Please help rental car trip from Rome-Sienna-Pisa-Florence
 

We are a family of 4 with 2 teenagers starting out in Rome. What is the best place to pick up a rental car? Would it be better to stay outside of Florence and take public transport into the city? What's the best time of day to arrive in Florence? I've heard that it can be impossible to park in Florence. Any recommendations of reasonable accomodations for a family on a budget?

Best bet is to pick up car at Villa Borghese, stay in Fiesole where its cooler if you are planning the months of July-August and ride public bus into Florence. Good accomodations I'd suggest are Pensione Bencista or in Florence the Hotel Albion. Have your teens read my students' pages "Awesome Italy" on www.elegantetruria.com for background . The car will be great for seeing the surroundings of Florence, the villas,etc.

Hi V,

Are you just driving to Florence via Siena and Pisa on one day, or are you staying in S and/or P?

Are you keeping the car in Florence?

((I))

When we drove through Italy we stayed outside Florence, drove to the train station and walked around the city.

As Ira asked, help us out with your itinerary. As a practical matter, if you're just going to the cities themselves, you could bypass the car and parking headaches. If your plan is to see the countryside, IMO, the car is the way to go. Also, if you're doing less than 2 weeks you should probably select 2 bases at most and day trip from them.