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Driving a car from Milan to Seaside Villages of Camogli, Portiofino Manarola and on to Florence

I was wondering if you could give any imput to this plan. In October we are planning on renting a car from Milan (Hertz at LIN Airport). Is this the best location to pick up a Hertz car inside or outside of Milan in the area? Our starting location will be around the Teatro Alla Scala Milan or the central region. We have heard we need to be aware of ZTL zones, so we are wanting the simplest plan to avoid all that if possible.

From Milan, we plan to drive to see the seaside villages of Camogli, Portiofino and Manarola staying 2 nights and then on to Florence. Is this a plan you would recommend? Is there a particular suggested route we should take from Milan to the seaside and then on to Florence? Do you have any other major suggestions of things to see or experience along the way? I know Pisa is also partially on the route, we may see that but anything else? Once we get to Florence will we stay 1 night an then head on to Tuscany. We have heard we should not drive in Florence, so our plan is to park the rental car at the Florence Airport, Peretola take the express in and out. Is this the best idea? We would pick it up again the next day to drive on 222 thru Tuscany. We plan to drop the car off in Orveito and take the train into Rome having visited little towns along the way.

Posted by
20238 posts

I would suggest you use the train for this trip, then rent a car when you are leaving Florence. The area on the coast you want to go is very congested, no place to park or very expensive if you can find it. It is well served by trains.

Posted by
362 posts

FYI, we just rented a car from Avis in Florence this afternoon & it took 2 1/2 hrs to be served!!! Don't know if being a Saturday was a factor, we arrived just after 12 & they were serving #64 .. our ticket #90. There was a steady stream of people & by the time we left the ticket counter was issuing #124.

Posted by
7209 posts

Destinations that are well served by trains and miniscule parking (Cinque Terre) are best visited by train. Starting out in a crowded city (Milan) and driving to a crowded village with no parking (Cinque Terre) then driving to Florence (crowded city) and hoping to avoid ZTLs (which you could avoid by not having a rental car) - just really is not the best plan of seeing the country. As mentioned earlier - get your rental car when you're heading out into areas not well served by trains (Tuscany).

Posted by
1166 posts

Ditto Tim and Sam - save yourself frustration.