After 3 1/2 days in Rome, we want to rent a car to drive through Tuscany and Cinque Terre for 6 days. Where is the best place to get a rental car and not have to drive too much in the city? Airport?
Thanks everyone! By the way, we are flying out of Milan and will drop the car there.
Judy
Roseville, CA
Fiumicino airport - you can jump right onto the "A" highway north and you don't have to go into the city at all.
I'd want to back up and think about the starting point for the day. To factors exist: time and money.
Assuming that an initial metro ride will begin the day:
Regarding time: both the trip to FCO and to Orvieto will take some amount of time for the transit as well as the time for the mode of transportaion change (metro to train and waiting for train). Both trains originate at Termini station, I think.
Regarding money: same logic as above, but insert ticket costs for time. I strongly suspect that picking up car at FCO will incur an additional airport surcharge of some kind.
I can see a minor advantage to scooting out to FCO to pick up a car if limited Rome driving were a factor. I can see no reason for fiddling with a train all the way to Orvieto (unless your intent is to spent the night there and thus save a day's car rental). I have not seen this arrangement touted anywhere but in RS literature.
Since you're probably going to be at Termini anyway, why not step outside and rent a car right there? The esacape to the east and the beltway is straight-forward and easy -- only takes ten or fifteen minutes.
I think it depends on where you are going when you leave Rome. If you are heading towards Florence, Chianti, or points north of Rome, Orvieto makes perfect sense. In fact, that is where we are picking up our car in May. The rental car facility is right at the train station, which is difficult to find in Italy. There are no airport surcharges. Where you pick up the car is not at all difficult to navigate to the major highways. And the town itself is quite lovely, making it a great stop. It would make no sense to use Orvieto if you are leaving for Napoli, Amalfi coast, etc. In that case, you may wish to use the airport. Good Luck!
Hi Judy,
When I rented through Auto Europe I was able to choose my pick up point online. I looked at the map and picked a location on the north side of the ring road (don't remember the name). Then, we took a short cab ride from our hotel to the pick up place. It was efficient time-wise and got us right on the A-1 without having to drive in the city. I would do the same again.
We rented from Auto Euripe and also used their web site to find our car and location in Rome, and then an easy way out of town.
We got the best rate by not renting from the airport, but by renting "in town".
We picked up our car on a Sunday, when not many rental lots are open. We got it at the huge underground multi agency lot under the Bourgesee park, adjacent to the Spanish Steps. They gave us a little cheat sheet that provided us with a quick and easy route to the freeways for our exit from town.
We bring our own GPS, which just makes things easy.
I have also heard that picking up a rental car at the Termini is easy. I don't exactly remember, but I think that we chose the Bourgesee lot becasue it was less money. If you use the AE web site you can play with the various alternatives to find the option that best suites your needs. I was amazed how much the prices changed with each option.
