Car Rental for Tuscany?

Actually driving in Italy is wonderful. The thing you need to be mindful of are the laws. You should read the laws and familiarize yourself with the different signage and such. You cannot drive into any of the towns you come across but all will have parking outside their walls which you can use. As long as you don't speed and don't enter restricted zones you should be fine.

Be sure to read the terms and conditions of the rental contract before booking the rental. The T&C's will spell out all the fees that may come your way if you return the car late, get a traffic fine or don't fill the gas tank. It will also tell you the types of payment taken and the holds that will be put on your card if you don't buy their insurances. It's all pretty standard.

You'll need an IDP but you can get those at the AAA.

Donna

I would be quite shocked if there was a direct bus service from Siena to/from any town in the Cinque Terre.
Train is the way for that, I think what you may be referencing is reaching Siena itself is easier by bus due to the bus location in Siena compared with the train station location.
The train station in Siena is a ways from the center of town.

You could compare the differences in time and amount of walking required between train from Siena vs. taking a bus from Siena to somewhere like Florence and then the train from Florence to CT?

Driving around the smaller towns of Tuscany south of Siena is easy, not stressful and a car will be very handy.
Not sure about renting a car from Siena, I am sure options at the train station not sure if there would be options from the Siena bus station.
When we visited Siena we rented a car in Florence and made the drive from Florence to Siena which was easy.

We were in Siena last spring and have to say driving was not stressful in the countryside. Keep to the posted speed limits and make sure you have the international permit(not license, obtained at AAA). We drove to Pienza and Montalpiciano, Arrezo and Anghiari.
WE did have one interesting experience, it underscores the importance of getting the international permit to go with your regular license. On our way back to Siena we made a second trip through a traffic circle after getting momentarily lost. There happened to be a pair of policeman, well one was a woman one was man. He waved us over which we complied with and handed him our paperwork. Then he checked it out and sent us on our way. It was the one time in 5 days of driving there that my husband was a bit nervous. But all turned out well. Just go and follow the traffic laws and speeds and have the international permit. We rented the car in Siena through either Kimwel or Autoeurope consolidators. We also did the zero deductible insurance. We are currenly planning our next trip in October November and plan to drive again nearer to Orvieto, Todi, Spoleto coming down from Florence through the Val'Dorcia.

You can do this. Its worth it and totally doable.

Re train station location. We decided to walk from the Siena train station into Siena one time. Its a walk but its not super long. Its up an endless escalator(maybe a dozen sectionsof stairs) going up through a shopping center and up to the street level near one of Siena's gates. I think it took us about 30-40 minutes to walk to our hotel, maybe a few more than that. Our hotel was right next to the cathedral's back end.

There's a Flixbus from La Spezia to Siena that takes 3:40 minutes.
Then rent a car after your stay in Siena. To visit the villages and hill towns, a car is your best option, but read this if you've never driven in Italy.

https://www.italybeyondtheobvious.com/dont-mess-with-ztl-zones

You will need an IDP (international driving permit) in conjunction with your home license.

It would be very difficult to tour the small towns in Tuscay without a car. Why do you think it would be stressful? In fact, Italians are very good drivers. We drove to the CT and parked our car for the entire stay. Less hassle and no schlepping of luggage on and off trains.
We always rent cars in Europe except for city stays and book through AutoEurope, a rental car broker located in Portland, ME.

As others have said, driving is not a problem if you watch for ZTLs and obey traffic laws including speed limits. Having a car in a city lie Florence or Rome is not advised at all.

Specifically regarding Siena to the Cinque Terre: your best bet is to drive to La Spezia, turn the car in there, then take the train. The train trip between Siena and Vernazza, for example, involves 4 trains. By driving to La Spezia, you ut out 3 trains. But the Cinque Terre is another place you do not want to have a car.

Thanks, everyone! I remember my parents driving through Tuscany in a rental car when I was 13, so when I suggested it and my husband and father in law said that driving in Italy was stressful I was surprised. Now I have the ability to say, "told ya so!" but I won't :-)

Yeah huge difference in driving in an Italian city vs. the majority of the country.
The cities can be very stressful indeed, avoid them and you will be good.

In most cases the level of stress or comfort of driving in Italy will depend on what you are used to.
Someone who regularly drives in Manhattan will not find driving in Italian large cities stressful.
Someone who lives in the California Sierra mountains will not find the winding roads of the Dolomites scary.

Definitely some truth to that Roberto ; the main difference in the cities in Italy as I am quite comfortable in city driving in Manhattan and Boston is all of the scooters/mopeds.

They will pass on all sides and can make things very hectic, in a major city area like Rome or Naples these aggressive scooters/mopeds seem to outnumber cars a great deal.
In the US there really is no similar experience.

Now get away from the city like in most of Tuscany and you will rarely see a scooter / moped sharing your road.