Renting Car for Tuscany, Solo, Good or Crazy Idea?

You can see what is important in Pisa at the Piazza dei Miracoli. There are a few other places in Pisa, but you could probably see them in one day. You can see the key sites like the leaning tower at the Piazza dei Miracle in half a day. Not sure how many days you plan to be in Pisa. Much of Pisa is not much to brag about.

The nearby city of Lucca is wouth half a day.

Siena is worth a day and Florence 2. Three days if you want to see all both Accademia and the Uffizi.

Bologna does not merit three days, in my opinion. Ravenna is worth a day.
Not sure where your day trips are going, but three nights is enough in Venice.

Renting a car is good for Tuscany, but once in Florence, turn in the car.

Pisa gets short shrift here, but it is a very easy city with most of its charm away from the Campo dei Miracoli. No reason not to spend a few nights there. Would you pick up a car when you leave Pisa, or have it while you are there?

You could spend one less night in Pisa and one more in a hill town, there are many on the way to Venezia.

A couple of comments. If you truly want to see Tuscany up close, a car is a big plus. However, you do need a good GPS with up-to-date maps. We found the roads to be fairly confusing and signage limited. Second, parking, even in the small towns tend to be a problem. So you may spend some time looking and then having to walk a bit afterwards. One day we hit a town when the weekly farmer's market was open. Took over an hour to find a parking place and that was just a matter of luck. Don't drive anywhere near Florence. And be very aware of the Limited Traffic Zones and driving in bus lanes. It can be a very expensive mistake.

Good luck.

I'm sorry, I seem to have confused people. I am flying into Pisa and intend to stay just one night there. I would rent a car the following morning and stay in a hill town for three nights. Then I would return the car in Siena and spend a night there. The rest of the journey is by public transportation including Florence, Venice and a stop in between.

I am not spending long in Florence because I've been there for over a week a couple of times.

Thank you Frank. I'm planning on loading The Garvin for Europe. I'll be driving in the last few days of September, do you think it will be as crowded then?

I'm your age and gender. I drove around Umbria by myself for a week last summer before meeting my friends. I had no issues, as the car had a built-in GPS that worked great, the roads were well-signed, I looked at the map before I left for the day just to get oriented, and I pulled over when I needed to to look at a paper or Google map. Yes, I didn't always stay on the pre-planned route, I took a few wrong turns but nothing disastrous and I usually enjoyed the detour. I really enjoyed the freedom to drop in on whatever hill town grabbed my fancy each day. So I'm in the reassurance camp. Just do it (but pay up for the all-inclusive, no-deductible insurance just in case.)

A couple of tips: one, all the small country roads have innocuous-looking mailbox-sized metal boxes on the sides of smaller roads, often just around turns. They are fixed-location speed cameras. Stay within the speed limit at all times. Most Italians do now too, as the fines are steep. Two, bringing your own GPS is probably a good idea. The one in the car was set to Italian, which worked for me so I didn't bother to try to change the language. If you intend to rely on your GPS, you'll want to know you can understand her.

Traveling solo is a joy. Traveling with spouses, family or friends is also a joy. Have a wonderful trip!

Instead of changing accommodations for one night in Siena, stay at the same location (hill town or agriturismo) and visit Siena from there. Return the car in Florence.
Stay in Florence one extra night (3 total). Two nights is only one full day and that is not enough for Florence only, let alone if you want to take a day trip. Decrease Venice or Bologna by one.

Go for it! Sounds like fun. I drove for the first time in Spain 4-5 years ago (solo retired woman), and it completely changed my planning for European trips. Just know in advance about the dreaded ZTL fines in historic centers and how to avoid them.

Have you been to Italy before? Do you want to see Florence itself? BTW when is this trip?

Lucca is close to Pisa. Have you considered spending your first 2 nights there and then renting a car? Then return the car in Siena, stay there for 2-3 nights, and day trip to Florence/Fiesole by bus. Bologna - good choice.

Good suggestions Roberto. I will think about day tripping Siena while I have the car. Venice however, is a concrete deadline. I must be there when my husband flys into Marco Polo.

Chani,

This will be my fourth trip to Italy. I've stayed for a full week in Florence twice, but never been to any of the hill towns except Siena and Fisole. I really want to see Siena again. I like your itinerary suggestion:

"Lucca is close to Pisa. Have you considered spending your first 2 nights there and then renting a car? Then return the car in Siena, stay there for 2-3 nights, and day trip to Florence/Fiesole by bus."

I need to think this through a little more carefully.

Thank you Nelly, I'm getting braver about driving.

Go for it. I'm also very comfortable with manual transmissions, in fact I prefer them. So I think more than surviving the driving, you'll actually enjoy it. I had a Fiat 500X, a sporty mini-SUV in British racing green, and I had a blast. I'm still biting my nails hoping I don't get any nasty speeding tickets in the mail, because even though I tried very hard to stay within the limit, occasionally I'd come down a hill and around a corner at 60 km/h instead of the posted 50 km/h and see one of the dreaded metal boxes. 8 months and counting...hopefully I'll be ok.

