Our last day in Florence we plan to rent a car to drive around the countryside, maybe go to Chianti. We will be going to Positano after Florence, but do not want to have the car in Positano. Where do you recommend the best place to drop the car back off and catch a train to Salerno would be?
Are you driving to Positano or are you going by train? If you are going to Positano by train and are just using the car for one day in Florence, drive to Chianti and surroundings then: check with Avis, Hertz, Europcar and Auto Europa. They are all located in the Via Borgo Ognissanti area of the city (check Google maps). Since I used the car for one day, I rented it in the morning and returned it @1:00am. Ask the parking garage you pick up the car or the rental location what time they close the garage? Save the parking fees for the night and return it. I only needed it for that day. We didn't need it for walking around in Florence the next day. Make sure to register the car with your hotel to go in the dreaded ZTL (Limited Traffic Zone, this is not just the pedestrian zone. It's a bigger area). Avoid the dreaded ZTL all together if you can in the city or pay a fine if they get you in it with an unregistered car (it works with cameras taking pictures of the car tag). Ask your hotel in Florence how it works, I'm sure they have done it before. It's weird the rental car agency doesn't register it, they make the hotel do it. OK, I don't get it or am I going to try to figure it out, it's an Italian thing. Just go with the flow.
Well thats pretty much the question.. We don't feel the need to have a car IN Positano. And it's our stop right after Florence. We were thinking of getting a car while in Florence so we could drive around Tuscany to explore - but since that's South of Florence it seemed silly to drive too far south in the direction of Positano an hour, and then go back North just for the sake of returning the car. So if we start driving South and exploring, does it make sense to drive all the way to Salerno and then return the car? Or does it make more sense to get rid of it sooner and hop on a train? We don't care either way -we just want to do what will a) get us to positano faster b) make financial sense.
Siena, Chiusi or Orvieto would be good drop off locations. In Orvieto the Hertz location is literally across the street from the train station. If you have time, you can take the funicular up into town and have a look around before catching a train to Rome.
To toss a few more pickles in the pot: 1 - - I've never seen train tracks anywhere near Positano. 2 - - Sorrento is small and might not have a turn-in location for everwho you find the best car deal from. 3 - - If you dropped the car up north, you'd have to catch a train south to Naples (with probably a change in Rome), then another change to get the circumwhatever out to Sorrento. Then a bus over to Positano. I think the tolls south from Orvieto are about thirty bucks and the gas would be about the same. I don't know what train tickets cost. I'd look at driving on down to Salerno and catching the bus. It's bound to be a lot faster than a car-train-bus combination and undoubtedly cheaper as well.
It's a ferry from Salerno to Positano.
I know... for the people who said they didnt think the train went there etc - I am clarifying that I am taking the ferry.