Wow - I booked air and hotels for our trip to Switzerland and Italy last October and all of a sudden I find that we are actually going next month! Now it's time to get serious about train, rail passes and car rental. I will be traveling with my husband and 2 17 year olds.

We will be staying in Montepulciano our last night in Tuscany and I am debating whether we should drop our car in Chiusi or Orvieto before taking the train to Rome. We will be leaving our car off on a Saturday, July 9, and both rental agencies with Autoeurope are open until around lunchtime. Chiusi is closer and we would get to Rome earlier in the day, but as we will be in Rome for about a week, there is really no rush. I was thinking that it might be nice to check out of the hotel in Montepulciano and spend a few hours in Orvieto before going to Rome.

The questions...is it worth the trip to Orvieto for a couple of hours there or would it be better to just go to Chiusi and catch the train right away? Is Chiusi a town where people would like to spend a few hours?

I looked at the TrenItalia web site ind it looks like there are only 2 trains to Rome from Orvieto, one in the morning and one at 8pm. Did I read that correctly? If so, that's putting us in Rome too late to meet the agent for our rented apartment so would answer the Orvieto question.

Is there anything else to consider here? This seems like such a little part of the whole, but I had to start somewhere! Thanks for any help.

...Did I read that correctly? .... Probably not. Use the same day of the week but next month and you will get the complete schedule. Full schedules are rarely available more than 60 days out.

I think a couple of hours in Orvieto would be more rewarding than in Chiusi, although there is an Etruscan museum there.

I show 5 trains between 11:33 and 15:43 from Orvieto on a Sat.
I prefer Orvieto to Chiusi---both of the stations are in the flat part of town---the Scalo. Good luck! We will be in Montepulciano from 16 to 22 May.

We travelled through Chiusi to get to Siena and had a 2hr or so layover waiting for the train. I would not expressly visit the town though and between the two, would rather see Orvieto which has more historical significance in my opinion.

We stayed a week in Montepulciano in Oct 2010 and dropped off the car in Orvieto, taking a mid day train to Rome.

Our car rental was from Hertz, whose office is opposite the train station. The funicular is virtually next door. You buy a combo tkt funicular and bus -- exceptionally convenient. The bus was waiting to depart when the funicular reached the summit.

It was a great arrangement. I kept saying "I can't believe how well things are coordinated in this city -- in Canada, this would never happen".

We visited the cathedral, where by an extraordinary coincidence the dress rehearsal of a classical music concert (actually a sung Mass) was underway.

Our one issue was where to leave luggage after returning the car. The obliging young woman at Hertz offered to store our bags in the back office. We returned for them shortly before the office closed for the wkend.

Train to Rome was packed (SRO -- fortunately we had reserved seats). But that was understandable: it was a holiday wkend.

You need to check the closure times of the car rental offices. Usually 12:30 or 1:00.

thanks for all the input. Orvieto is it! We hope we don't have to drag our luggage around with us, but at least the plan is carry-on only! (don't know if that's really doable, but we're oging to try)

And... now that I know not to put in dates for more than 60 days in advance, I'm getting times for a lot of trains. Thanks for that tip too!