Apologies in advance if this has been asked 100 times :-)
Staying in Varenna in Como for a few days. After Como we have a week booked in San Gimignano in Tuscany.
We want to rent a car during our stay in Tuscany. My question for you experts is where should I rent a car after Varenna?
Take the train to Lecco or Milan and get a car there and drive to San Gim. Take a train to Florence and another Taxi to the airport and get one there?
Thank you!
I would train it to Siena and get a car there.
Thanks JS - Are most of the rental places outside of the ZTL in Siena?
In terms of train, guessing Regionale train to Milan then fast train to Florance then another Regionale train to Siena. So two connections and three trains. Sounds rough but assuming its easy?
I believe Hertz is only agency in Siena and it is outside the ZTL- but if you need an automatic you will have better chance of getting one in a larger city.
We picked up at Hertz- Sansovino location outside ZTL in Florence.
You do not need to rent from an airport location and pay the additional airport fees
We always use www.autoeurope.com for our european rentals
Trains and driving both have their costs (both money and time).
Be sure to consider whether you want to visit the town of the pickup, and use Google Maps to determine how far it is from the rail station to the car rental (and whether vertical climbing is involved, as in Siena!) Siena is so large that there is a lot of walking (through a beautiful old city) to get anywhere.
I trust you have parking near the San G place. A car is extremely useful in Tuscany, but it can also be an annoyance. We stayed in a rural resort partly for that reason. On our San G day, we searched for parking in the tourist lots, and eventually found a (pay) space. But the half-hourly bus wasn't around, so we climbed (without luggage, of course) 100' vertically to the main part of San G.
I would rent it in Florence, however not at the airport (too far and there are add’l airport rental fees)
Two choices for pick up location:
1. Borgo Ognissanti (10 min walk from the station). All rental companies have offices here.
No fear of ZTL exiting. Cameras are only at entry points.
2. Via Del Sansovino - Hertz (not far from city center), if choosing Hertz
Lecco, (or even Como, reachable by ferry from Varenna) suggested above, is another option. However it’s a long and boring drive to Tuscany.
Thank you to all of the responses! Really appreciate the insight
We are leaning towards picking up in Hertz Sansovino in Florence, sounds like better selection on automatic cars and we want to pop into La Giostra in Florence for lunch :-)
Now that I have you guys, would love some recommendations after our time in San Gim. We've done Naples, Amalfi, Capri, Venice, Rome, Florence. We are probably going to cap our trip in Rome for 2 nights then fly home but have 3-4 more nights to play with. We are doing 5 nights in San Gim, should we just stay longer in Tuscany or Umbria and make it a full 8-9 days?
Ideally I want to get rid of the rental after San Gim and stay somewhere where we can walk to restaurants, drink a ton of wine and maybe take a day trip or two. I'm thinking one of the "larger cities" like Siena , Spello, Orvieto?
Also open to curve balls, any beautiful port towns as well?
Thank you!
Assuming you go there in summer or late spring, I would spend those extra days in Maremma, the southern part of Tuscany near the coast (basically the province of Grosseto). It’s probably one of the most beautiful areas of the country, but totally undiscovered by the North American tourist crowd. Very popular with Europeans however.
Below is the official tourism website for that area. On the right pane you will see several tourist destinations for you to choose from:
https://www.tuttomaremma.com/en/
If you like the sea I recommend the Argentario Peninsula, a nature reserve area. Maremma has the best coast of Tuscany.
https://www.tuttomaremma.com/en/argentario.htm
On the Argentario Peninsula I’d recommend to stay in Porto Santo Stefano.
https://www.tuttomaremma.com/en/portosantostefano.htm
From Porto Santo Stefano you can also visit the island of Giglio (45 min by ferry)
https://www.tuttomaremma.com/en/isleofgiglio.htm
If you need accommodations I stayed here. Very cheap but gorgeous, on top of the town.
http://www.hvittoria.com/
From there to Rome it’s a 2 hour drive on the SS1 freeway (Via Aurelia) along the coast..
