We are picking up a car in Orvieto (no reservations yet) and using it to see Tuscany for 5 days. We are staying at at Frances Lodge near Siena. We would like to return the car before we get to Florence, so we don't have to drive into Florence with the car. Does anyone have a recommendation? I haven't started looking into car rentals yet and don't know if we could, say, drop off near San Gimigiano and then take a train into Florence. Or if there is a spot outside of Florence we could drop off the car....We'll travel from Florence to the Cinque Terre by train, and then by train to fly out of Genoa.

Thanks for any advice,

Leslie Quintero

I've been mulling this over for a while, no doubt others will come up with a better solution than I can manage, but here goes anyway....

Why not see if you can return the car to Pisa. Or if not Pisa then, Pisa airport and from there you can make your way to CT.

To explore Florence there are several parking stations on the outskirts of Florence, we parked at Piazza Beccaria and walked into Florence

http://www.visitflorence.com/florenc...-florence.html

Return the car at Florence airport and take a 20 euro taxi into town to your hotel.

What j62 said. Or return it in Siena and take the bus to Florence.

I returned my Europcar at their via Novoli location. It's not in the pedestrian area and not difficult to drive to from the highway. You could then take a cab or bus to your hotel. (I usually drop my luggage at the hotel before returning the car.)

BTW, it's in Florence, I should have added.

Wow, thanks everyone. I actually like the idea of returning the carto the Florence airport and then taking a taxi into Florence. That hadn't occurred to me, but is a great idea!

We will be driving to Pisa after staying in the Greve Chianti area. We were going to return our rental car in Florence but the more I research, it seems to make more sense to return at the central rental car location in Pisa, then hop on the train to Florence whenever we are ready to leave Pisa. Trains run about every 30 min. until 10:30 and cost about $10. We don't want to have to rush to Florence to get the rental car in by the evening, or be charged for another day. I have also heard driving around the Florence area can be a nightmare, at least for people unfamiliar with the area.

I have also heard driving around the Florence area can be a nightmare, at least for people unfamiliar with the area.>>

certainly i thought that the traffic in florence was terrifying, worse than london or Paris. to be avoided if at all possible.