Car Rental from Florence to Tuscany

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There are car rentals near the train station
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Welcome to the forum dkkvam,

There is a car rental in Florence proper as well as the airport. Some people avoid the more central location because the route out of town to avoid potential ZTL violations is pretty specific. This topic has been well discussed on the forum so I'd recommend searching the recent archive to see the previous debates.

Usual car rental caveats:
- Every driver needs an IDP before leaving the states
- Read up on ZTLs in general and then before each small town you visit
- Add at least 25% to Google drive time estimates for rural driving

Also many people will point out that Florence is the capital of Tuscany - but is not the rural Tuscany of film and photos.

Have a great trip,
=Tod

Since Tuscany is an area and Florence is in Tuscany, exactly where do you intend to drive in Tuscany?

Both airport and city center have rental offices. Generally the airport location will entail a higher rental price because of airport fees.

Check www.autoeurope.com for options.

Select FLORENCE ALL LOCATIONS as pick up point. Returning the car at a different location may result in drop off fees often increasing with the distance from the original point.

Thanks for your suggestions. We are flying into Florence and spending a few days and then planning to rent a car and explore Tuscany for a few days before catching a train to Venice. It seems it might be easiest to take the tram to the airport, rent our car and return our car to the airport, and then take the tram back to the train station in Florence to catch a train to Venice.

Since our Agriturismo is located near Sienna, would it be better to return the car there and take transportation back to Florence to catch a train to Venice?

It's up to you. You could also rent a car in Siena and return it there.

The rental agencies are near the Siena train station (but not really walking distance from it, so you'll need a taxi or bus), so if you decide to rent the car in Siena, you should take the train rather than the bus.

The regional train to/from Siena takes about 90 min.

Check the options on AutoEurope.com and see what works best also in terms of pricing.

The Siena agencies close on Saturday afternoon and all day Sunday, so make sure your pick up and/or return day in Siena is on weekdays.

The agencies in Florence tend to be open on Sunday too, although not necessarily all day. The airport location is open every day.

If you pick up the car at the central train station you’ll need to carefully follow a specific route out of town to avoid the ZTLs (traffic limitation zones). Driving in one without the proper permits (which aren’t available for rental cars) will result in a heavy fine at the minimum. The good news is there’s a post on this board from a local resident that has a Google Map link for the route, as o just search for it. Good luck!

If you will be driving with a US driver license -all drivers will also need an IDP-International Driving Permit
Get at your local AAA before you leave states-about $20