We are thinking of starting our trip in Florence for two nights instead of Rome this time. 2 couples.
We will arrive in Rome and rent a car. We have drivien to Florence a couple of times and swore we would never do so again, but...... The question is, should we just drive, stay in town or outside &
take train?
Recommendations for places to stay either way appreciated.
The drive from Rome to Florence is just so easy--if you can get past all the tolls.
But taking the train is just so fast and easy. You should consider staying in the city. If you want to visit the countryside, just rent a car for a day.
If you want to stay in the Tuscan countryside, pick up a car in Florence on the way through. Or, if you're not interested in seeing Florence, take a train to Orvieto and pick the car up across the street from the train station at the Hertz office.
If you're going directly from Rome to Florence (no overnight stays anywhere else) the fast trains are SO speedy, easy and comfortable. After taking an express train of bus into Rome, you'd get on a direct train and be dumped out 90 minutes later right in the middle of Florence: no ZTLs to dodge, no speed cameras to worry about, and no parking costs or availability issues. All 4 of you would get to sit back and enjoy the view out the window instead of eyes on the road. IMHO, it would be a no-brainer for me.
If the timing works, there are a couple of trains which go directly from Fiumicino airport to Firenze S.M. Novella; no need to go into central Rome to catch another train. Those are at 11:08 and 15:08, and take 2 hours, 14 minutes.
With just 2 nights in Florence, you're only going to have 1 full day there so I'd stay in the middle of the city and forego any other trips.
The train runs at 240 kms per hour (that's 150 mph) over most of the trip; in a car it would be difficult to run half as much. Also, any car can take four grown persons, but in order to take luggage for four persons you would need quite a large car.
