Car in Orvieto

Good plan, but I have a question. Are you thinking of doing this as a day trip from Rome or do you plan to spend a few days? If it's only a day trip, just visit Orvieto. There is plenty to do for the day and you won't have the hassle and expense of a car.

I think you're trying to do too much. Rome needs more than just "a few days." If for some reason you do want to get out of there, then just train to Orvieto for the day. It's beautiful and you could spend a wonderful day wandering around. Photos of Orvieto that I took are here, if you want to see what I mean: Orvieto in 2011

Sorry I was not clear. After time in Rome we will have a week for Tuscany and Umbria, then go back to Rome to fly home.

Then yes, train to Orvieto and get your car there. I would choose maybe two locations to base from and do day trips from there.

I was advised by a co-worker who had a terrible rental car pickup experience in a small Italian town. She thought it would be best to rent the car in a larger town. Anyone have any experience with the rental agencies in Orvieto?

In answer to Tim, we have picked up a car in Orvieto on two occasions. Hertz/Euro Car is across from the train station and steps from the funicular up to town. It's most convenient and the agents are experienced.

It's Rick's standard recommendation to rent a car in Orvieto rather than Rome. Tons of people do it. And it really couldn't be more conveniently located. Spend 2 nights in Orvieto and then pick up your rental car as you leave.

Here's a link to some photos and a couple of videoclips I took in Orvieto in 2011, in case you're interested: Orvieto May 2011

We used hertz in March with no problems.

In this May we spent four days in Rome and picked up our rental car at the north end of town. Took the bus to the rental car pick up location. It was an easy drive to Umbria. we did not take a toll road, but used a secondary road to avoid tolls.

This worked for us, but we have a gps and are comfortable driving in Italy.

We dropped our Hertz rental car in Orvieto before getting on the 70 minute train ride into Rome. It took about 1 1/2 hours to get there from Siena--an easy ride on the motorway (controlled access.)

And the Hertz office is about 100 yards across the street from the front door of the train station.

Trains don't go to all the cities in Tuscany/Umbria, and bus schedules are not always the most efficient way to travel. You can cover 3 times the territory than riding on public transit, and do it at your pace. You can also hit popular places, like San Gimignano, later in the day after all the tour buses have left and things are calm and quiet.

Tuscan roads are hilly and crooked, however they're well paved and well marked. We never even had a road map or GPS, and got anywhere we needed to go. You can also stay at agriturismos or bed and breakfasts at very fair prices if you have a car.

We picked up a car from a small Hertz office in La Spezia, drove to Montalcino to spend 3 nights, then dropped in Orvieto. No problems with pickup or dropoff. We opted for Super CDW, so when hubby rolled forward into a brick wall while attempting to get in gear to back up, the Hertz people notice the "new" scratch, but there was no issue. We were in/out of both offices very quickly. Make sure that all dents and scratch are noted on your paperwork.

Just make sure you double check the hours of the car rental in Orvieto, last year there were very limited (if any) hours on Sunday and that was something important for us to know re: what time the car had to be returned vs when the train went from Orvieto to Rome (after returning the car) Have fun!