54lucy

We will be picking up our rental car in Florence on a Tuesday in Sept. Is there a "good time of the day" to plan to drive out of Florence? The pick-up location is the Hertz office downtown, on Via Maso Finiguerra. A little nervous about how difficult it will be to connect to the major roadway that will take us out of the city and on our way to Radda. Thanks ahead to anyone who can provide information.
Lucy

mulifat

Try to avoid mid-morning and late afternoon if you have a choice. And build in "getting lost", time to your schedule, because you probably will. We actually had fun trying to drive out of Florence, but I cannot see how you would not get lost

beelady

My experience with leaving was very good in Florence. The rental company asked me where I was headed, gave me a map and showed me the route to get out of the city. She used a pen to mark the route as well. I got out and on my way with no problems.

54lucy

THank you both. Mulifat, when you say mid-morning, do you mean around 10am or so? We thought that would be a good time, as everyone would already be at work? Maybe we should plan on picking up our car at 11 or so? Beelady, happy to hear they gave you good directions. Did you pick up from the "downtown" area?
Lucy

amarc

I had great success using Mapquest maps throught Italy.

I suggest you obtain the street address of the car rental agency, go to Mapquest select driving directions enter this as the start point & your destination as the end point. I did this to access a villa we rented in Florence. We drove from Rome to the villa. The Mapquest maps I printed were excellant. Our villa was located in a "gated community" in the hills overlooking Florence & the dierctions were perfect. I then planned our potential day trips in the same manner.
Good luck

edhodge

That is good to know, amarc. We are renting a car from the Florence airport. I thought that would get us farther out of town so an easier drive. Thanks, 54lucy, for asking this question.

Diane

mulifat

I would think 1000 am or after would start to see an ease in traffic. Keep in mind the work day in Italy tends to start a bit later than ours

lucy54

Thank you mulifat. We will plan to be there in time to head out around 10am. Your help is greatly appreciated!
Lucy

brooklandsbuttercup

54lucy,
Don't be intimidated; if you are a reasonably confident driver in the U. S., it is not any harder. And the direction you're headed, toward Radda, gets into small towns very quickly. You might get a little turned around leaving the airport, but no tragedy! If you can stay calm and be prepared to turn around, check the map, etc., it's fine. Good luck, and have fun in that beautiful area!
Brook

brooklandsbuttercup

ps we also used Mapquest with excellent results.