Where to return rental car in Florence?
 

My husband, 2 year old, and I will be driving from Tuscany (Montepulciano area) to Florence, on a Friday. We are staying in Florence one night and then heading out on an early flight the next day. We are staying at the Hotel Davanzati in central Florence. I have a rental reservation that has us returning the car a few kilometers from the hotel. Husband is now a little worried about driving into Florence. We drove out of Florence several years ago and it was one of the more stressful drives. Would it be better to return to the airport and take a cab into town? Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!
Betsy

I think you are better off just driving to the airport and dropping it off there. If you need to take a taxi regardless - make it easy on yourself and avoid driving in Florence.

Driving in Florence has become much more expensive since they've put in cameras around the restricted traffic zone. It is very easy to drive into the zone (ZTL) without knowing it, then get a bill in the mail a few mo later after they track you down through the rental co - and they will.

Be sure wherever you choose to drop it off isn't near the city center, and don't drive through the city center on the way. There is a hefty fine for driving through when your license plate isn't registered in Florence. It's poorly signed but enforced with cameras. You could easily get tagged and not realize it until a collector is calling you at home months later.

When we drove we were very careful but still weren't sure if we would end up with an unpleasant surprise from our trip.

Drop it at the airport, it's much less stressful, and as others point out you avoid the problem of unintentionally driving in the ZTL, which could be an expensive mistake. The car rental dropoffs at the airport are not far from the taxi rank.

My husband and I have done it both ways and dropping off the car at the airport and taking a taxi to the city centre is WAY less stressful!

Thanks for the reponses. I will call Avis and see if I can switch the dropoff to the airport. I am guessing this shouldn't be a problem. I did read that you can ask your hotel to enter your license plate into some system so you won't be hit with the ZTL fine, but it seems less stressful to avoid the whole thing!