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Picking up/dropping off rental car in Tuscany

My husband and I will be visiting Florence/Tuscany in October. We are flying in/out of Rome (using miles) and will then take the train to Florence for 3 days. From there we will take the train to the CT for 2 days. From the CT we will travel to Tuscany and base ourselves in Chianti for 4 days before returning to Rome to spend 2 days and fly home.

We plan to rent a car to use during our time in Tuscany. We will be visiting Pisa, Lucca, Chianti, San Gimignano, and Siena. My original plan was to pick up the car at La Spezia but we are leaving the CT on Sunday and the rental car locations are not open. I'm thinking picking up at Pisa Airport might be best.

What makes sense as far as dropping off before we head back to Rome? Is it better to drop off in Siena or Orvieto or someplace else? I don't really want to drive all the way to Rome so hoping to drop off where we can easily catch the train to Rome.

Are there better options for picking up/dropping off the car and returning to Rome? Ideas are appreciated.

Posted by
8698 posts

Orvieto would work but we always just drive to FCO and drop the car there and then take the train or a cab into town. Orvieto is also an interesting town; you could drop the car late morning and then see the Cathedral and take an underground tour before hopping the train to Rome.

I like pick ups at airports because the odds of there not being a car are lower. We once had to accept a badly damaged car or have no car at all on a long driving trip in Italy. You may wait awhile at an airport, but eventually cars are coming in.

Posted by
1005 posts

Orvieto is probably a much more direct drop off than Siena, but I wouldn't discount taking the easy driving autostrada to the outskirts of Rome and dropping the car at Tiburtina station. It's very close to the autostrada, and you could then take the train to Rome's main station or, even better, take a taxi to your hotel and enjoy the scenery on the ride into Rome.

Posted by
2 posts

Thank you janettravels44 and Ruth for the quick replies and great advice. I'll share these options with my husband.