I will be traveling to La Spezia via a Royal Caribbean cruise in April 2018 and would really like to take a trip to The Mall in Florence, which is a 2 hour drive. Most of the private tours are very expensive so I would like to rent a car for the day. We will be in port from 8:30 am to 8:30 pm. Any suggestions on car rentals near the port?
Posted by
🏝️ Hobe Sound, FL⛱️
3303 posts
Why don’t you take the train? It takes about 2 hours, is inexpensive and you won’t have to hassle with car rental, finding parking in Florence, avoiding ZTL’s, driving on unfamiliar roads. Oh, and you’ll need an International Driver Permit as well. Train service in Italy is frequent, reliable and affordable. Don’t rent a car to get to Florence.
Posted by
OP
4 posts
Is there a train station that gets you close to the Mall in Florence?
Posted by
San Francisco Bay Area (USA)
16209 posts
Most car rental companies in La Spezia are near the port.
The major ones would be Europcar and Hertz.
Avis-Budget is also big in Italy, but they are farther from the port and they tend to be more expensive.
https://www.europcar.com/location/italy
https://www.hertz.it/rentacar/reservation/
I personally would not bother to go all the way to Florence to go to The Mall, although my wife might. I can never find anything I like there that has a decent price. But to each his own.
The Mall is actually a High End Outlet Mall located outside of Florence near Incisa Valdarno.
If that is your intended destination, renting a car, rather than a train, might be the faster choice. But yet again, I know the area having grown up there, while you have a high chance of getting lost at the wheel. The place is not actually so easy to find.
If you decide on a train, the closest station is Incisa Valdarno. But then you’d need a taxi from there and I’m not sure if there would be taxis at that station. It’s not a big town.