We will be renting a car for a week while we are staying in a villa about an hour outside of Florence. At the end of the week, I plan to return the car at either Enterprise or Alamo at Florence airport and then take a train to Cinque Terra.
How easy or difficult will it be to get from the car drop off location to the train station in Florence? How much time should I budget for that? There will be 4 of us, 2 adults and 2 kids ages 7 and 12, each with our own suitcase on wheels.
Grazie!
Can't you drop the car at La Spezia?
The tram is easy since it goes from the airport to SM Novella station, but there are no direct trains from Florence to any of the Cinque Terre villages. You'll have to transfer one time or more, and it takes no less than 2 hours and 20 to Monterosso.
Dario is right. You should drive to La Spezia and return the car there. All agencies are present (virtually all near the cruise port). You will save time and also money because from La Spezia, after you return your car, you take a taxi to the La Spezia Centrale train station (10 min drive from the port) and then one of the many regional trains to the Cinque Terre village of your choice.
I would never return the car at Florence airport to go to the Cinque Terre.
Even if the La Spezia offices were closed (they close Saturday afternoon, Sundays and holidays) I would rather return the car at Pisa airport than Florence. At least from the Pisa airport you can take a people mover to the station (5 min) and from there there are several trains to La Spezia which require no changes.
Hello juice06870,
The car rental site says 10 minutes for the shuttle that connects the car lots to the airport itself.
There is now a tram that connects Florence airport with the train station - it takes about 20 minutes and the trains run all the time - probably every 5 minutes or so during the day. You will need to take the car rental shuttle to get the airport and then the tram into the city. I'd guess 10 minutes for the shuttle, 20 minutes for the tram and with waiting and family travel time on both ends I'd guess about an hour.
Airport shuttle schedule is here: https://www.gestramvia.it/orari/
You could also take a taxi for convenience since you're travelling with four people and luggage it might make sense just for keeping everyone together but the time will probably be about the same depending on traffic. Taxis are a fixed rate of 22e but could easily be worth the convenience. Note: Always take taxis only from organized taxi stands.
Hope that helps,
=Tod
Also I could have missed something but the only Alamo car rental location I saw was in the city - not at the airport.
Thanks for the replies.
La Spezia didn't even cross my mind as a rental return location - it definitely makes a lot more sense to do that, rather than drive an hour in the opposite direction to Florence airport, and then hop a train that will require connections.
Should I be concerned about huge crowds at La Spezia train station from cruise ships or otherwise, say around 1pm on a Saturday in August? Is that like asking if the Pope is Catholic?
I stayed in Porto Venere this September and from what I saw it seems like the cruise ship people use the ferry to get from La Spezia to CT. PV has become the fifth CT town thanks to the ferry service stopping there and the bigs groups of people with the tour necklaces were there too.
The couple of times I passed through La Spezia train station it was busy but not heaving - nothing like Florence. The biggest hassle was the long lines at the ticket machines, but you can bypass those by using the Trenitalia app on your phone to buy tickets. I had downloaded the app on the advice of a friend and had found it super useful (you can track trains in real time) but hadn't used it to buy tickets until I saw the lines in La Spezia for the ticket machines. You can literally buy tickets as you walk to the platform and wait for your train.
Google shows the car rental places in LS appear to be clustered near the waterfront so you're probably looking at a short taxi to the train station would be my guess with a family in tow.
Have a great trip,
=Tod
You need to check opening hours for your drop off location.
Some might close early on a Saturday.
Thanks, I just checked and it looks like the drop off location closes at 1230 on Satudays. I suppose that I should plan to be there by 12pm latest just in case. Thanks for the heads up!
All rental agencies in La Spezia close shortly after noon on Saturdays, so get there early.
Whether there would be lots of people at the station will depend on whether there are cruises on that day, but even without cruises, weekends at the Cinque Terre will be very busy in August. Of that I am sure. I am less sure about the Pope being catholic (for some reason I always suspected most of the popes are agnostic if not atheists).
Most of cruisers should leave La Spezia by 8am and will be well on their way to Cinque Terre, Florence, Pisa, or other shore excursion destinations. So you should be behind the major CT cruise crowds by 3 or 4 hours if you arrive in LS by 12pm. And by the time you get to CT, the cruise crowds will all be rushing back to catch the ship at LS or Livorno.
