Rental car company in Sienna

The standard advice given on this site has always been: reserve the car from here, not after you get to Italy. When you have a car in Siena, you'll want to pay extra attention to whether your lodging offers to facilitate your secure overnight parking. The location, availability, and cost of secure overnight parking are things you would hardly think about in advance, when traveling here. It's not like here where every hotel has a surface parking lot.

Here's a recent discussion we had of rental cars in Siena: http://www.ricksteves.com/graffiti/helpline/index.cfm/rurl/topic/58375/rental-car-boxes.html In fact, you'll find many discussions here of rental cars in Siena, if you go to the link below and follow the Helpline archive search instructions given there: http://www.ricksteves.com/graffiti/helpline/index.cfm/rurl/topic/39868/bget-answers-to-your-questions--searching-ricks-archivesb.html

thank you - I will check.

Velia, Autoeurope is a broker with a great reputation. Make your reservations before you leave. Parking can be a problem see http://www.turismoverde.com/italia/info/mappe/mappark.jpg
check with your hotel for options some have deals with the lots to bring the cost from 25 euro down to 15 euro. Free parking is available but hard to find, check the signs.

Velia: We rented through www.gemut.com and found the rate they negotiated better than one quoted by Auto Europe, although the rental turned out to be a Hertz car through Auto Europe. The best thing about Gemut is they are based in the US and offer 24x7 English support. You will feel very well cared for. On their website, read this article (PDF download) http://gemut.com/europe-travel-tips-features-379/3687-newsflash-master-template.html. As to parking, we stayed at a marvelous B&B (http://www.anticaresidenzacicogna.it/pages_eng/presentazione.asp) and as luck would have it, they had a parking spot we could rent for 10 euros per night. It was a short walk to the car park from the B&B (maybe 10 minutes). The Hertz office is literally across the street from the train station so if you are leaving by train, you are golden! Laurel

Thank you so much. We plan on taking the train from Sorrento to Rome and then to Sienna. Using Sienna as a base for our visit to Tuscany. Then we will take the train to Florence and on to Venice. We are just unsure about renting or using the bus to visit the towns around Sienna. Also thought of using tours by Robert. Any feedback??

This past Oct. we were in the Siena and Tuscany area. Most likely, the car rental agency you will use will be located in downtown Siena. Since this will be your first time in Italy and first time driving, I would not recommend Siena as a place to pick up your car. It's not that easy to drive in that city. From my experience, I would take the train from Rome to Orvieto. I would pick up the car at that train station. AutoEurope will be able to tell you which agencies are located there. Yes, it will be more expensive than a downtown location, however, it's a lot easier. The proximity of that train station to the autobahn is close by. Then, I would stay on the outskirts of Siena. There is the town of Castelnuovo Berardenga that is 10KM from Siena in the heart of Tuscany. Nice small town that is easy access to Siena. If you want the info for a great B&B there, send me a personal message. If you can, get a GPS (sometimes included with your rental) and a good Michelin map. Also get an International Driver's License (required in Italy) at your local AAA office. It does not require a test, just two photos and $15.

Hotel Athena has included parking. Marco's gate is also easy to find and you can get there with out the Traffic Limited Zones to go through. Athena is a cool hotel anyway, and I'd look for it even if I didn't have a rental. Its a perfect place to start driving in Italy. http://www.hotelathena.com/index_eng.php

"Since this will be your first time in Italy and first time driving, I would not recommend Siena as a place to pick up your car. It's not that easy to drive in that city." IMO that's good advice and Denise's entire post is worth serious consideration by a first-time in Italy driver. The OP mentions considering Tours by Robert(o), as an alternative to driving in Tuscany. Anyone have experience with Roberto?

Velia, A little information for you:
Bus schedules http://www.trainspa.it/train04/extraurbano.pdf From Siena to Florence the bus is faster and may be easier http://www.sitabus.it/sita-toscana/Firenze-Siena2010.pdf The Hertz office is about 3 or 4 hundred meters , uphill, from the train station across two busy streets. The Hertz, Avis and Europcar offices are all outside the walls and ZTL.

We used Tours by Roberto for a day tour in October and it was wonderful! There were only 8 of us on the trip, personally guided by Roberto. He's a riot and a font of knowledge. We toured a small family winery operation, an Etruscan tomb site, a very small and old hill town (Vertine) and ate an amazing lunch at a "truck stop." (You'll never see a truck stop like this in the US, though.) Highly recommend. They have several itineraries, or you can customize to some degree. Contact them as soon as you have your dates. The first people to sign up for a day set the itinerary, and others can join the tour to the maximum of 8. Happy travels! I cannot wait to go back!

I appreciate all the advice and sharing of knowledge. I will discuss with my traveling partner and look at Denise's suggestion of going to picking up the car in Orvieto. Also of booking with Roberto early. We had researched about Donatella tours. Lodging is up in the air. Wel ike the idea of Agriturismo Marcciano or another type of lodgin outside the of Siena.

Thanks to the advice we have overcome our hesitation of driving and added Orvieto (will spend the night) to our stay and will pickup a car there to meander to Siena. Any suggestion for lodging in Orvieto? We will arrive October 5, 2011 and depart the 6th.

Velia, Look at B&B valentina
http://www.bandbvalentina.com/ This might help for the drive http://www.slowtrav.com/italy/tuscany/hs_planning.htm

I agree with Denise, Siena is not easy to drive in to. Out of, no problem but took us an hour to try and get the car back into the city and back to the rental car place. I think we rented for Avis. Having done it already I'd be fine with doing it again but for a first time, would find something outside of town where navigation is easier, especially at night!

Velia, I'm glad you're going to spend one night in Orvieto. It is such a quaint and charming hilltown. When you get off of the train, take the funicular up to the hilltown. Orvieto also has a town below the hilltown. I'm assuming you are going to pick up your rental car after spending the night in Orvieto. In Rick Steves' tour guide, he lists a lot of accommodations for Orvieto. We stayed at Hotel Valentino. Their website is www.valentinohotel.com We liked the location which was away from the church bells. It also has a/c which might not be necessary in October. We drove into Siena according to Rick's recommendations of following the soccer ball sign and parking in the soccer stadium parking lot. From there it's not much of a walk to the city center. I know there are lots of places to stay in Siena, however, we chose to stay in the small town of Castelnuovo Berardenga which was about 10km from Siena. We stayed at a B&B that was like an agriturismo, however, we had an included buffet breakfast. They have rooms (with fridge and W/C), or apartments, and a restaurant which serves Tuscan specialties. They also have a swimming pool with awesome views of Tuscany. Here's their website: www.borgocasato.it