Transportation from Florence to Siena

Chrissie,
The bus is easier. See http://www.sitabus.it/sita-toscana/Firenze-Siena07.pdf
The bus is faster because the train goes through Empoli which is not on the way.

The train and bus station are next to each other in Florence but in Siena the train station is a couple kilometers from the center. The bus from Florence will drop you at Piazza Gramsci which is at the top of the town.

Reservations not required.

Thank you for the bus schedule -- it looks like an easy way to get to and from Florence.

Take the express Sita bus from Florence. It goes direct nonstop to Siena. Other buses to Florence stop along the way. Cost around 6 Euros one way. I rented my car through AutoEurope. Their office was too far to walk to, so I took a taxi. Plenty of cabs around. Obtaining rental car was easy and painless as my reservation was prepaid.

The Sita bus lets you off at Piazza Gramsci. AutoEurope is a car rental consolidator which negotiates better deals. I picked up my car at EuropCar, I believe, which was on the outskirts of town; hence, the need for a taxi. I did notice other car rental agencies along the same road. I recall booking my car 1 month in advance, because I needed an automatic. Apparently there are more manual(stick shift)cars available vs. automatics and I wanted to make sure I got one. Hope this helps.

Chrissie,
Autoeurope is a broker http://www.autoeurope.com/ so you actually pick up the car from a rental agency (hertz, Avis, Europcar). Make the reservations whenever you want. Then watch the site. If the rates go down you can cancel and rebook at the lower rate.

...So you take a taxi to Auto Europe, once you get to Siena? How far in advance do you recommend reserving the car?

Rebecca and Henry,
Thanks for the explanation as to how "autoeurope" works -- you both have been most helpful!

As far as watching Autoeurope's rates, be sure to call the 800 number in Maine. The humans are likely to be able to give you even better rates than the website. And, they're very helpful to make sure that the details you need, such as automatic transmission or diesel, are preserved with your reservation.