We're trying to get from Venice to San Gimignano and rent a car along the way. Does anyone have any advice on the fastest/best way to accomplish this? Should we try to take the rail & rent a car in Florence or Siena? I've seen other posts saying that Florence traffic is rough, and I was wondering if there was a better alternative.

Hi g,

Why not pick up your car in Venice?

See www.novacarhire.com, www.autoeurope.com, www.kemwel.com

You will need an International Driver's Permit in Italy,

Train connections between Venice and Florence are relatively easy. The car rental area in Florence is a short walk from the train station and the way south out of town (toward Siena) is not too difficult. You can drive to San Gim, a short ways off the main highway to Siena in an hour or two from Florence. Get a decent map of central Tuscany plus a map of Florence and you can make the trip with only modest stress, at least judging by my own reactions to the same trip.

I too am looking for advice on getting a car rental for local use near San Gimignano. I was hoping that rentals would be available at some smaller location between Florence and Sienna (or just outside this area) so I could avoid the difficulties of driving in/out of these cities. Does anyone know of any such locations?

I'm not a fan of driving into Florence's centro storico, but picking up the car in Venice to drive to your destination is really not that difficult. We did it when we were driving to Lucca. In our case,we took the vaporetto (water bus)to the "end of the line" near the train station, across the street to a public parking garage and the Hertz office, picked up our car and we were on our way.

On two separate trips, we picked up our rental car (AutoEurope) as we left Venice. On the most recent trip, we then drove from Venice to San G. It's a relatively easy drive, and quite scenic. If you pick up your car as you leave Venice, you won't have to drive in Florence, just around it.