Florence - Cinque Terre Car Parking

We easily parked our rental car for a few days, no problems at all. Option 2.

I agree, option 2. There should be parking by the train station, even an official train station parking lot where local folks are expected to leave their cars when they go on a trip. Check Google Maps. We were just in Tuscany and drove to Pisa and had no trouble parking on Via Bonanno Pisano just outside the ZTL near the tower and cathedral complex. (Look for the parking lot behind the Eni gas station.) Good luck!

La Spezia is a pretty car-friendly place. The CT, not so much.

Thank you very much for your responses

Do you have the car already for other reasons? I wouldn’t rent a car just to visit the Cinque Terre and Pisa. Use the train.

We are planning to hire the car from Rome and drive to Florence through Tuscany and keep the car for Lake Como. Just wanted to avoid the hassle of renting car back and forth

It sounds to me like you are renting a car which will simply be sitting around parked - potentially paid parking - for the majority of your trip when you only need it for a few specific sections. I think this is a big waste of money and energy versus a plan where you rent the car only for the portions that you need it.

Many people train from Rome to someplace close to Tuscany - Chuisi and Orvieto are popular choices - so they are close to Tuscany to start with and then return the car either in the same place or in Florence and then continue their trip. I would also suggest looking at taking the train from Rome to Florence (faster than Chuisi), renting the car there and making your way north to south in Tuscany and then take the freeway back and return then car in Florence dodging a drop off fee. Take the train for the rest of your connections and then rent a car in either Milan, Como or even Brescia (the last fast train stop before Milan) and the continue on to Lake Como.

This avoids paying for a car rental for what sounds like 10+ days that you are not using it, paying and worrying about parking, and having to drive through some pretty large cities and over long distances.

Some tips:
- Always avoid leaving your luggage - such as in Pisa - in your rental car.
- Make sure you get an IDP for everyone driving before you leave the states.
- Have a clear plan on what insurance you are paying for and what your coverage.
- Read up on ZTLs before you arrive and keep track of them for the towns you enter.
- Study up on parking signs and payment methods as well as street signs of Italy.

My $.02,
=Tod

We rented a car for our entire 2-week trip that included 4-days in CT. We found a hotel in Riomaggiore that had on-site parking. The hotel was great and we enjoyed CT.

However, if I had to do it again; I would not bring a car to CT. This would have given us more options on lodging and we paid for a few days of rental when the car never moved.

It was nice to just load up the car at the end of our stay without having to train to the car rental place. Our hotel was way up on the hill and I would not have wanted to carry our bags from the train station.

You won't need a car for Lake Como at all.

If you can, my suggestion is you rent the car only for the Tuscan portion after Rome, but then return the car as soon as you hit Florence.

Everything else other than Tuscany's countryside are better done by train (and maybe lake ferries to visit the lake towns).

All the suggestions of giving up the car in Florence makes total sense. But we plan to visit the Dolomites from Venice and then drive to Lake Como before returning the car in Milan. I thought perhaps having the car (although we might have to pay parking everyday) and not use in few cities (Florence, Venice, Cinque Terre) would be still more economical than booking train tickets for 4 and we will also have flexibility with time with 2 kids travelling by car.

[car]...would be still more economical than booking train tickets...

Note that Trenitalia offers family discounts, which can make train travel a real bargain in Italy.