and you definitely want to carefully inspect the car for existing damage before you drive away. You'll walk around the car with the agent as he/she notes dents, scratches, etc., but you may want to take some photos if the car is far from pristine.

FYI, besides avoiding the ZTL, another reason why people prefer the airport pick-up is that it's possible to pick up or drop off a car any day of the week and pretty much any time of day. Mon.-Sat. 8:30a-11:30p and Sun. 9:30a-11:30p. You're also more likely to get a specific category of car at the airport, esp. if you're needing auto transmission.

This also applies to renting/returning at the Pisa airport. Open 7 days a week, 8:00a-10:50p. The Pisa airport has train service to the Pisa city center with connections to Lucca and Florence.