PatUte123

Hi. Looking for some help. We will be in Florence and will go to the airport to rent a car to spend 4 nights in Tuscany and enjoy exploring. We then are going to Venice for 4 nights and here is where I need help. Should we return car to Florence airport or should we drive towards Venice and return car at Venice Airport or somewhere thereabouts. The cost for a car does not change much with the different pickup and drop off locations so cost I am guessing will be very similar but how would the drive be and is there much different in the travel times ??? Any thoughts and info would be appreciated. Thanks

PatUte123

Should of added if we drop car off in Florence then we would take retrain to Venice.

gailscout

I would return the car in Florence and then take the train to Venice. That is what we did a few years ago. However, you do not say where you are going next or if you are returning home from Venice. If you are continuing your travels, then perhaps I would park the car near the train station, but I do not know where or if you can. The airport is not close to where you want to be in Venice. In my opinion, it is easier to take the train and not worry about the car.

PatUte123

Thanks for your input. From Venice we are flying to Croatia. I really was trying to figure out if it would be a fun drive and more scenic than the train. Also if it was a manageable drive and in travel time comparable to the train.

Mimar

Drive the car to Venice and drop it at the Piazzale Roma. It's on the edge of Venice, reachable over the causeway from the mainland. The airport is farther away and less convenient. This way you avoid the cost of two train tickets as well as the trip from the Florence airport into the train station.

At the Piazzale Roma, you're in Venice. You can walk or take the water bus, the vaporetto, to your hotel. Or possibly a water taxi. Get instructions from your hotel web site as to how to get there.

gailscout

I don't remember the train ride being all that exciting until you get near Venice. Perhaps weigh the time and cost difference.

PatUte123

Thanks I think I will try driving there if we get an early start on Sunday I think we may have an adventure driving to Venice. Appreciated Pattie

nytraveler

Just make sure your car rental agency has an office at Piazzale Roma (the end of the causeway into Venice) and you can avoid the hassle of heading back to Florence, finding a place to drop the car and then get to the train station with your luggage.

gailscout

oh, Sunday. Gas up and take food. Not sure what will be open en route.

PatUte123

Yikes gailscount it is that kind of info a girl needs.. I always forget that different countries still respect the day of Sabbath !!!

neckervd

Florence - Venice by car: all motorway, no adventure at all, as boring as the train ride.

asps

If you like overtaking columns of trucks over narrow curves, hills and steep descents drive the motorway. If you like reading a magazine while you sit on your seat and the train slides in tunnels at about double of the speed allowed on the motorway, take the train. Your choice.

letsgeaux

I agree with Mimar. We did this and it worked out fine. We drove our rental car from Florence to Venice in less than 3 hours, turned the car in at Pizzale Roma and took vapporatto 82 to our hotel. It was a Sunday and the only problem we had was the parking garage was full and the rental car office was closed, but that is another story. This is what I would recommend.

Mimar

If you're going to drop the car on a Sunday, check if the car rental office will be open or if they will let you leave the car and drop off the keys.

letsgeaux

We did. They gave us specific instructions to park the car in the rental company's section of the main parking garage. We got into the garage but the section we were supposed to go in was full. Every time we tried to park illegally or in another section we were chased away. It took us about an hour and a half to find someone to solve the problem. This was on Easter Sunday several years ago. No big deal. We love Venice and had a wonderful time.

sandralist

I hardly think you need to take food driving on a Sunday between Florence and Venice. Sunday is an extremely popular day in Italy for heading out for drives and lunches on the road. If you don't want to join them and stop for a lovely lunch en route, the roadside Autogrille will be open and doing a rip-roaring business.

Personally I would drop the car off and take the high speed train, especially if I had no intention of going anywhere between Florence and Venice that day. Taking the train is easier if you are light packer.

sandralist

Also, if you are dropping off the car without any attendant present, you should take photos of the car as to where you left it and also showing that the car was undamaged when you left it.

bvlenci

I've taken the train many times on that route, usually from Bologna to one or the other. I've also driven many times on the route, again, either from Bologna to Florence or Bologna to Venice.

I would never drive from Florence to Venice unless I were delivering furniture or needed the car while staying in Venice. The train is faster, more comfortable, and often cheaper. The drive, especially the part between Florence and Bologna, is one of the most unpleasant in Italy. You do cross the Apennines, but mostly in tunnels. There are lots of curves and hills, and heavy truck traffic (except on Sundays). A good part of the route is two lanes in each direction, which means you either crawl along with the trucks or contend with the speed demons in the left lane. Constantly changing lanes in heavy traffic is no fun.

Neither ride is scenic, because there are lots of tunnels on the train also. Between Bologna and Venice, the terrain is much flatter, but not especially scenic. Mostly industrial parks and orchards.

Mimar

sandralist and bvlenci, did you notice the OP will not be in Florence but elsewhere in Tuscany when they leave for Venice? S/he will need to drive to the Florence airport, drop the car, bus or taxi into Florence to the train station and then take the train to Venice.

sandralist

Yes I did notice that. It's not a big whoop to drop off the car at the Florence airport and get to the train station no matter where in Tuscany they are leaving from (whether it will be Chianti or south of Siena or Lucca). All the routings from Tuscany to Venice go right past the airport. The 30 minutes it will take them to get to the train station will be cancelled out by arriving directly in Venice by train more or less.

Personally I would not drop off a car in Venice and put the keys in a drop box. Also I just happen to prefer to take the train unless I am planning on doing something special with the car. I would consider it worth it if I were having lunch somewhere near Bologna or stopping off in Ferrara etc. But otherwise absolutely not (especially without knowing what the weather will be that day going over that mountainous route.)