Venice & Tuscany
 

Hi Everyone,

I was considering flying direct into Rome then renting a car, or taking a train to Tuscany because flying into Rome is the cheapest and only direct way. I'd need to connect via Paris to fly into Florence.

What makes more sense for Tuscany? Since I"ll be renting a car anyway? I heard driving in Rome is crazy, though I'd be leaving Rome airport going direct to our hotel in Siena.

Any thoughts?
Natalie
Ps...i'm from NY and have no problem driving in the city. Tho Rome sounds scary.

If you're going straight from the airport to Siena, the driving won't be too bad. We made the mistake of driving into the heart of Rome at night and it was insane! (we're from San Francisco area so we're used to tight streets/traffic). In your case, since we found driving in Italy to be pretty easy except for Rome, I'd say rent the car in the most convenient location which might be the airport unless other posters have better ideas.

We took the train from Rome and rented our car in Orvieto--very easy. You could also rent in Chiusi.

It is approx 3 hours from Rome Airport to Siena....and from Florence it would be approx 1 hour.

We usually try and keep our drives on the day of arrival down to a minimum. 3 hours after getting off a long flight is not ideal. Sometimes your flight can be delayed as well which adds to your fatigue.

Our last trip we drove from Rome to Orvieto which is approx 2 hours. It was not difficult getting out of Rome as the airport is on the outskirts of the city and there is a very good ring road that takes you to the autostrada.

We arrived Rome at approx noon but our baggage didn't. We had to wait a couple of hours while it was sent on the next flight from Frankfurt to Rome. By that time we were quickly running out of steam. We ended up leaving Rome airport close to rush hour (approx 3:30pm) and did not get to our hotel in Orvieto until approx 6:30pm.

I would base my decision on arrival times as well. I would say on top of the 3 hours of driving, you have to factor the time it takes to collect your luggage and rental vehicle before being on the road. Tack on the time it takes you to find parking and locate your accommodation in Siena.

Thank you for the advice, 3 hours is long. Do you think taking a train makes more sense? Or connect into FLO if possible?

You would have to get from the airport to the train station downtown to get to Siena which is not terribly convenient and will chew up a couple of extra hours.

Are the connections via Paris into Florence that bad?

The layovers are 1-3 hours, and I thought the layover period could be better used driving in place of waiting for the next flight. But again, I dont this area of italy well enough to judge which mode of travel is better.

Fly into Pisa !
What date?
Which airport--JFK?
Keep it simple.

ihopp:
Who did you rent your car from in Orvieto? I can't seem to find a car rental source in Orvieto.

Bob,

We are flying from JFK (or EWR), and are trying to keep it as simple as possible since I imagine we'll be tired. I dont see any direct flights into Pisa via jfk. Just connections... which I was avoiding by flying into FLO as well. I wonder if there are directs anywhere from NY?

Any ideas?

Thanks in advance =)
Natalie

Hi Natalie,

Making a connection into PSA or FLR is no less of a problem than flying into Rome, picking up a car and then driving to Siena.

It is probably safer, as you will have less driving time.

If you fly into FLR, you could taxi to the SITA bus station and arrive in one piece in Siena.

You can pick up your car in Siena the next day, after you have had a chance to overcome jet-lag.

SITA bus schedules are at http://tinyurl.com/ybe6xk

((I))

Definately fly into Dlorence and take the bus to Siena. You don't want a car in Siena, anyway. You can't drive it into town.

thank you all!
lmhornet- what did you mean about not wanting to drive into Siena?