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Florence and Tuscany Logistics

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We are traveling to Florence and then to Selvatelle in November. We are flying into Milan because there were no direct flights. After 5 days in Florence, we will then need to rent a car to travel south to Selvatelle. When the trip is over, we will need to return the car and get back to the airport in Milan.

I am getting so confused trying to figure out the logistics of getting from place to place. Does anyone have advice on the best way to get to Florence from the Milan airport?

Advice on where to rent a car in Florence and where to return it and how to get back to the Milan airport for flights home. Our flights home are at 10:00 am.

Do we rent a car in Florence and then return it at the Milan airport? High speed traind?
Details: Nov 1st landing in Milan at 8:10 am. Florence- Nov 1st to Nov 6th. Selvatelle-November 6th to November 11th. Flight home at 10:00 am.

Any help would be much appreciated.

Posted by
7189 posts

Hello and welcome!

First- with a 10 am departure from MXP you must stay in Milan or at the airport the night before. Anything else is really risky. You’ll need to be at the airport by 7 am- airport is 1 hour from Milan.

You must use the Italian station names.

Trenitalia official train company
https://www.trenitalia.com/content/tcom/en.html

Also has easy to use app

Arrival
Malpensa Express to Milano Centrale - 57min
Fast train Milano Centrale to Firenze SM Novella- 2hr
(Don’t buy this ticket in advance- just in case of flight delay, etc
Plenty of trains all day)

Florence stay
Pick up car as you leave Florence- at train station
(There are many threads here addressing that)

Selvatelle stay

Day before departure
Drive back to Florence to drop car- at train station
Fast train Firenze SM Novella to Milano Centrale
Stay in Milan near train station or near airport

Do all drivers have an IDP- International Driving Permit? Get it at your AAA.
Make sure you do homework on driving in Italy.

We always book our cars thru AutoEurope.com. Consolidator, excellent service, best rates.
They have a toll free and are extremely knowledgeable/helpful.

VERY helpful thread- comments by Roberto
https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/italy/picking-up-a-car-in-florence-to-drive-thru-tuscany

Posted by
15794 posts

I had a car for 9 days in Tuscany and Umbria a couple years ago. I opted to rent a car at the Florence airport because there were more rental companies to choose from and I was hesitant to drive in/out of the city. I chose to return the car to the same location because it would have been close to 100 euro to return to any other location. (There wasn't a separate drop-off fee, I discovered the price difference by comparing prices using various drop-off locations.) It was easy to take the tram from the train station to the airport.

Choosing a car. You should never leave any belongings visible in the car when it's parked. So you want a car that has enough luggage space for everything if you will be traveling around with your luggage. Parking can be hard to find if you're visiting small towns, especially hill towns. Nearly every town's historic center is a ZTL so you have to park on the outskirts and walk in. The smaller the car, the easier it will be to park. Can you drive a stick shift? That is common in Europe. If you need an automatic, you may be better off renting at the airport, where the auto fleets are larger than in city locations. (Reserving an automatic does not 100% guarantee it will be waiting for you)

Have GPS! Road signage isn't perfect. Learn the rules of the road. You probably won't see cops but there are many many traffic cameras and too many people have had expensive surprises in the mail.

Lastly, the alcohol limit on drivers in Italy is lower than in the US.

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