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Car day trip from Florence

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My husband and I will be in Florence in about 2 weeks. We are renting a car our last day there and would like to drive through Tuscany, ending up in Siena in the afternoon. I can't decide between 1. just heading south through the Chianti region on SR 222 ending in Siena, 2. driving east toward Arezzo and Cortona, then cutting back to Siena, 3. going further south to Montepulciano, Pienza, etc and back to Siena, or 4. heading west to Volterra and San Gimignano and then back to Siena. I wouldn't mind visiting at least one town other than Siena during the day, but don't necessarily have to visit everyone of the hill towns mentioned in Rick Steves' book. Our purpose of the day is to experience some of the Tuscany countryside that isn't accessible by train, but of course the hill towns are a part of that. I would dearly love to see some sunflower fields. This is the one leg of our trip that has me stumped! Help!

OK - based on a few responses, let me clarify. We are renting the car from the airport location, so returning it in the no drive zones will not be a problem. We will have the car for the entire day (as early as 9:00 am) and can return it late that evening. So we will have an entire day in Tuscany, with Siena being our final stop before returning to Florence. With that in mind, I would like some advice/opinions on my original post.

Posted by
10344 posts

It sounds like you are renting a car for a partial day, your last day, on your trip. With less than a day, you definitely don't have to worry about "visiting every one of the hill towns mentioned in Rick Steves' book"--that would take a week.
Pick your one or two favorites.

Posted by
16243 posts

This is what I would do:
- Utilize www.kemwel.com or www.autoeurope.com (two consolidators part of the same company) to find the best rental deal available (check prices with both). They work with Avis-Budget, Europcar and Hertz primarily and generally offer better deals than going directly with the rental companies.
- The best prices are generally with Europcar or Hertz. I wouldn't select the airport as pick up location, because that carries extra fees and the airport is farthest from the city center and also from where you want to go. I would pick up from the following locations:
If using Europcar: either pick up at Via del Gelsomino or Via Borgo Ognissanti (city center)
If using Hertz: either pick up at Via del Sansovino or Via Borgo Ognissanti (city center)
If using Avis: pick up at Via Borgo Ognissanti.
Then you should select to return at the airport because the airport location is open until midnight. By picking up in the city and returning at the airport you avoid the airport fees (which apply only if you pick up at the airport).
Regarding the pick up locations above, there is no danger of incurring into fine to exit from the ZTL (via Borgo Ognissanti). The danger is only on entry. So you can pick up from there if you wish.

My suggestion for an Itinerary for a day (leave as early as possible):

  1. Take freeway to Siena but along the way stop at San Gimignano for a couple of hours (exit freeway at Poggibonsi Nord)
  2. From San Gimignano go to Siena. Visit Siena (Museo Palazzo Pubblico, Piazza del Campo, Duomo).
  3. After a few hours return toward Florence on the freeway, but exit at Monteriggioni. Visit Monteriggioni for a half hour.
  4. Get in the car and from Monteriggioni drive to Castellina in Chianti.
  5. At Castellina in Chianti join the SR 222 (via Chiantigiana) and drive on it all the way north toward Florence (stop at some wineries along the way). Maybe dinner in Greve.
  6. The via Chiantigiana basically ends at the A1 freeway entrance FIRENZE SUD.
  7. Enter A1 at FIRENZE SUD, pick up toll ticket from machine and follow directions to Bologna.
  8. Drive north for a couple of exits (Firenze Impruneta and Firenze Scandicci), and exit at FIRENZE NORD, follow directions to FIRENZE. The airport is at the end of the freeway as you enter the city. Return your car.

My trip is rushed enough, if you want to include Volterra then you are really not stopping to see anything.

My itinerary does the SR 222 in the afternoon (returning to Florence). That is because the via Chiantigiana is good only for looking at the landscape and drink wine at wineries. You can't drink in the morning unless you are an habitual drunk and most wineries aren't open in the mornings, so it's best to do it coming back.

Posted by
8371 posts

My suggestion is to take a day trip via bus to Siena out of Florence. Siena is a very congested city, and parking is very difficult to find.

When you rent the car, go south to Poggibonsi on Hwy 222 and 4 miles NW to Certaldo. It's a short drive thru the hills to San Gimignano from Certaldo. The drive down to Volterra is easy from San Gimignano.

Posted by
16895 posts

I don't know how long your trip is, but I find Siena to be easily worth a whole day, as well as easily accessible by train and bus. If your driving plan sticks to smaller towns that are less served by public transport, I think you'll be making better use of your car and be better satisfied that you covered more of what there was to see in a small town.

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