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Car rental on Elba Island + Tuscany mainland?

Posted by on

Hello,
We will be traveling to Elba in early June 2020. We plan to take the ferry over from Piombino and would like to have a car while on the island. In addition, after our stay on Elba, we will be spending a day or two driving through Tuscany en route to Florence.

Which scenario is the best plan?
Option 1: Rent a car on the mainland, take it on the ferry to/from Elba and keep it until we drop off in Florence.
Option 2: Wait and rent the car when we get to Elba (Portoferraio), then take it on the ferry back to mainland and drop off in Florence (do they let the Elba rental cars leave the island?).
Option 3: Do two separate rentals - one on Elba, then a separate one when we get to the mainland for our drive up to Florence.

Thanks in advance for your help!

Posted by
17 posts

Hi Amy,
I'd hire a car once and then keep it. If you're arriving and leaving in the same spot (airport / train station) rent it there and keep it. And if you're going to take it onto Elba, hire a Fiat Panda or something small - the roads are narrow.. : )

Posted by
15144 posts

Option 1. And I would rent it in Rome (if you go to Piombino from Rome).

Elba has only some local rental outfits, so you’d need to return it locally, therefore option 2 is not available.

Regarding option 3. Ferrying a car costs more than just a passenger ticket, but arranging two separate rentals may be too inconvenient (how would you get to Piombino without a car?) and ultimately even more expensive because those local rentals aren’t that cheap during high season. Also only Avis-Budget is available in Piombino.

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