Hi everyone! My husband and I are visiting Tuscany and the Amalfi Coast in May, and he would like to drive in Tuscany. After reading all the posts, I thought it best to rent a car in Siena for 2-3 days and visit the hill towns from there, but he would prefer to rent a car at the Florence airport (on Sunday afternoon) and drive through Chianti country to Siena. He's comfortable driving anywhere, but I'd love some feedback on this. Any thoughts? Thanks in advance!!
Posted by
Temecula, CA, USA
27 posts
Hi,
After reading all the horror stories about the different zones, we decided to rent (Hertz) at the Florence airport, drive through Tuscany (overnight in Lucca and Siena) then return the car to the Rome (Fiumicino) Airport. Not sure if that's the best way to do it but I hope it works out! We are staying at an agriturismo in Lucca that is definitely off the beaten path so will need a car to get there! Have a great trip!
Posted by
Temecula, CA, USA
27 posts
Oh yeah, we rented a GPS with the car, too. Did that when we drove through Japan and even though we couldn't figure out how to switch it to English, it was definitely worthwhile and well worth the added fee.
Posted by
Caruthers, CA, USA
244 posts
We're staying at the Hotel Enza in Florence, about a quarter mile from the train station. We are getting a car and traveling down to Lucca and Bagni Di Lucca, then on to Parma for one night and dropping the car in Milan. It's a 3 day rental. This is our second trip to Tuscany. On our first trip we were picked up by friends and they did all the driving for the 6 days we were there. By observation, I'm not looking forward to navigating in Tuscany. I'm probably going to buy a GPS to make the process more user-friendly. Back to the rental car. I planned to pick up our Hertz car in Florence for our trip, as you do. The Hertz agency in Florence is about 1/2 mile from our hotel. After reading all the warnings about ZTL and carefully considering the navigation aspects and the toll roads to Lucca, I decided to get our car in Lucca instead of Florence. It's easier to get to the train station in Florence as opposed to the Hertz office, and it is only 11 euros for us to get to Lucca. I suggest you take the train to Siena, then get a car there. The Hertz office is only 750 yards from the train station. It will take you 1.5 hours to get to Siena from Florence. Compare that to dragging yourselves and your luggage to the airport in Florence, then driving the highways to Siena. Driving the major highways in Italy is not a big deal. If driving the back roads and exploring Tuscany is what you want to do, I think you would do better to start in Siena instead of Florence. That is (essentially) what we decided to do in this situation. FWIW, I've driven from LA to Alaska and back, LA to NYC, Boston and Quebec and back. I've driven in Amsterdam, Paris, Munich and Geneva. I'm not freaked out about driving in Italy. I use trains when they make sense, and cars when they make sense.
Posted by
Gaston, Oregon, USA
931 posts
Laurie, buy a GPS here, learn how to use it here, and you will be all set in Italy. They are too cheap for you to spend three days trying to figure out how to use a rental unit.
You will pay for it the 1st time it sends an alarm when you are getting near a fixed radar unit. Kara, go to Auroeurope.com or Gemut and get quotes on your car. Take your drivers license and your International Drvers Permit with you. (that you will buy at your local AAA office.) And make sure you know where the ZTL's are!