Which train to get to villa near Montepulciano
 

My wife and I are staying at Villa Cicolina near Montepulciano and I'm trying to decide best way of getting there from Rome. We will be taking the train.

We planned on taking the Eurostar from Rome and picking the car up in Florence then driving down to the hotel near Montelpulciano for a few nights. We are then going to drive to our next destination which is outside of Florence and we will drop the car off in Florence before taking the train to Venice.

We like the idea of the Eurostar but it looks like it only goes into Florence which is why we would then need to drive down to our hotel near Montepulciano. Does this make sense or would it make more sense to take one of the other trains into Chiusi or the other towns?

I looked on Trenitalia website. What is the difference between the Reginale, InterCity, and ICplus trains? Is one better than the other? Should we just stick to taking the Eurostar to Florence and driving?

Called Hertz and they said we can pick up the car near the train station in Florence.

Also called AutoEurope and they have a car that we can pick up in downtown Chiusi (Piazza Dante 22)and drop off in downtown Florence or Florence South (Via Erbosa). Are these offices near the train stations?

My my such a long question.
Train to Chiusi--forget Eurostar--get your car there and drive to your place--very easy. Do not try to drive into Florence. Why not drive to Venice-- Same time and about the same $$. Do not make it so hard.

We picked up our car from Hertz in Florence (2/13/06 ), It is a few blocks from the station. We took a cab from our hotel. We drove to Montepulciano and stayed for a few days and dropped it off in Orvieto (Hertz office accross the street from the train station) We then took the train into Rome. Orvieto was about an hours drive from Montepulciano.It worked out great for us. Maybe you could just take the train from Rome to Orvieto.

I agree with Bob - train from Rome to Chiusi - pick up rental car there. It's very close to Montapulciano. Happy travels!

I would

Train from Rome to Chiusi and pick the car up there.

Drive to Florence. It isn't fun, but I don't think anyone has ever failed to get there. I can't say for sure which place is near the train station, but how hard could it be to find out. You'll need the car for you time outside of Florence. We are staying in Lastra a Signa outside of Florence, and plan to use the car and the train for day trips.

I'm sure your hotel or hosts will tell you how to get into Florence to drop the car off. Or, while you're in the city, you could drop into the office and get some very detailed instructions for when you drive in.

About the different trains:
R or Regionale are the slowest, with local stops.

IC and IC plus are the next fastest; quite often just as fast, or very nearly so, as the Eurostar on shorter journies.

I have no idea what the difference is between IC and IC Plus. Id be glad to learn if anyone will enlighten us.

Hi T,

Why not drop the car at the Piazzale Roma in Venice instead of taking the train from Florence?

Driving directions at www.viamichelin.com.

Choose the route via Ravenna.

((I))

Hi Thirstytrav,

Agree with driving from Chiusi. Hope you have a great time at the Villa Cicolina - was our favorite place from our trip last October. The staff is very helpful, and their dinners were outstanding.

Best wishes on a fun trip.

bobthenavigator - sorry the question was so long. Thought about driving into Venice but were weren't sure if it would take up too much time.

SusanEva - glad to hear you enjoyed the Villa Cicolina. I'll have to let my wife know so she stops worrying whether she chose a good place to stay. Is the restaurant at the villa? For some reason I didn't think they had one and am glad to hear they do.

Thanks all for the suggestions!

If anyone is confused as to the screen name of this reply, I didn't realize my wife was logged in. Sorry for the confusion!

Thirstytraveler

My wife and I stayed at Villa Cicolina in October...you will love it. Not only do they have a restaurant there (mostly for the guests)... they offer a cooking class. Our class was 2 couples..and it was great. We made arrangements when we arrived. Did you email the Villa for their suggestion on transportation? We found them to be very helpful with all our questions before our arrival.

Thanks 'ourjetboat'! The cooking class sounds like a great idea.

I will definitely email the villa and ask directions. Looks like we are going to pick up car in Chiusi and drive from there.

The Villa offers a set dinner each evening. By about 9 AM, the four course menu is printed for you. You can then decide if you want to eat with them for the evening. You are free to choose, or to dine somewhere else.

We ate at the Villa on 2 of our four nights. The food is delicious. They have a lovely local wine selection as well. On the nights we chose not to dine with them, the staff helped us arrange reservations at other places.

The dinner is served in the same building as the breakfast in cooler weather. When it's warm enough, it's served al fresco on their terraced area overlooking the east to the hills at sunset.

Be sure to bring your suits. They have a great infinity swimming pool, also with spectacular views.

That sounds great and we are glad there is a restaurant there in case we just want to relax at the villa.

Unfortunately, the pool may be closed since we are going in May but we can always sit by it and enjoy a glass of wine.