Hello. My husband and I are flying into Rome this coming March. We will be renting a car at the airport and, as we will be tired from the flight, are looking to drive to a small town within an hour of Rome to stay at least one night, maybe 2.
Our current plan is to head to the south to Pulglia and then come up to the Tuscany region.
Any thoughts would be appreciated.
Posted by
Forest Grove, OR
11798 posts
Take a look at Castel Gandolfo. Only about 40 minutes drive from FCO and quite charming, historical.
I would not do that drive in the dark, so hopefully you arrive in daylight.
You could also just stay in Fiumicino or Ostia.
Posted by
CA, USA
1253 posts
If "Pulglia" is Puglia and not some other town/region then instead of driving there from Rome I'd suggest taking the direct train from Rome to Bari (also has a few other stops) and picking up the car there. You're looking at a 250 mile drive that gets you the same place as the train. And if I was taking the train I'd stay in Rome the day I arrive and go to Bari the following day so I wasn't worried about flight delays making me miss the train.
Also going from Puglia to Tuscany is around a 450 mile journey. Unless you're taking a few days to do it and stopping at some interesting towns along the way it might be better to fly.
Posted by
San Francisco Bay Area (USA)
16133 posts
What time does your flight arrive? Remember that unless you arrive after the last Sunday in March, Europe will be on Standard Time, and that means it gets dark early.
When I fly to Rome and arrive in the afternoon or evening (which is always the case coming from California), I generally stay in Rome at least for the first night, then I rent the car the following day(s). That saves me at least one day of rental car fees. I also pick up the car where it is least costly, and that is not necessarily at the airport (it rarely is). If you use www.AutoEurope.com (or AutoEurope.eu, or Kemwel.com, which are all websites of the same company), select “Rome all locations” as pick up location, to see the best deals. Depending on where your pickup location is, you might want to stay in a hotel near it. So if you select the airport, stay at the airport mad pick up the next day, if you pickup downtown stay in a hotel downtown. Factor in the cost of a taxi (50€) to go downtown.
Taking the train immediately upon arrival to Bari and pick up the car in Bari the next day is not a bad idea, however you must also consider the cost of the train ride and the possible one way drop off fees if you return the car in a different city. The one way fees within the country may not be high, but they started charging for it after Covid.