Byron1

We are planning our trip to Italy. At this point we are planning 4 nights in Rome, 3 nights in Florence, then getting a rental car and doing Tuscany (Lucca, Siena, Pisa, San Gigminano area)for 4-6 days.

Here is our question: We want to spend 2 nights in Venice. We are thinking of two options: 1)keeping the rental car and driving to Venice from Tuscany - dropping it off (not sure where) and then flying out of Venice or 2) after Tuscany dropping the car off in Florence and training up to Venice and then flying out of Venice.

Any advice? We appreciate your help.

sgbargyle

I found training to be easy if the bags are light. There are many stairs at the train stations. I used a carry-on four wheel and a duffel bag that worked very well. Moving through airport and train stations easily is very important.
I found Venice airport to be very easy to negotiate but you have to plan ahead to give yourself plenty of time to get there because water taxis are very expensive. There is the vapporetta that works well, but you need to plan. Use Rick Steve's book because he really explains it very well for any location you fly into or out of. Airports are usually quite a distance from the city and getting there by taxi may be very expensive.

nytraveler

As long as you already have the car I wouldn;t trek back to Florence to get rid of it. As long as your rental agency has an office at Piazzele Roma it's simpler just to drive to Venice, drop the car there and hop on a vaporetto to whatever stop is nearest your hotel. (Or grab a water taxi if your hotel has it's own dock.)

bobthenavigator

Drive---less hassle.

zeppole

How many in your party? If it's only two people, you are spending an awful lot of money on car rental, parking and gas to see places you can very easily see as day trips from Firenze using the train, with the exception of Venezia, where you can't drive anyway.

The only exception is San Gimignano, and compared with renting, parking and gas costs, I would first check out the possibility of simply hiring a driver to take you there if you don't want to take a bus.

If you are four or more, then it might make sense to share the cost of driving.

annw

I would ditch the car at Florence and take the train to Venice and then fly out of Venice. Alternative would be as noted above drive to Pizzale Roma at the edge of Venice.

ira

Hi B,

> We want to spend 2 nights in Venice.

Drive to Venice. Piazzale Roma is right at the end of the causeway.

>doing Tuscany (Lucca, Siena, Pisa, San Gigminano area)for 4-6 days. <

All of those towns are readily accessible from Florence by train and/or bus.

Are you sure you want a car if that is all you will be doing?

suze

I'm all for trains but since you've got a car, I don't see the sense to get rid of it just to take the train to your last city. Drive to Venice.

Michael

Drop the car off in Venice and take a little detour to Ravenna to see the mosaics.

gdinla

Since you pass Tuscany on the way to Florence, it's better to rent the car in Rome, drive thru Tuscany and drop the car off when you get to Florence. Then take the train to Venice and fly out from there. We just did a similar trip last fall and had the best time. Hope you have a great trip!

Michael

In terms of efficiency, gdinia's suggestion is the best.

bobthenavigator

Hmmm ! Those who say to drop it in Florence, please tell us exactly where and how and whether you have done it.

Michael

If a drop off in Florence is a big problem, one could always drop the car off in Pisa or Lucca.

annw

There are multiple drop off locations in Florence; I plugged in "Pick up in Lucca and drop off in Florence (not airport)" on the Auto Europe site and got following locations (several) with a drop box for the key:

http://www.autoeurope.com/car.cfm#D


Personally, I prefer and use trains; we dropped off a car at P.le Roma once and it was very confusing for our first time visit to Venice and I don't recommend it as first choice. The pick up point in Lucca is outside the walls so if you get it there be sure to get specific directions and hours the office is open.

Our friends rent and drop off cars in Florence all the time without mishaps.

bobthenavigator

Byron, All of the options mentioned will add at least 2 hours to your trip--maybe more. If you already have the car then just do it. The drop at Piazzale Roma is easy.

Byron1

Thank you everyone for your suggestions. I find this board very helpful.

gdinla

Florence is a maze of one-way streets. We followed explicit directions to our hotel and after dropping off the luggage, the concierge gave us directions to the car rental place. Without detailed directions I think it would be almost impossible. I made sure the drop off location was in central Florence when I rented the car and after we dropped it off we walked through the city back to our hotel. BTW, We rented the car through rentalcargroup.com.

msackton

We did a similar trip (without the Rome part) in 2005, and I found driving to Venice and dropping off the car very easy (although we ended up running a bit late and getting into Venice after dark, which wasn't ideal but was still fine).

You don't really need a car to see Lucca or Pisa or Siena though. It's the little hill towns that you really need a car for.