Florence-Pisa-Seina driving, all in one day??

SS - first i saw your Rome schedule and now this... SLOW DOWN and enjoy Italy. Siena is worth far more than a drive-through... Forget the bus as you'll never cover all that ground in one day... and why would you want to? Italy's not going anywhere... Here they say "piano, piano;" which means slowly, slowly - you have to savor this country...

I'll get off my soapbox now and say yes, you could do this as the distances are not far... but I'd strongly say don't do it! If you really want to enjoy the countryside you won't get it rushing from spot to spot. But yes, you could do Pisa in 1-2 hours, with an hour trip from Florence...and then head to Siena which is not far... but again, what type of experience are you looking for???

Ciao,
Ron

In both Florence and Pisa, there are the dreaded Zona Traffico Limitato areas. These are restricted areas with cameras that snap pictures of your rear license plate as you enter. There are several large ZTLs in Florence and some in Pisa. $150-$200 tickets will arrive about a year later in your mailbox. Your rental car company will rat you out. It is far easier to take the train from Florence to Pisa. It's only a 70 minute ride each way. If you leave early in the AM, you can be back by 1:00pm. Then, without leaving the Florence train station, jump on a train to Siena. Again, about an hour ride. You can return on a late train.

Only the Peretola airport remains open until 11:00pm. Most other Florence rental car locations close at 7:00pm. I would never leave a rental car at a closed rental office with a key box. You can never prove what shape the car was in when you left it there.

Went to the main bus station (by the train station) and went to siena and san gio. Great day trip. Then I rented a car from florence and drove to Pienza, Montulcino, and Montulpulciano.

This sounds like my idea of hell on earth. These cities are NOT places you want to have a car.

Slow down. Take the train. Enjoy your time there, instead of cursing the car.

Just keep in mind that this itinerary optimistically involves 1-1/2 hours of drive time Florence to Pisa, and maybe 2 hours drive time Pisa to Siena, assuming major highways both segments (also means you will not be on the most scenic roads south of Florence). Add more time to navigate your rental car out of Florence, and hope you don't wander into the restricted traffic zone. Figure in the cost of tolls. At certain times of day, it is difficult to find parking in Pisa near the duomo/tower area; and again, hope you don't wander into the nearby restricted zone. Finally, parking in Siena can be almost impossible to find. Makes for a tough day, even with GPS.

I was just in Pisa on Sunday. Truthfully it's not really worth it. All there is to see is the leaning tower and the duomo. The leaning tower costs 15 euros to go up it (I thought it was a rip off since it costs 12 euros to go up the Eiffel Tower).

I enjoyed Lucca more.

Do not, under any circumstances, try to drive your rental car across the river from the airport rental location into the main of Pisa where the attractions are. THE MAIN STREET, via Roma, is OFF LIMITS. Almost immediately as you cross the river, still some distance from the plaza, it becomes a "restricted traffic zone". My wife and I, a year after our visit, just received a $160 fine for simply driving on that road (at 3 via Roma, to be precise). There are many other such "fine" roads in Pisa, as well. We wait in anticipation -- will they try to fine us for every street? It could top my airfare if they do. In short, unless you are a Pisa expert, or astonishingly lucky, you will be tagged by their photographic ticket system, and the price is robbery. HERTZ PISA could have told us that. Now that I know the game, it is absurdly obvious that the new tourist stands no chance in this town with a car. But HERTZ SAID NOTHING. Therefore, far as I can tell, a rental car in Pisa has one use only -- you use it to leave.

I'm with Ron on this one. Yes it's "doable" but why would you want to do it? You'll spend twice as much time in transit than you'd do in actual visiting the places. It would be much more enjoyable to do it in two separate trips. As such, train rides from Florence and back might be much easier than taking the car.

However, if you are really short on time you can certainly do it and a car could help shortening the travel times. There are safe and accessible parking lots in both cities. Parcheggio Pietrasantina in Pisa is huge enough for cars and tour busses and free. Well outside the dreaded restricted traffic zone but that also means about 15 minutes walk to the Leaning Tower. In Siena we parked at the Stadium Parcheggio which is very well signed (just follow the soccer ball). Fee this summer was a bit over 1 Euro/hour and you walk about 10 minutes to the Campo. Both parking lots were also marked in our GPS, though especially in Siena we relied more on the signs (our maps are 2 years old and that shows).