We will be picking up our rental car in Orvieto, then traveling thru Tuscany to Cinque Terre. We had hoped to return it to La Spezia, spend the day in Cinque Terre, return to LaSpezia for the night, then take the train to Florence. Now I see it is cheaper to keep the car a day longer than we actually need it. Should we just return it early to La Spezia, or should we keep it and try to drive to Lucca or Florence? I was afraid of the ZTLs in Florence. Can we return our car there without having to worry about accidentally driving in a ZTL?
Posted by
west Chester, PA
370 posts
It depends which company you are using to rent. In the past, we used Hertz and picked up the car in Orvieto and dropped off at Lucca but hertz no longer has an office in Lucca. We are using Avis this time as the drop off outside the walls of Lucca is easy to get to
Posted by
OP
4 posts
THank you, that was very helpful. I did not realize that Hertz no longer has a rental agency in Lucca. Have you ever tried to return a car in Florence?
Posted by
San Francisco Bay Area (USA)
15266 posts
I generally pick up and return the car in Florence, if I fly in and out of Florence (which is the majority of the times).
Coming from La Spezia you don't need to get anywhere close to the ZTL, which is only in the historical center.
The A11 freeway, which you will be coming from, ends at the FLR airport. Just return the car there and take a taxi from the airport to your hotel in Florence. It's a flat fare of 20 euro + 1 euro per bag. If you arrive after 10pm there is a night surcharge, but I think it's only 3 or 4 euro.
Europcar has a location between the airport and the city center (near the University-Social Sciences Campus on via Forlanini). That is also another choice far from the ZTL, although they close at 7pm.
Posted by
west Chester, PA
370 posts
I have never driven a car near Florence. When I first realized that hertz no longer had a Lucca office, I was contemplating using Pisa centrale or the airport in Florence. We decided to use Lucca as our base, however, and it was just easier to use Avis.