High Speed train from Naples to Montepulciano

Hi, look up Montepulciano on Google Images to see this small town - no high-speed train.

Napole Centrale to Roma Termini; change trains to go to Chiusi.
Chiusi bus to Montepulciano.

A high speed train will only get you as far as Rome, then you have to change to Regionale to Chiusi then change to a Regionale to Montepulciano. Fastest connections get you there in 3 1/2 hours.

Thank you both so much for your replies.
One more question if you don't mind...we were going to rent a car in Montepulciano, so maybe it's worth getting it in Sorrento and just driving??? What do you think? :)

As to driving from Sorrento, it is a long drive and the train is so much faster! You could take a high=speed train to Firenze and then rent a car to go to Montepulciano.

You could take the Circumvesuviana train at 8:52, arrive at Napoli P. Garibaldi at 9:57. Then take the intercity at Napoli C.le at 10:31 at arrive at Chiusi at 14:08 (no train changes). Then from Chiusi you'd take the bus (or rent a car) to Montepulciano. There are slightly faster options (half hour faster) but you would need to change trains in Rome. I think the best you can do is a 6 hour trip door to door.

In your shoes, if it were my trip, since you will need a car in Montepulciano, I would rent one in Sorrento and drive from the start. A little over 4 hours (plus maybe a pit stop) and you are at your final destination and you don't even have to deal with the CircumVesuviana train.. The drive is almost all freeway, except for the last few km before reaching Montepulciano.

No car rental in Montepulciano. Only in Chiusi.

Autostrada tolls will cost about €26, according to www.viamichelin.com, but that's less than the typical cost of one train ticket. Avoiding the Circumvesuviana would also be valuable to most travelers. Picking up in Sorrento probably does not much change the cost of your car rental: it may or may not add a day to your rental period, depending on what time of day you plan to drop it off.

Michelle,

For travel on that route, here are a few possibilities for each leg of the journey.....

• Sorrento to Naples - if money is no object and you'd rather not deal with the "annoyances" on the Circumvesuviana, use a private driver. There are suggestions for reliable services in the guidebook. If the Circumvesuviana isn't an issue, use that.
• Naples to Montepulciano - there are trains to Montepulciano, but they're not frequent. If you're planning to rent a car for exploring that part of Tuscany, Chiusi is probably your best bet. In that case, use the FrecciaRossa from Napoli Centrale to Roma Termini (~1H:10M), and then transfer to an InterCity or whatever for the trip to Chiusi-Chianciano Terme (~1H:40M). I believe car rentals are available there, and it's only a short drive from there to Montepulciano (and you should be able to avoid tolls on that route, but hopefully one of the others can confirm that).

For the Napoli to Chiusi train, I'd probably consider the 09:00 departure, arriving Chiusi at 12:08. That should get you to Montepulciano just after lunch. I've found that's a good time to arrive in a new town, as the hotel rooms will have been serviced by that time, and checking-in straight away is usually possible. There also appears to be a direct InterCity departure from Napoli Centrale at 10:31, arriving Chiusi at 14:08 that's not much longer (3H:37M), which is still a good departure time to consider. Note that the two rail departures I mentioned require compulsory reservations which are specific to train, date and departure time, so you can ONLY use the one train specified on your ticket. The reservations are provided with the ticket, so the process is very easy.

Using high speed and other trains where possible will be quicker and a more efficient use of travel time, as no cars can travel at 300 kmH, which is the speed of the FrecciaRossa when it gets going. The InterCity will be somewhat slower, but still fast enough.

Note that for driving in Italy, each driver will require the compulsory International Driver's Permit, which is used in conjunction with your home D.L. so you'll have to make sure you have that as well. You'll also have to be vigilant to avoid the ZTL (limited traffic) areas which exist in many Italian towns and cities (especially Florence!) - hefty fines for violations! On the motorways, there's also the Traffic Tutor system which is used for enforcing speed limits (again, hefty fines!).

Also for driving in Italy, a GPS along with a good map would be prudent. I prefer to travel with my own GPS as those offered by the rental agencies are usually expensive and the data bases may not be up-to-date. Be sure to budget for insurance on the rental, as a portion of the insurance is compulsory in Italy.

Buon Viaggio!