Travel by Car to Florence

Sounds like the airport may be your best bet. Northwest of the town, there is a regular bus service from there. Driving in Florence is "risky" as there are MANY ZTL's. Nine folks - with luggage - in a van sounds PACKED! Might be cheaper to go with two cars... Get an IDP for all drivers ***** http://tinyurl.com/Italy-IDP *****

Do think about using 2 cars - there's a reason why Europeans drive such 'cute' little Smart cars...they like their paint jobs, want a parking space, don't want a removable roof courtesy of the parking garage ceiling, etc...

Why don't you just drive to Chiusi and train in? As I understand it, parking is easy at the station and the train ride is an hour or less as long as you don't take a locale train. Driving is horrible in Florence. I just did the drive from Montepulciano a week ago and it was incredibly stressful.

I will second the suggestion of the airport. We dropped off our rental car there and took the bus into town. When you are facing the terminal, the buses are to the far left. You could take a cab from the airport if you didn't want to wait for the bus.

If you are just looking for a place to park, go to Piazza Michaelangelo. There is plenty of parking, I went twice and had no problem finding a spot, and the view is amazing. There are buses that run from there of you can walk down to the city.

I know you want to save time in getting to Florence, but if you don't want a stressful drive up, I'd recommend you don't take the A1 toll road up to Florence and instead take the regional road to Siena and from there take the Chiantigiana road through Chianti up into Florence. Yes, it might take longer (about 2 hours or more if you stop several times along the way to take pics of the landscapes) but it will be a really scenic drive and not stressful. Make sure to take a GPS along. Once you're in Florence (you arrive near the southern A1 exit of Florence), go like Joe suggests to Piazzale Michelangelo for free parking or park along the Lungarno del Tempio (map it on google maps). You are just minutes away from the historical center without being at all near to the ZTL (limited traffic zone) so you don't have to worry about fines. On the way back to Montepulciano, do take the A1 back to get back quicker :-).

Thanks for all the responses. The train from Chiusi is almost two hours to Florence, I assume, from all the regional stops. But being dropped at the train station is ideal for what we want to see. By not taking A1, it makes the train route look better as it is now about the same time. I guess there just isn't a really good option. Piazzale Michelangelo looks a little difficult to get to from A1. Is that the case or is Google Maps taking me longer route? We are three sets of parents and three 18 year olds so we were hoping not to have to start any of our mornings before 7:00 or 7:30, but looks like we will need to when going to Florence. It looks, unfortunately, like a long day any way we slice it. The good news is that gelato is good for stress :) Thanks again. Mike

It is very easy to get to from Al, you just get off at Firenze/Certosa exit and take SR2 right into Florence.