Rent car or not?

Hello! I'm feeling overwhelmed trying to find the right area and accommodation type for our first visit to Tuscany.

We do not want to stay in Florence and are absolutely willing to rent a car (not sure where we would pick one up). We will be coming from Rome by train and heading to Venice afterwards.

Would like to be in a country setting, but close enough to access some restaurants in the evening and convenient to visit/do the following:

Florence - 1 full day

San Gimignano

Siena?

Wine tasting

A cooking glass

Our budget: moderate. Willing to spend more for a something special (ie: winery property, a view, etc)

Thank you so much!!

We're hoping to spend close at least three weeks in Tuscany this coming fall. We'd like to spend several days in Florence and also rent a car for two weeks to see Tuscany. What car rental companies can you recommend for both reasonable price and reliability at the airport? Would it be better and more affordable to rent a car in the city rather than the airport?Thanks much for any answers.

We are flying into Florence next week and staying in Florence for 1 night, at a hotel in the middle of town. We are then picking up a rental car at the airport and driving to a village.

It will obviously be a little hectic, and our hotel is in a pedestrian zone, so we're wondering if we could leave our large bags at the Florence airport, then retrieve them the next day before we get our rental car.

Thanks!

Hi there,

If anyone could help with the following, we would be hugely grateful!

My partner, our very active and walking/ climbing/ running 14 month old anc me need to spend a night in Rome in mid-July. We will be coming via train from Florence some time on aSunday and taking a flight out of Rome on Monday lunch time. We are looking for somewhere with easy access to the station, but also somewhere that might provide a little bit of luxury and a treat for the final night of our trip. We imagine it maybe too hot to see much of the city with our toddler (and we will only have the afternoon) so wondered if there was a hotel that was set up to receive families or couples with children - or if anyone has had a really good hotel experience in central Rome they can recommend!

We usually stay in Airbnb’s or camp, so this is new for us.

Our budget is around 200 euro of the one night, give or take.

Thanks in advance

(Oh, and we are up to date on all the necessary covid tests/ quarantines as well as being fully vaccinated)

We'll be in Florence at the end of June for 5 days. We would like to spend a few hours in the afternoon at a winery in the Tuscany countryside. We are not wine connoisseurs and are not looking for a tour, but are more interested in a very pretty winery with beautiful views so we may drink some wine and have a bite to eat. We are looking for a place that's within 45 minutes of Florence as we will take a cab. Thank you.

Hi there!

I have traveled to Italy a few times, but have always stuck to the major touristy cities and relied heavily on the Italian train system to get me to and from the cities. I am planning a family trip to Italy and my family loves drinking wine and I would love to treat them to one or two nice tuscan vineyards.

I've been searching and trying to figure out the best vineyard itinerary and am unsure of how to get from vineyard to vineyard and where to stay / how to get to wherever we stay. The plan is to go from Milan >> Cinque Terre >> Florence (or a smaller city closer to vineyards, if I can figure out the optimal location).

If anyone could share their suggestions and if I need to rent a car, I would greatly appreciate it! Thank you in advance!!

I'm trying to not spend too much money. For example staying at Castello Banfi for the night, which is something I saw come up a few times is out of my budget.

After cancelling our 2020 Italy trip, I've just booked a trip for spring 2022. We fly into Venice in late April and will be in the country for 21 nights before leaving from Rome. I've booked accommodations online but everything is cancellable so I'd love to know you suggest any changes to my itinerary. And I have a few questions. Any input would be much appreciated as I've never been to Italy!

Here's what I've booked:

3 nights Venice - Wander, see Doge's palace & St. Mark's Square

3 nights in Sirmione, Lake Garda - explore Roman ruins, drive around lake, maybe boat trip to Isola del Garde

3 Nights in Florence - Museums & sights. Rent car when leaving & drive to Montepulciano via Chianti.

3 Nights in Montepulciano - Wine tasting, explore hill towns in Tuscany (& maybe hot springs?)

4 Nights in Sorrento (day trips to Capri & Amalfi Coast & maybe Pompeii, but that would be all the days and I want to just relax & wander in Sorrento too)

4 Nights in Rome - Colosseum, Vatican, and maybe day trip to Tivoli or Ninfa Gardens (though my husband won't be that excited about the latter so may skip it)

Does this look like a good number of days / nights in each place?

Also, I have a few other questions... From Venice to Sirmione - Would I be better off to simply take the train from Venice to Desenzano and rent a car there, meaning I could drop it at the end of my Sirmione stay and not pay one-way charge? Or rent a car in Venice and drive to Desenzano? And when we leave Montepulciano to go to Sorrento, am I better off dropping the car in Chiusi and taking train from there to Sorrento, or driving back to Florence & dropping it there, taking the high-speed traing?

Or should I re-order the whole trip, driving from Venice to Sirmione and then to Montepulciano, then take the car back to Florence, spend 3 nights there and then train to Sorrento?

I've noticed that a lot of accommodations are booking up already for next spring so if my itinerary isn't logical, I want to switch it around now while there's lots of options. I know there's plenty of time for booking cars & trains, but does the order make sense? Thanks in advance for any input!!

Due to the unique current offerings airline wise we have 6 nights/7 days in Sicily as part of a broader trip. We fly into Catania midday day 1, and our departure is from Palermo at 8pm, offering a near full-day in Palermo on day 7 (with bags safely stored with our hotel)

My dilemma is allocating the 6th night.

So far we’ve settled on 2 nights in Ortigia, 2 in Taormina, 1 in Palermo. For our 6th night I cannot determine if we should devote 3 nights to Ortigia as our base to have more time for places such as Noto etc or place a 2nd night to Palermo to have 2 full nights between transfers.

My current thinking if 3/2/1 is arrive Catania middday day 1, head to Ortigia and spend afternoon/evening there.

Day 2 - visit Noto, Ragusa, Marzememi or so one (1-2 of these).

Day 3 - visit another couple of places

Day 4- drive to Taormina, staying there.

Day 5 - visit Etna or gorges etc

Day 6 - to Palermo, spending part of the day in Cefalu

Day 7 - Palermo till leave for our flight late in day.

Is this a wise itinerary or should we forego the 2nd day of exploring behind Syracuse in favor of 2 nights based in Palermo?

I'd love to head to San Marino after Florence in October. I can't afford a private tour. Are there any group trips that head there? Or an easy way to do it myself? I have no interest in driving there myself, but wouldn't mind exploring San Marino solo once I'm there.

We are thinking about going to the Ravello Music Festival--see the concert on Sat. Aug 21. However, given the roads I am a bit worried driving back from the Festival to our hotel in Sorrento, probably at 10 pm or later on Saturday night. I haven't booked the music festival tickets because I would love your advice. The hotel is non-refundable (yes, I am regretting that already!) and too much to not use.