Hi! I am planning a trip to Italy in late July, and we are planning a single day trip from Florence to Pienza and back. I am hoping to rent a car to drive through Tuscany and return back to the same AirBnb in Florence, so about renting for about 10:00am through 11:00pm.
What would be the simplest area to rent from and avoid ZTL zones? Florence Airport, or the train station (Stazione di Santa Maria)?
Any and all tips would be welcome. Thanks so much!
The rental return will have to be at the airport if you return the car after 8pm, unless the downtown offices allow to return and key drop off after closing time. Downtown offices close at 8pm.
If you pick up also at the airport, the rental rate will be a bit higher, in addition to the extra cost for the taxi (approx. 25€) or extra time (40 min by light rail+car rental shuttle from terminal to car rental center).
So the most efficient choice might be pick up downtown near SMN station and return at airport, if after hours return and key drop off is not possible downtown. There might be an extra one way drop off fee for return at a location different from the pick up location. But the highest I’ve ever been charged for that is 15€, so not so bad unless one way drop off prices are higher now compared to the past (2022 was my last one way rental).
I mentioned this on a different thread, but FYI…if you rent from Europcar, the cars are no longer at their office near SMN, but are actually in the parking garage at the train station. We shlepped ourselves and carryons to the office, did the paperwork, and THEN they apologized and sent us back to the train station, where they basically threw the keys to us and told us the number of the parking slot. The car was damaged, and the audio never worked. We rented through Autoeurope, which has been great..and they didn’t realize that the cars were no longer near the Europcar office. This will be the case until 2025 or 2026. We will always use Autoeurope, but will never choose Europcar…
