Flying into Milan and renting a car at the airport in early April.....need a suggestion as to where to stay for the first night approximately three hours drive south and then some suggestions as to where to spend several days so we can drive to and visit Florence, Sienna, San Gimignano.
Thanks, Eileen
Eileen, check out www.agriturismopetrogano.com there is an option to view the site in English. This place will have parking for your rental car and is a short 1.5 km walk to a train station that will take you directly to Florence (a 25 min train ride) aliviating you of driving into Florence (bad, bad, bad even for the most experienced of us). Then Sienna will be about 45 mins from there and again very hard to drive/park - but the train station is not close to the heart of town, so you will need to look into a public bus option to get you close to the activity. But very worth it as Siena has been one of my favorite places ever. Not too big (think Milan, Florence, Rome) and not too small (think Montepulciano, Asolo, Aquelia). Enough to do to take a whole morning/afternoon.
Geeze, I hope this helps. And I hope you have a most wonderful trip to the Mother Land! T
Want a $150 ticket? Do you know what a ZTL is? If you answered NO to both questions, do not drive to, or in, Florence. Florence abounds with restricted traffic zones. The historic areas are among them. The areas that you want to see are in a fairly concentrated area that is wonderful to walk. The train station is also close by. Again, do not drive in Florence unless you know what you are doing. You can use the search box to your upper right to find out more about ZTLs. For Tuscany, a rental car is great.
Eileen-the train trip from Milan to Florence is so simple; that would be my option. You would hop on a bus from Malpensa (there is a train, but it goes to a different train station and you'd have to Metro over to Centrale. I think we bought bus tickets inside the airport terminal and the bus is right outside the door) to Milano Centrale and train to Florence. Buses to Siena and San Gimignano are easy from Florence. If those are the only towns that you're visiting, it's quite simple to get to via public transportation. If you're doing more hill towns, I would suggest renting a car in Siena. Even driving from there is a little confusing (at least it was for us) until you're out of town and headed in the right direction! Others may have varying and better suggestions for you.
Oh, just read your post more carefully and you wanted a place to stay the first night and suggestions for several days. Another suggestion would be to take a train up to Lake Como and stay in Varenna for a few nights. That's sort of Rick's mantra, but a good one! It's a great way to get over jet lag (Cinque Terre works the same way). From Lake Como you would train back to Milan and over to Florence. From the Cinque Terre you could take the train straight to Florence.
Either Florence or Siena would make a good base for the places you want to visit. Florence is about a 3.5 hour drive from Malpensa, so you could drive directly there if that will be your base. A car is a hassle in Florence, and you should ask your hotel for VERY specific instructions on where to park to avoid entering any restricted zones. If Siena will be your base, 3 hours would easily get you to Bologna. I've not visited Bologna, but it's a large city and would have ample choices for an overnight stay on your way south. Another idea - friends recently stayed in Greve (south of Florence) and liked it. They had a car and used it for days trips similar to what you have planned.
Eileen,
If you don't know how jetlag affects you I wouldn't plan a long drive after your flight from the US.
Eileen,just got back from Florence dropping off a rental car,got a huge fine (XTL) a huge headache and nearly divorced,cars are great for backroads in Tuscany,Umbria etc. but avoid!!! cities,look into trains and buses
If you follow the advice to go to Lake Como take the bus from the Malpensa airport or take the train (transfering in Sorono(sp?)). You don't need a car at Lake Como--you will be using ferries and water taxis. So, you will pay for the car, pay for the gas, pay to park it at the outskirts of your town, and probably won't use it. Ditto for advice to go to CT-- towns are car-free.
I want to echo what others have advised: take the train from Milan to Florence instead of incuring huge fines by driving. You will have to park outside of the city center so once again you're paying for a car, parking, risking traffic fines, possible vandalism and you can't use it in Florence.
It's a 45 minute bus ride from Florence to Siena (by the way Siena city center is completely car-free.) I also found driving near Siena is confusing. Additionally, parking can be expensive and hard to find. After a stressful, time-consuming search, you may end up parking quite a distance from the city center. Take the bus.
Search for "traffic tickets" to read the sad, sad stories of people who drove when they shouldn't have.
Also, prepare yourself that no matter how much research and preparation you undertake you may still receive a ticket in the mail many months after you come home. That's part of the cost of driving in Italy.
If you do want to drive to Siena, there is at least one free car-park at the bottom of the hill and a bus-stop where you catch the bus to get to the old town.
But, it can really be difficult leaving Siena, the road curves in such a way that I missed the correct turn 3 times before I found 3 young men who hopped into their car and "led" me to the correct road.
That was an adventure .....
Does anyone have a car park just outside of Florence that they'd recommend, preferably near a metro or bus connection? We had not wanted to drive inside any of the big cities in Italy anyway, but based on all I've read on these boards I'm definitely avoiding Florence!
We loved staying in Sienna! We rented a car to drive to the hill towns. Someone said in a previous post that Sienna's old town is traffic free...well yes...but we ended driving through it with masses of people on the road! Pretty scary! I thought for sure we would take someone out! I'd say avoid the car except for the countryside.
