Where in Tuscany to dump rental car & get train for Naples?
 

We will be getting the car in Venice and driving to Siena, we are staying in Siena for 3 nights but I want a car for driving around the area. Then, we have 4 open nights so I thought we would head south. Seeing Pompeii is a must. I am thinking about staying in Sorrento. We will spend our last night back near FCO.

I can't quite figure out a good place to drop the car and get on the train to Naples. The drop place in Siena is somewhere they call "downtown", don't we then have to get a bus to Florence to get on the train, plus we are backtracking? Does anyone know of a town where the drop place might be right at the train station? I plugged in Orvieto, but the drop place came up as "city". We would be willing to keep the car and head further south somewhere before we drop it. Or, we could drive all the down to Naples?!? That would also save us train fare, which is around E100 per person for the fast train. There is a drop location shown at station Corso Novara. I really don't think we want to hassle with a rental car in Sorrento. I am trying to minimize being stuck with luggage in the middle of the day and nowhere to put it.

If you are traveling from Siena to stay in Sorrento, why not keep the car and drive from Siena all the way to Sorrento and turn in the car there?

gigib,
Chiusi has a Hertz about two minute walk from the train station. Orvieto has a Hertz and Avis about 5 minute walk from the train station.

Drive to Sorrento--forget Naples.

Sorrento, really? I read something about horrible congestion just getting into town? Perhaps this is for summer, we will be there mid-May? Please tell me what to expect, DH will be doing the driving and is not up for difficult traffic on this trip.

Horrible congestion? I have no knowledge of that. However I would think dealing with some traffic congestion would be easier than dragging your luggage through a train trip involving connecting from one train to another and changing levels levels at Naples train station.

Most of the car rental places in Siena are near the bus station. If you are going to Florence, that is good because the bus is a better choice than the train on that route. In Florence the bus station is near the train station.

I would agree with bobthenavigator - consider driving to Sorrento. Having the car will allow you to drive the Amalfi coast road, one of the most beautiful drives anywhere. Traffic on the road will not be bad in May.

As far as congestion entering and leaving Sorrento, it is not bad at all, particularly when you are planning to be there. Now, congestion in Naples, that is bad any time of the year.

As a female solo traveler, I drove from Florence to Sorrento (via San Gimg, Siena, Assisi, and Orvieto).

Rented thru kemwel.com with Europcar. Drove into Sorrento and dropped my luggage at the hotel (Hilton) then drove down to the Europcar's location and dropped the car.

No problem except the car in front of me on the 2-lane road into Sorrento had to chat up a guy on a moped driving next to her until the car horns behind me finally registered with them and we resumed a normal speed.

Thanks for the info. I also talked to a friend who had rented a car and stayed in Praiano, so I will also check out staying there or Amalfi or Positano, much prettier than Sorrento. He also suggests just driving to wherever we stay, park the car and leave it and take busses and ferries around the area.

Driving past Sorrento is another story.
See the map---Sorrento is not on the AC--big difference.

Here are pics from last year.

http://www.slowphotos.com/photo/show...y.php?cat=4481

This is terrible, now I want to stay at the Hotel Il Nido in Amalfi. I should never look at TripAdvisor...

It looks like it might be easier to drive to Amalfi than to Praiano? Less coastal road to deal with, coming from the east?

We have no problem with mountain or coastal driving, we live in S. California up a mountain and have driven our Highway 1 many times, I don't want to put my husband through too much driving stress on this trip! He gets enough just commuting to work...

Staying in one of towns on the AC is a fine idea, but why park your car and depend on buses and ferries. Ferries, sure, you get a different perspective, but at the time of year you are going the traffic on the coast should not be difficult and you can cover ground more quickly in a car. The coast road, while hilly and curvy is not a difficult one other than the traffic in high season. There are places along the coast road where you can stop for pictures or whatever- you can't do that in a bus. I have driven that road many times - but not in the summer- and have always been able to find a parking place in whichever town I wanted to stop without much trouble.