Was wondering if it is easier to rent a car from the Pisa airport then another one? Also, is it easier to drive from the Pisa airport into the Tuscany area/Cortona, then from other airports in the area such as Florence? Meaning less traffic and no highways.
Posted by
Boston
1698 posts
Pisa would not be a good choice for avoiding traffic or for a short trip to Cortona. Car rental is fairly straightforward at all major Italian airports. However, you can't drive to Cortona from any airport without using the autostrada system which tends to be used by other cars - sometimes lots of them. The closest airport would be Florence and it's in a metropolitan area with a good deal of congestion, and I think its car rental system is still under construction and the temporary facility requires an extra transfer. Rome's airport is suburban and there's a ring road toward Cortona which should be only moderately congested. The least traffic would be to take the train to, say, Chiusi and rent your car there.
Posted by
Rural Georgia
2111 posts
How and when will you be flying? I did a quick check of Delta for April and there were more and cheaper flights to Florence than Pisa.
Pisa is 78km west of Florence. If your destination is Cortona, which is southeast of both, you will drive through Tuscany from either. You can take back roads or main highways, whichever you prefer.
How much time do you want to take? Why is Cortona your destination? I think there are better towns closer to the heart of Tuscany that would be more interesting as a destination.
There is a wonderful drive you could take from Pisa to Cortona. From Pisa, drive south to Volterra. From Volterra, drive over to San Gimignano. From there, drive to Siena. From Siena, drive south to Montalcino. From there drive to Montepulciano. From there, drive to Cortona. You could do the drive in one long punishing day or take a month and still not see everything.
If you started in Florence, you could drive south through Greve, on to Radda, then to Castellina, then either go west and catch the above itinerary at San Gimignano, continue south to Siena, or bypass both, heading south at Radda to SS73 which will head east to Cortona.
BTW, it worked out a lot cheaper and better for us to fly into Rome. We drove up the Autostrada, which was super easy, to the south end of Tuscany and took scenic roads into our home base of Greve.