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Best Rental Car Location to Pick up?

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As a part of our Italy trip, we will leave Cinque Terre, head to a farmhouse outside of Florence for a few days, then onto the Hill Country for a week, then to Milan to head back to US. I would like to pick up a rental car when we depart the Cinque Terre, and use it until we arrive back in Milan. However, I have two questions:
1) Where is the best location to pick up the car? Is there a logical town near Cinque Terre? If not, should we train to Florence, and pick it up there?
2) Where is the best location to drop off the car? We will be staying in Orvieto for a week, then head to Milan for departure to US. Is it better to drop the car in Orvieto, and train to Milan? Or drive to Milan and drop the car at the airport?

Any help would be greatly appreciated. This is our last "big" logistical issue. Thanks!

Posted by
15164 posts

The entire Italian peninsula is extremely hilly everywhere, with very few exceptions (mainly the Po Valley, where Milan is). So everywhere you go it will be "hill country", including Florence and surroundings. I presume that by "Hill Country" you actually meant to say "Umbria" (a Region) since you are headed to Orvieto.

The best (and only) location to pick up a car near the Cinque Terre is the city of La Spezia, located just minutes away from the Cinque Terre by train.

I presume you return from Milan Malpensa airport (MXP) and not Linate (LIN). If it is Malpensa, I would stay the last one or two nights on Lake Maggiore (Stresa? Arona?) then on the morning of departure drive to the Malpensa airport and return the car at the airport.

Lake Maggiore is closer to the airport than the city of Milan itself. The drive from Stresa to Malpensa is about 40 min.

Posted by
22 posts

Roberto;

I appreciate your reply. We are actually spending our last two days in Milan in the downtown area, going to see the Last Supper, etc. Does that change your answer in any way?

Thanks.

Posted by
15164 posts

In that case I would drop off in Milan. Where exactly depends on where your accommodations in Milan are.
Post it here and I'll tell you which rental offices are available near your hotel.
I presume you know that the best options to rent a car are through an aggregator:
www.autoeurope.com
www.kemwel.com
They work with the major international rental car companies (Avis, Budget, Europcar, Hertz).
Europcar and Hertz usually yield the best prices.

Dropping off in Orvieto and going to Milan by train is an option available only if you choose Hertz. That's the only rental outfit in town. Consider however that option will require a train change in Florence and if more than 2 people are traveling together, the cost of the train may be higher than the car costs.

Posted by
22 posts

I worked with Avis today (I rent 40 weeks a year from them), they secured an excellent rate for me picking up the car in La Spezia and dropping at MXP--about 400 dollars cheaper than the aggregators. (I think this is an exception, rather than the norm, because I rent with them so much in the US.) It will be a little less ideal than dropping the car in Milan, but then at least we can use it to get to the airport as well. We have 5 passengers, so transportation adds up quickly. Thanks.

Posted by
15164 posts

If you change your mind and drop off in the city instead of Malpensa there is no penalty for doing so. There are 5 Avis locations within the city, plus one at the Linate airport, which is close to the city center.
The train to Malpensa is 10 euro p.p. and is faster than the car (35 min vs ~50 by car).

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