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Driving time - Greve in Chianti to La Spezia

Posted by (Perth, WA, Australia) on

Hi All

I saw a thread that hinted at google maps having unrealistic driving times so I thought I'd ask about my situation...

We have a rental car and will be staying just outside of Greve in Chianti. I need to return the rental car in La Spezia before it closes at 1pm on a Saturday in September. Google maps says that the drive takes just over 2 hours. Via Michelin says it's about 4 hours. The difference is quite considerable and I'm worried if we only give ourselves, say, 3 hours to consider wrong turns, etc, we may still miss the car drop off, but if 4 hours is way off, I'd rather be able to enjoy breakfast at the B&B before we rush off to make it in time.

For anyone who has done that drive or close to it, does the 2 hours or 4 hours seem more realistic?

Thanks!

Posted by
500 posts

I would say
25 minutes Greve to Firenze sud or Impruneta (better) highway exit
10 minutes to Firenze Nord interchange
1 hour 10 minutes to Viareggio
30 minutes to La Spezia
15 minutes for finding your way in La Spezia

It adds up to 2 hours 30 minutes. I would add some extra time as on Saturday morning there is much weekend traffic between Florence and Viareggio.

Posted by
75 posts

Thanks for your quick reply! So 3 hours should just about do it with hopefully some time to spare. I noticed just now that even though it was showing tolls, the 'avoid tolls' box was ticked so Via Michelin was taking me on all kinds of side roads ...

Posted by
15198 posts

asps2 gave you a good estimate.
From the Firenze Sud entrance (my home entrance) I could be in La Spezia in 1h45 min on a good day. Greve is only an extra 30-40 minutes. If you go via Il Ferrone and enter the freeway at Firenze Impruneta, it's even faster.
However if it's a hot beach weather day, on a Saturday, it will be bumper to bumper all the way from Florence to Viareggio, and that can add over one hour to your trip. I remember spending 2.5-3 hours on the freeway returning to Florence from Massa Marittima on a summer Sunday evening.

Posted by
113 posts

Check with the car rental agency and see if you can drop the car with the station being closed. I have done this before in Italy and France and you just park the car in their parking area and put the keys in a drop box. I may save you a lot of stress driving to the location if things go sideways.

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