sheilak

I will be picking up a car in Florence to drive through Tuscany enroute to Rome. Originally, I was going to drop the car in Siena and take the train to Rome but since I will be charged for that day anyway I thought I may as well drop in Rome near Termini which will elimate the cost of a train ticket. Has anyone dropped a car near there? Is it difficult to handle with traffic and finding the location? I am somewhat nerious as you can tell!!!!

LaBellaDona

I love driving in Italy and do it all the time. However, Rome leaves me speechless. What I've been doing is leaving the car at an airport and going into Rome from there. So, your idea of a train from Siena sounds ok. It's not the fact that you will be charged - it's navigating traffic in Rome (I'm from NYC and it's still a challenge). The one time I tried to return a car in Rome, I had to pay a cab driver to lead the way - and when we got there, the office was closed for lunch and we had to follow the cab driver back to the hotel. The hotel was nice enough to take the car off my hands...
Dona

Patrick

We've never driven in Rome either, but have dropped a car at the airport and taken the train into the city, but in all honesty, from looking at a map, and judging by the comments of others, the approach to drop a car off at Termini when coming from Siena should not be a biggie at all. Wide, easy streets, so long as you know the location of the drop off agency.

Marci_77

We dropped our car at the airport which worked out great. There is absolutely no way I would attempt to drop it elsewhere.
Siena is pretty far away from Rome in terms of cities at which to drop your car. If you were only going to have the car for one day, and are considering dropping it in Siena don't bother gettin one at all. Just take the train to Siena, then the train from there to Rome.

kangamom

We had no problem driving from the Rome airport to Tuscany. But note, we did not drive into Rome, we drove around it. I would suggest the same. Drive from Siena, drop off the car at the airport, then take a train to Rome City Center.

JerryS

As many posters have mentioned in the past, you can drop the car off in Orvieto; it's a lot closer to Rome than Siena. I have dropped off a car in Spoleto. It, too, is convenient to Rome.

rex

<<picking up a car in Florence to drive through Tuscany enroute to Rome>>

As kangamom indicates/asks... it's pertinent to know: is this for an afternoon, 36 hours? or some number of days?

A car rental can be prohibitively expensive if it is for less than three days (one day often costs the same as three days) - - do you have other overnight destinations in mind?

If it's just to meander for an (extended) afternoon and end up in Siena, then you may find that the car is a millstone around your neck to be able to see any of Siena.

But if you're going to wander through Tuscany for a couple of days, and arrive in Siena, say... on the morning of the night (or late afternoon) you want to arrive in Rome, then you'd have a couple of different options.

I think that driving into Rome is fairly straightforward for the UN-nervous - - and (perhaps) out of the question for those ill at ease with confusing congested traffic with scooters swerving in and out of every cubic inch around you.

Orvieto is a good option, and bus service ought to be a consideration also. Better for Florence-Siena than train, and likewise for Siena-Rome as well.

Best wishes,

Rex

ira

Hi Sheila,

As noted, you can drop off car at FCO (train to Rome TE is 9.5E)or Orvieto (train to Rome is 14E).

If you decide to leave the car in Siena, it is easier to take the bus to Rome Tiburtina (17.5E).

See http://www.senabus.it/

CMark

Last May we drove from Milan to Rome. Out last leg was from San Gimignamo (near Sienna) to the Rome Holiday Inn West. We chose the Holiday Inn because it was halfway between downtown and the airport and we thught it would be easy to find. NOT. It took us maybe an hout of screwing around to find the hotel. We checked in with an Australian couple told us it had taken them about 4 hours. I live in Saudi Arabia so I'm no stranger to riotous driving, but I have no wish to drive in Rome -- more due to congestion than anything else -- why spend hours in traffic while you're on vacation? Why not drop the car off in Sienna the day before, spend (at least) a day in Sienna (no need for a car), then take the train to Rome? Sienna is goegeous, and you could easily spend a day or two there. Otherwise drop off in Orvirto or the extreme north of Rome.

MFNYC

We actually dropped a car off at the termini area, and to be honest it wasn't all that bad. We've also driven into the heart of hectic Rome and it was horrible, but access to and from the termini area is not too bad. I think when we did it, it was a weekday, late afternoon but before rush hour.

nonnafelice

We dropped a car at Termini, and it was doable, but kind of nerve-wracking. We thought we had plenty of time, but ended up getting it there only about 10 minutes before we would have been charged for an extra day. The traffic was horrible, and we made a few wrong turns because, although we had a good map, it's hard when you don't know the area at all.

There is some good information on the Slowtrav web site about dropping a car in Rome. They suggest a location near the Borghese Gardens. Look here:
http://www.slowtrav.com/italy/drivin...ental_rome.htm
for the directions.

Also, I think there have been several message threads on the topic on Slowtrav, so you may want to search the Italy message board there.

If you do decide to drop the car at Termini, make sure you have two people, because one person will have to stay with the car (which you'll probably have to park illegally) while the other one goes into the office. Also, it wasn't easy to find exactly where to go in -- the signs are not very good and the area around the station is huge.

sheilak

Thank you everyone for the advice. I am actually using La Volpaia in Radda in Chianti as a base staying for 4 days. I wanted the convenience of a car. I think it is best to just drop it in FCO or even Orvieto since I am traveling with my sister for her 1st trip out of the country..I don't really need any extra stress!!