Please sign in to post.

Italy April 2023

Posted by on

My husband and I are planning a 2 week trip with the following itinerary:
Arrive in Rome 3 nights
Montalcino Area agritourismo 3 nights
Florence 3 nights
Parma 2 nights
Venice 3 nights
Milan 1 night

I have a couple questions:
1. We plan to rent a car from Rome to Florence. I'm currently planning to take the train to Ovieto to rent a car and tour before driving to our agritourismo. Then, I was thinking we'd drop the car off in Siena and take the train into Florence. I understand the rental car location and train will be outside the main city of Siena, but don't know how complicated this all would be. Might it be better to just drive to Florence? I'm trying to keep things relatively simple for my husband to avoid traffic.
2. We are flying out of MXP at 11:30am. I was planning to stay near the Duomo to tour our final day before heading out in the morning. I'm interested in any other alternate recommendations experienced travelers might have. I'm not sure if we'll take a cab or the train to the airport, but I'm open to recommendations.
3. We're planning a Parma food tour and planned a stay in Parma, but considering staying in Bologna instead knowing we can get picked up there as well. Any recommendations?

Thank you for any insights you may have.

Posted by
11642 posts

Drop car off in Florence not Siena. Most car rentals in Florence are on Borgo Ognosanti which is not far from the Autostrada.
I would stay overnight up at MXP your last night as your flight is rather early in the morning. We always stay at MXP the last night at Villa Malpensa.

Posted by
7261 posts

You'll definitely have more options and possibly better rates if you pick up car in Rome, drop in Florence.
Orvieto only has Hertz (AutoEurope no longer uses that location due to poor service)
Chiusi has more options

The rental agencies in Siena are not within walking distance to train station.

There are several threads here about picking up in Rome, dropping in Florence with very specific directions from Roberto
A search should bring them up.

We had 2 nights in Milan at the end of our trip in early October.
We stayed at Hotel Duca di York. Easy 5 min walk to Duomo and a lovely hotel. Took a cab from Milano Centrale.
We had an 11:15ish flight and took a cab from hotel to the Cadorna station- a quick ride then the MXP Express to the airport. I think we were on a 7 am train and had more than enough time at the airport.
I was advised to avoid taxi to airport due to cost, time and traffic problems. Traffic problems was enough to convince me the Malpensa Express was the way to go.

Posted by
3293 posts

From Rome’s Termini station take a train to the Chiusi-Chianciano Terme station which is the stop after Orvieto and rent your car there. I agree with returning your car in Florence if you’re not spending time in Siena. However, if you are spending the day in Siena then return the car in Siena and take a taxi to the old town. When you’re ready to go to Florence, take a direct bus from Siena’s old town to Florence (1h 15m). Siena’s train station is located outside of Siena's old town and you’ll need to take a bus or a taxi to get there. Instead, take a bus from Siena’s old town to Florence that is faster than taking the train.

I don’t agree that you need to sleep near the airport when flying home. An 11:30a flight is not that early and you can take a direct train from Milano’s Centrale station to Malpensa terminal one where US flights depart from taking 1h.

Posted by
249 posts

We're also planning 2 nights in Bogna and looking for a food tour. Would you mind sending me the details of the one you've signed up for please?

PQ

This topic has been automatically closed due to a period of inactivity.