Drive from Montepulciano to Arezzo to take train to Florence?

Hi KRS, I did a trip where I stayed in Arezzo & Montepulciano with a day trip by bus over to Pienza. When I went to Montepulciano from Arezzo, I took the train to Chiusi and then a bus to Montepulciano. So, there are ways to get around if you’re feeling uncomfortable about driving in any of those locations.

To go up into Montepulciano, there was a small orange shuttle bus that was very inexpensive- approximately 1.50 Euro. It starts from the bus station at the bottom and goes all of the way up to the Piazza Duomo.

If you have time, Arezzo has a nice piazza up at the top of the hill and some interesting architecture in that vicinity. I’ll go ahead and add my trip report here, in case that’s helpful for you. And the second one has Perugia & Spello in it. I especially recommend the special laboratory museum in Perugia with the sweet elder woman! The train from Arezzo to Florence is easy, too.

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/trip-reports/solo-trip-to-italy-2018

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/trip-reports/trip-report-please-do-not-comment-until-i-change-the-title-filling-in-the-report-thanks

I love Orvieto, but it's really not a good base if you're going to make multiple trips up to the Perugia/Assisi/Spello area. Perugia's a 2-hour trip each way by train, Assisi will take 2 hr. 20 min. and Spello will be 2 hr. 30 min. Those three are quite close together, with travel times between them of about half an hour.

Jean, thank you for the input. I enjoyed reading your travel trips. I wish I was organized enough to do a post travel summary, but it quickly all becomes a blur of wonderful memories for me, and I clearly don't have your gift for writing.

One thing I've realized is that planning a trip for just myself is much easier than when I'm including someone else. If something goes astray and plans need to change or get more complicated, I can roll with it (for the most part), but I really want her to enjoy this trip, so I'm hoping to be extra organized while she's with me so she can focus on the positives of travel.

acraven, I'll probably do a one day trip to all three (may drop Spello depending on time). I like walking and looking at the buildings and views and so on, and I might try to see inside some churches, but I'll skip any museums or time intense sites. I do see your point though. I'm also kind of interested in seeing Civita di Bagnoregio, and maybe Cortona or Chiusi, so I think I'll have plenty to keep me busy and my first night in Orvieto will be after a long day of travel, so I probably won't do much of anything.

I think I'd like to visit Pienza and maybe Siena and I'm open to
suggestions.

Parking and driving into Siena can be a bit dicey. Siena is best seen by bus from Florence.

Other towns to visit while in Montepulciano:
Pienza, San Quirico, Monticchiello, Bagno Vignoni
All have easy parking just outside the walls- very easy to locate as these town are quite small. You can easily combine all of the towns in one long day if you wanted- follow the RS Heart of Tuscany drive.(Or do Pienza/Monticchiello one day, then SQ and Bagno on another)

My niece would like to see Florence. I don't want to drive into the
city, so was thinking it might make sense to drive to Arezzo one
morning, then take the train from there. Is there a better way to do
it?

Do you mean just visit Florence for the day?
Arezzo is 1 hour drive from Montepulciano. Then train to Florence is 1.5 hours. That's pretty far for a day trip!
Then on return you would probably be driving from Arezzo to Montepulciano in the dark.

Chiusi only has Avis- check AutoEurope to see your options. Also note the open /closed hours- closed Sunday, closed 12ish on Sat, closed midday during the week- so it limits your pick up/drop off days/times.

Orvieto has Hertz (not offered on AutoEurope)

Both Orvieto and Chiusi may have limited selection of cars- are you OK with an automatic if that is all they have?

Where will you go after your stay in Montepulciano.

Once you have a more finished itinerary we might be able to offer more car pick up/drop off options.

Christine, Siena wasn't a deal breaker, so I'll have to look into the other places you mentioned.

I was thinking of doing a day trip into Florence, but I hadn't considered the time involved in getting there, so I'll have to rethink that. We have to return the car in Chiusi at 10am before heading back to Rome. We're staying at the hotel by the airport overnight, but could always store our luggage at the train station in town so we can at least see a few of the sites in Rome.

According to my reservation with AutoEurope, I'm picking up and dropping off a car from Budget in Chiusi from Saturday morning until Wednesday morning.

So my plan so far is to arrive in Rome Tuesday March 5 around 4p, then take a train to Orvieto. My niece will join me on the 8th some time in the morning (not sure the exact time). It looks like getting to Orvieto will be easier for her than going to Perugia anyway, so that's helpful. On Saturday the 9th we'll pick up a car in the morning in Chiusi, then drive to Montepulciano (she's a fan of the Twilight movie that was filmed there). On Wednesday the 13th, we'll return the car in the morning in Chiusi, then head to Rome to spend the day before heading to the airport to catch some sleep before heading out early in the morning on the 14th.

Thank you!

Sounds good

I believe Budget and Avis are same agency