Further to the ZTL and parking - when it comes to small hill towns, it's easy to avoid them. You're not going to drive up any of those steep hills inside the walls anyway. For the Umbrian towns I visited, every one of them had paid and free spots ringing the outside of the town walls. I suspect it's the same in Tuscany. Just find a spot outside the wall: blue stripes mean paid, white stripes mean free, and yellow stripes mean resident-only parking. I was there in June and had no issues finding parking outside any town I visited. Some towns will have support for getting to the top: a funicular maybe, a little tourist train or even Ape (3-wheeled mini-truck) drivers. Other places you'll have to hoof it up. But the towns are small if steep, there is absolutely no need to drive through the wall and into the historic centre.

As far as mistakenly driving into a ZTL zone - just Google "ZTL signs images" and you'll see all possible variants of what signs to look for. You'll notice they are very hard to overlook!

As I said, the roads I was on were all paved and well-signed. And Tuscany and Umbria have no steep drop-offs like the Amalfi Coast - just fields and vineyards alongside the roads.

I think it's an experience not to miss. I love the trains too, but hilly country roads and a stick shift are so much fun.

60 km/h instead of the posted 50 km/h

By law all speed cameras must give a leeway of 5 km/h (or 5% of the posted limit if the limit is 100 km/h or more).
If you think that car manufacturers are a little "optimistic" about the real speed of their cars... odds are that you won't notice any strange charge on your credit card.

Jen, when is your trip? I'd been to Florence most recently in February (twice) and then was there in mid-May 2-3 years ago and was stunned at the crowds of tourists in the streets around the Ponte Vecchio. There were not many tourists in Bologna, Ravenna, Assisi or Orvieto, just in Florence.

Check driving times on viamichelin.com (more reliable/realistic than google). And I echo Frank and Nelly - have GPS.

Chani, I'll be in Tuscany from September 28th to October 5th or on my own. Then I join my husband in Venice. I was Florence in July four years ago, it, Siena, and the Cinque Terre were very crowded. Lucca was not.

Jen, We rented from Florence to Orveto. My husband navigated and I drove. I enjoy driving and am comfortable with a manual. So much fun! Driving was a breeze. We rented a wifi with the car and our google maps was excellent with hilarious pronunciation. Plan to park outside the towns. Know that to reverse there might be a little ring below the shift knob that pushes down (you won't have a 13 year old in the back seat googling the car manual to figure it out.) Stay calm, accept that there will be moments of confusion and have the best time!

Use the search box for this site to read some good, long posts about insurance and ZTLs. If you know how to use a GPS, you don't need a navigator. You do need to learn what a ZTL sign looks like, because they're not in the GPS databases. Good that you can drive a standard.

You might want to pick an agriturismo or luxury resort (we stayed at Locanda dell'Amorosa, but it's not for everyone.) That also helps with setting up APPOINTMENTS for better wine tastings, and restaurant reservations at the winery or big-name restaurants. I certainly enjoy walking around my "home" town after the tourists have left, but the tiny hill towns are pretty small and dull after hours. But a place like Cortona or Orvieto has plenty to see in the evening. You left out the month, which affects crowds and need for a swimming pool or air conditioning.

Note that Fiesole is a, frequent, local bus ride of 5 minutes from the Florence train station area. No car is needed or desirable. Lucca is easily accessible by train. I would say that your gender and solo status are irrelevant.

Jen, I'm so glad you posted about this! I'm around the same age, traveling solo to Italy this summer, and planning four days driving in Umbria/Tuscany. Nelly, thank you for the encouragement! I'm looking forward to the trip.

Melissa, I'm glad this thread helped you too. The members here are a great resource. And I have rented. This is the plan:

1. Land in Pisa mid afternoon. Sleep Pisa.
2. Early morning train to Lucca. Drop backpack at hotel. Rent bike. Pick up car in late afternoon. Check into hotel and freshen up before dinner. Sleep Lucca.
3. Leave early by car and drop luggage in countryside hotel 3 miles from San Gimignano. Tour Volterra. Arrive San Gimignano at its busiest. Go for a three hour out of town hike returning as the day trippers leave. Explore San Gimignano. Sleep countryside hotel.
4. Drive to Cortona via Pienza and Montepulciano. Sleep Cortona in srudio apartment three nights.
5. Tour hill towns (sleep Cortona)
6. Tour Hill towns (sleep Cortona).
7. Tour Cortona and/or another other local town. Drop car in Florence early afternoon. Check into apartment hotel in Florence. Wander around Florence with camera. (sleep Florence 3 nights).
8. Daytrip Siena.(sleep Florence)
9. Florence and Fisole; or Arezzo. (Sleep Florence).
10. Very early train to Ferrara. Drop bag and rent bike from hote.l Play. (sleep Ferrara).
11. Train to Venice. Check into apartment early thanks to good natured landlord. Grocery shop. Bus to Marco Polo. Meet husband and water bus to St Marks. Vapoeretto down grand canal to a few blocks from apartment. (Sleep Venice 6 nights ).

This itinary has four one night stands, which is way more than I ordinarily even consider, but all one night hotels store baggage and are either within spitting distance of the train station or have attached parking depending on how I arrive.

The trip runs from landing in Pisa September 28th to departing Venice October 14th. I can no longer change the flights, renting a car in Lucca the 29th, returning the car in Florence October 4, or arriving the morning of October 8th in Venice. Any tweaks appreciated.