So happy that I stumbled onto this website as I'm starting to panic about what we should do. We are flying into Milan arriving in the evening on our way to Siena. Should be stay overnight in Milan (hotel suggestions would be appreciated) then can we take a train to Siena the next morning. From there we would rent a car to take us to our week's accommodations. Is it better to take the train than rent a car and drive from Milan to Siena. We are a little nervous about driving too far in Italy. Is there a website that has train schedules and ticket prices? Any suggestions would help a lot!!!

Take a train to Florence (Firenze SMN), continue to Siena by bus.

Go to www.raileurope.com and go into the fares and schedules section. Dont purchase your train tickets there as they are more expensive unless you are really uncomfortable waiting to buy them. We took a train to florence and rented our car there and drove to Tuscany. Pretty easy trip.

Debbie meant to say, don't buy your tickets HERE.

This is an absolutely TERRIBLE (!!!!) title for your post, and I consider it a minor miracle that anyone bothered to even open it, let alone answer your question seriously. One might think you had a life-threatening disease or something of that nature, rather than a travel question. It's a whole lot more useful, and more considerate to those you're asking to answer your question, to actually state what it is in the title.<BR><BR>Re Debbie's advice about raileurope.com, her point is that you should not use the site to actually buy tickets (as they're much more expensive than if you bought them in Italy.) I use the official Italian train site myself, www.trenitalia.com, but still wait to buy tickets until my arrival.

Ease up a little, Anon. Lee said he/she just found this site. Takes a while to learn our customs and mores. <BR><BR>I agree with the poster who advised you to take the train to Florence to pick up your car and then drive to Siena. The drive is easy and getting out of Florence isn't hard either. A couple of turns and over the bridge and soon you're on the autostrada or in the countryside. Rent the car before you leave the US (assuming you're from the US). A lot of Fodorites have had good experiences with AutoEurope at www.autoeurope.com. Look the site over and then phone for your reservation.<BR><BR>You may want to type &lt;Milan hotel&gt; (without the &lt;&gt into the text search box at the top of the page. In the box to the right, highlight Italy and then press the find button. You'll get some posts from the archives for hotels in Milan that travelers who use this site have recommended.<BR><BR>Be sure to post a trip report when you return.<BR><BR>

Another vote for renting the car in Florence. The best place to buy the tickets to Florence and book seats on the train is the Malpensa Airport as you arrive. Siena is not weel connected by train to nowhere, and to take a bus instead of just renting a car in Florence may turn out not such a good choice. Also, visit http://www.comune.siena.it/turismo/w...asp?Lingua=ENG and http://www.terresiena.it/, the latter has interesting and informative material that will send for free, but make sure you request it at least a couple of months before your derparture since it may travel slowly, it took one month for my to arrive to Milano from Siena!