Rental Car help needed - Florence to Tuscany to Sorrento

No rental company works well for Naples, because driving in Naples is not recommended! The cars outside our Naples hotel were parked on the sidewalk and almost on top of each other. Although Sorrento has some ZTLs, it is possible to drop some rental cars off there. A quick way to find agency locations is to "pretend" to rent a car on a big site like Travelocity, and then check the hours for the companies that are suggested to you. Sorrento books up early, I hope they have their hotel reserved already.

There's no question but that a car is very helpful for visiting Tuscany.

There is little value to driving from southern Tuscany to Sorrento. The views aren't special, and traffic can be tedious. The Frecciarossa trains work very well, and I agree that the Circumvesuviana from Naples to Sorrento isn't a nice honeymoon idea. (Although it's the best way to make the trip.) Check off-season ferry schedules. Take a fixed-rate taxi to the marina area from the Naples train station. It's important to have plans to return from Sorrento or further on, because it's a multi-seat trip to get to the plane (?) home.

I too see no value in driving the car from Tuscany to Naples, look at a drop off along the main rail line (Chiusi, maybe Orvieto) where you can catch the fast train directly to Naples. If it means no drop off fee, maybe return back to Florence to catch the train if that works out better.

Thank you for the advice. Would they be able to tour the Naples museum easily from the train station? Then from there, do they catch a taxi to the ferry?

High speed trains stop only in Florence and Rome, so if you return the car anywhere else in between, like Arezzo, Chiusi, or Orvieto, you will need to take regionale trains, which aren't as fast.
These are some alternatives to that option.
1 - Return the car in Florence and travel via Frecciarossa to Naples. This option may require some backtracking, because if you visit the Val D'Orcia area in Tuscany, you are already on your way to Rome, and returning to Florence is some significant backtracking.
2 - Drive all the way to Sorrento, return the car in Sorrento, and visit Naples from Sorrento after you are settled at your Sorrento hotel (no need to think what to do with suitcases while visiting the museum). Although from Tuscany to Sorrento is a long 4 hour drive (all freeway), however you can break up the trip and stay in Orvieto and/or other nice places along the way. This option is actually faster and more comfortable when everything else is taken into account (no backtracking, no slower regional trains, no lugging of suitcases aboard trains and ferries, no dealing with driving into city centers of Florence or Naples).

If you choose option 2 above ( that would be my choice) go to www.autoeurope.com or www.kemwel.com (two consolidators now part of the same corporation) and select the best car deal. They work with major companies such as Europcar, Hertz, etc.

The pickup location is Florence. All companies are, besides at the airport, on via Borgo Ognissanti, Hertz also has a location on via Del Sansovino, Europcar is also on via Forlanini.

Your drop off location is Sorrento. Hertz and Europcar offices are across from each other on Corso Italia, near the Circumvesuviana station. Avis is on the same street but further up the road.

If they do want to stop in Napoli only for the museum, they can leave their bags at Napoli Centrale, take the Metro to the Museo stop, and return to the station to continue on.

Thank you for the replies. My daughter likes the idea of driving all the way to Sorrento. Checking Kemwel, it looks like there are limited options for renting in Florence and dropping off in Sorrento. The pick-up in via del Sansovino was one that let me choose the Sorrento Downtown Office Corso Italia 261/b.
They have a credit card with rental insurance, what is recommended? Take the extra coverage? I thought we did that on our rental in Italy(not the Hertz one from Sansovino - it was another rental through Europcar) and we were still charged for damage that we hadn't noted on the contract before taking the car.

Will they be able to back-track to Naples easily from Sorrento to visit a museum?

They can easily take the Circumvesuviana to Napoli, the Metro stop entrance is at the main train station where the Circumvesuviana, Trenitalia, and Metro connect. Just follow signs.

Napoli itself is not unsafe, but the Circumvesuviana can be jam packed, making it fertile ground for pickpockets. Take the minimum of anything of value for a daytrip.

Thank you Zoe for your reply. Now I am a bit confused as I looked at the Circumvesuviana schedule from Naples - Sorrento and it looks like it is an hour on the train..is that correct?
Not sure it is worth their time and maybe it is better to take the train to Naples, see the museum and continue on to Sorrento. They will have backpacks only as luggage.

In Tuscany, they are staying near Siena - so it will be an hour drive back to Florence to catch the train - but maybe worth it as opposed to 1 hour from Sorrento-Naples and 1 hour back in order to see the museum. Although I guess they will still have the 1 hour from Naples-Sorrento to do no matter which option.

Thank you Zoe for your reply. Now I am a bit confused as I looked at the Circumvesuviana schedule from Naples - Sorrento and it looks like it is an hour on the train..is that correct?
Not sure it is worth their time and maybe it is better to take the train to Naples, see the museum and continue on to Sorrento. They will have backpacks only as luggage.

In Tuscany, they are staying near Siena - so it will be an hour drive back to Florence to catch the train - but maybe worth it as opposed to 1 hour from Sorrento-Naples and 1 hour back in order to see the museum. Although I guess they will still have the 1 hour from Naples-Sorrento to do no matter which option.

Where is your flight home from? Naples or Rome?
If you return the car in Sorrento, you will need to go to Naples by train on your way back to the airport, whichever that is, because you will need to spend the night closer to the airport, so you will need to go to (or through) Naples the day before your flight. That is when you can visit the museum. If your flight is from NAP, first check in the Naples hotel, drop the bags and head to the museum.
If your flight is from Rome, you will still transfer trains in Naples. Just drop the bag at the station storage (for a fee), visit the museum, then return to the station later in the day, retrieve your stored luggage and proceed via train to Rome.

Hi Roberto - that is an excellent plan! They fly home from Rome. They are staying near the airport the night before they leave. So on their way back, they could visit the museum. I will forward your suggestion to my daughter.

This is a similar routing to what I'm contemplating for next year, but was thinking of renting the car at Florence airport, stay in an AirBnB outside of Siena, tour around Tuscany for a few days and then drive to Naples Airport to drop off the car. Take the Curreri Viaggi bus from Naples airport to Sorrento

After reading Roberto's response, I'm reconsidering and driving direct to Sorrento. It was the thought of ZTL's in Florence, Naples and Sorrento that were making me think Naples airport would be a viable solution. Am I totally off base with that thought?