Trains & car Rental in Italy
 

What is the easiest way to get from Rome to Cortona? I have looked at several options but unsure of details yet. I figured we'd take the train to Orvieto or Chiusi & rent a car at the train station, continue to drive to Cortona, then in three day drive to Siena & eventually dropping the car off in Florence and train to Venice. Or would it make more sense to take the train to either city, then bus to Cortona and then rent a car there on day of departure? I can see it is important to note the rental car agencies hours of operation. Any help would be greatly appreciated!!!! I am helping a friend to put this together. My husband & I are familiar with the are & have traveled to these cities but we always drove and did not take the trains. Thank you!

I prefer getting the car in Orvieto since it is more convenient. Do check the hours---the Hertz location is very near the station. If you are not staying in Florence, why not just drive to Venice and drop there?

They are staying in Florence for 2 days, with plans to train to Venice. So the overall plan is fly into Rome, spend 3 days, next destination is Cortona, preferably train? for 3days, then planning 2 days in Siena, driving from Cortona to Siena, driving to Florence & dropping the car. Staying there for 2 days & train to Venice for 3 days, fly to LAX. Ambitious I know but 2 ladies that really want to do this. I found a site that rents cars at the train station outside of Cortona, Il Girasole, and I am trying to check them out. They have never driven or been to Italy so I'm trying to keep it as simple as possible. I appreciate your input!

You plan is workable, alternatively, you could train from Rome to Arrezzo, the next town to the north of Cortona, then drive to Cortona, then Siena, then drop off car at same agency in Arrezzo, train to Florence. A bit out of the way, but then you're not dealing with traffic/getting lost in Florence. this serves the "simple" goal, albeit total travel time is a bit more.

I understand your logic, but Bob's idea of just driving all the way to Venice is worth considering. If you follow this logic, it may actually be easier to train Rome-Florence, then drive Florence-Siena-Cortona-Venice. This may seem to be backtracking, but it IS simple, and the roads/rail-lines make it logical.

Do you want a car while in Cortona? Siena? The entire time? A few days? Are you just wanting public transport? It's not quite clear.

You can take the train from Rome to Camucia and a short bus ride (10-15 minutes) from there onto Cortona. There are several buses with stops on the Cortona/Camucia routes. Page 2 on this one has schedules departing Camucia for one of the buses.

http://www.lfi.it/orari_linee_etr_mob/LFSU4.pdf

If you click this map to enlarge, you can see the other bus numbers listed on the line for Camucia/Cortona (arrow/underline).

http://www.lfi.it/bacino_utenza/GrafoEnd.gif

You could take the Sena bus (3 hours about 20€) from Rome to Siena and start your Tuscan stay there. The bus doesn't require changes and the train does. Travel time and price is similar. Pick up a car as you are leaving Siena and drive to Cortona.

http://www.sena.it/Home/78-1-en.html

Thank you for all your suggestions. First, they have made hotel reservations & dates booked for the journey so I have dates I am trying to help them work out how to get from point a to b to c. I agree they probably don't need the car the days they are in Siena, maybe just drop it there & take the train to Florence. I know there are a lot of options, mu husband & I have done all these drives but I think they need the least amount of driving but getting the freedom of it to explore Tuscany. How much difference is there in the regional trains than the high speed ones? well except for speed!