Driving to Florence and looking for advice as to just drop the car off and take train back to Roma (after 1 night stay in Florence) or park the car and drive back to Rome. Where do you park in Florence and/or are the car dropoffs outside the central part of Florence?

Are you driving directly to Florence or planning stops along the way? That may answer why not just take the train both ways.

we plan to stop off along the way in Tuscany for a few nights.

I parked in a garage in Florence and got burned. I understood the sign at the parking garage to be 1 Euro per hour, but when I went to pick up the car, it was 3 Euro per hour. Ouch!!!

There may be more reasonable parking garages in Florence. I like the idea of taking the car back to Rome, especially if you have all your luggage/purchases, vice the train.

Hi coo,

If you will be there only one night (that's a shame because 3 days in Florence would be very nice), I suggest that you keep the car and drop it off in Orvieto (stay the night) or in Rome.

You may be able to drop the car off at the airport, which is just outside Florence. That way you would not have to drive in Florence. It is an inexpensive taxi ride into the city (under 20 euro).

We dropped our car at the airport in Florence last year and took the bus from the airport into town. The ride is quick and convenient and cost 4E. However, I would look into taking the train both ways. I would imagine it is dramatically cheaper and easier to do this if you are simply going for a day. We only took a car because we went from Rome to the Adriatic to Florence.

Just make sure that you choose a proper car park, if you do need to park in Florence. We found some on-street parking but not understanding Italian, didn't understand the small print under the parking sign meant it was for residents only! We came back to find our car (and acout 20 others parked there) had a parking ticket which we then wasted half a day and about 20 euros trying to pay. Next visit we found a paid car park, which though not cheap was at least safe.

Your best bet would be to take the train both ways and pick up the rental car in Florence, visit Tuscany, and return the car before your stay in Florence. There are several rental car agencies within easy walking distance of the train station. You definitely do not want to drive in Florence any more than necessary.

There are parking garages all over. The rental agencies are all located in them. So, if nothing else, you can look up Hertz or Europecar or whatever and find a garage that is conveniently located if you choose to keep the car while there. Parking and gasoline are extremely expensive so be forewarned.

We have stayed at the Firenze Nova, and Hotel Nord, they both have car parking. We then took the bus into the center of Florence. They are both business hotels, but it works out quite well if you are driving. When we didn't drive we stayed in the center of Florence, which is always nice.