Florence Travel Forum

Hi, we will be taking the train from Rome to Florence but then we need to rent a car for the 4 days that we will be in the Florence area. We want to go as cheap as we can put we need something big enough to hold the 2 of us plus our 2 big suitcases. Can anyone recommend a good car rental company? Or if anyone has any tips for driving around this area we'd appreciate it. Our accommodations are approx. 30 mins from Florence so we will be driving into the city during the day and also taking a day to drive to/from Pisa. Thanks!

I Can give advice on parking...
Here is the site of the parking system of Florence (you can't go to the center by car, of course):
http://www.firenzeparcheggi.it/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=80&Itemid=43

The only time i went by car I used the Parterr park:
http://www.firenzeparcheggi.it/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=81&Itemid=30&lang=en

And it was an easy walk from the center, but choose what fits best with your arrival direction.

Hope this helps

Ciao
Francesco

Consider the possibilty of not renting a car; maybe from your accommodation you can go to Florence either by bus or train. keep in mind that renting a car means to go to Flo, pay fpr a parking for the whole day etc. From Pisa, you also can go by train: www.trenitalia.it

I agree. You can't drive into the centre of Florence, and parking will not be cheap.

Train or bus to Pisa is easy from Florence (and to Siena, Lucca, San Gimigniano etc) so (depending on where you are based) a car may not be worthwhile.

Florence-Siena, is better by bus; San Gimignano, check, maybe it's better by bus too rather than by train. In Siena, the station is far from the city centre. For Lucca and Pisa, train is excellent. You even can visit both cities the same day. I did it, and Pisa has more places to visit than just the leaning tower.

san G does not have train service, so one must use a bus. For Siena, the bus station is central while the train station is inconveniently located away from the historic center.

Should you choose to rent a car, the AutoEurope office is convenient and just one block off the river on Borgo Ognissante, an easy in and out from the west or south of the city. Just half block west of the Excelsior and Grand Hotels. We have rented there several times with no problems.

We're staying in San Polo where we've stayed before. It's south of Florence and on a farm so we need a car. We drive into Grassina and park for free at their athletic field. Then we hop on a bus right into central Florence. It's easy and inexpensive. The Florence bus terminal is right downtown where you want to go.

Ask the folks where you are staying and I bet they do something similar. The only problem we've ever had was on market day in Grassina when the parking lot was turned into a market but even that day we found a place.

You don't want to drive into Florence; parking is too expensive and it's not much fun fighting traffic either.

Do not rent a car in Florence. We rented a car a toured all over Italy. Florence was a nightmare. People take 2 lanes of traffic and scooters make their own lanes. We finally parked our car which was very expensive and walked. We saw so many accidents. People hit and keep going.