I'm going to be tagging along on my husband's business trip to Italy in mid April. He will have a rental car that we will take from the airport in Rome to Pescara (where he'll be working). After he's finished his work, we'd like to do some traveling for a few days before we need to head back to the airport. We really won't need the car for this part of the trip. I've read many posts about renting a car in one location and dropping it off in another. I was under the impression that doing this was quite expensive...can anyone tell me if there is an extra charge and approx. how much it is? I'm trying to decide if it would be worth it to drop the car in Pescara and then carry on by train, or if we should take the time to go back to the airport to drop the car first.
Posted by
US Pacific Northwest
10344 posts
The drop-off charges that are the most costly is when you pick up in one country and return in another. It looks like you'll be staying in Italy. Thus, the question is the cost of picking up at (presumably) FCO and dropping off in Pescara?
One-way rentals within a country are often reasonably priced, but sometimes not. It's difficult to generalize: Probably the best way for you to determine whether it makes sense for you is to go to some of the car rental websites and price car rentals under the various drop off scenarios you're considering, and then decide.
Regarding rental cars in Italy, in general, different from travel in the US and Canada, some/many travelers (reporting in here) use this rule of thumb for Italy: if trains go there (regularly), take the train. In Italy, the cities, and most towns of a certain size, that are of interest to the average tourist, are well served by train.
One area that is not well served by trains is the Tuscany country-side; that's one of the few areas in Italy that many travelers (here) agree is best done by rental car. If you're considering the Tuscany hill towns, you probably want to hold on to your rental car, and drop off the car back at the airport, or at Orvieto if you were thinking of spending time in Rome.
Posted by
OP
Belleville, Ontario, Canada
58 posts
Thanks Kent. I'll have to do some research on the car rental sites...just thought I'd try my luck here first to see if there was an easy answer :) My itinerary is not set at all yet, the only thing I know for sure is that it will be a quick trip...once we leave Pescara, we may have as little as 2 nights, plus a third day to use to travel back to the airport for our flight. We will try to spend a few days in Rome when we first arrive (before the business part of the trip), so for these last few days I'm thinking of Sorrento and Amalfi coast.