Pauline is intrigued by the concept of my wife and I visiting Tuscany without a rental car. She suggested that I start a thread discussing this very topic.
My wife and I have rented a car in most of the locations we've visited in Europe. In most cases, a car was required to get to the places we really wanted to see. In some cases, a rental car was a burden. Parking, fuel, worrying about break-ins, etc impacted the fun we had on vacation.
We're heading to Italy on Sept 3. We are not renting a car this time. We have travelled around Italy by train in the past and it worked well. Our first week will be in San Gimignano. We fly into Firenze from the USA, where a driver will meet us in baggage claim to drive us to the hotel in S.G. From this "base", we plan to take the train from Poggibonsi to Firenze and other locations as day trips. The 2nd week we're in Cortona with another couple who have a car, so I guess we're cheating a little bit. :-)
I am so thrilled by the concept of stepping out of a train station and being totally free to walk anywhere I want to go. I want to force myself to not rely on a car to get me around.
Has anyone else attempting such a daring feat? Are we alone in our insanity? :-)
This message has been edited. Last edited by: Kim,
paul- your plan sounds workable to me. although i, too, usually rent or lease a car, i've made several trips without one, the most recent to france for 2 weeks this past may.
in italy, about 4 years ago, i flew into milan, took the train to florence, then took my 2 neices to rome on the train. we met my sister-in-law there, and then 3 adults and 6 children (aged 5-11) took the train to calabria where we had rented a place on the beach for a week. we could walk or take the bus to pretty much anything we wanted, and it was great. i think it's fine not to have a car in san gimignano, and you can get anywhere from poggibonsi. it's really relaxing not to have a car.
if your rental has a tv, you can access the train schedules on a channel. ask someone how to do it- it's easy, but can take a little time.
i live in the city, and although i have a car, i walk to work and walk a lot in general, so i'm also accustomed to that. it takes a little planning, especially around grocery shopping if you plan to cook. but when i'm in italy we usually shop everyday anyway, with or without a car, and i think it's pretty easy there.
it sounds really relaxing!!
Posts: 4718 | Location: Boston or Florence | Registered: 07 July 2001
My husband and I did a car-less Italy trip a few years ago. The first week we were in Rome, Florence and Venice, so that part was easy! The second week we based ourselves out of Siena and had no problems whatsoever taking buses and trains to the towns we wanted to see.
This year, we are based in Sorrento for 5 nights with no car, then train to Venice. From there we will pick up a car for exploring Tuscany. We chose to rent a car this year as we are staying at a farmhouse outside of San Gimignano, and there are many small, small towns that we plan on stopping in at our leisure.
I personally enjoy not having a car for the same reasons you mentioned. I remember one year we were supposed to pick up our rental in France and the Hertz agency was closed for the heck of it. We had to be in Colmar that evening, so had to improvise. Caught a train, and ended up being able to do all that we planned, mainly touring the wine country, via cabs, buses, & trains.
You are all making me feel like a typical American car lover and I am not (well I sort of am). We live in the center of a small town and walk out most days to our local coffee shop for morning coffee. Because we both work at home, our car sits unused many days. On our big trip to Europe in 1988, we traveled by bus and train all around mainland Europe for 4 months. Then we got a car for 5 months in England.
I loved having a car and we have had one in Europe ever since. We don't drive it everyday and we try to rent places where we can walk from the house or apartment into town. But I love the freedom of the car. No figuring out bus and train schedules, no waiting - I feel the opposite to you Paul about the car. Getting gas is easy, parking is easy (we just park a good distance away from the center of things if it looks crowded and walk the extra distance), Steve is even let me do some of the driving now and I enjoy it. Figuring out schedules and waiting and having to carry everything makes me tense!
I am happy you will have access to a car in Cortona. And that you are having a driver pick you up in Florence - we do this too on the days we arrive. We could not face driving after a flight over. On our next trip, we are having a driver pick us up at Naples airport to take us to Sorrento where we don't pick up our rental car until the end of the week. But, if I were you I would pickup a car on day 3 in San Gimignano and then keep it even while in Cortona - you don't want to spend every minute with this other couple do you?
Still, the upside to all this is - - you can write the taking the bus section for the web site! Take good notes!!
i, too, am a typical american car-lover. one of the things i love about italy is that they also love their cars!! but sometimes i like to not worry about one on vacation. it's kind of a refreshing change of pace. i dislike public transportation here, but don't mind it when i'm traveling. i also like to go to the laundrymat when i'm on vacation, but wouldn't be caught dead in one in boston! strange, but true.
re: the house in calabria, i didn't make any of the arrangements, in fact i was the only american in our little group. it was beautiful, and that part of italy is doing a lot to attract travelers. it was on the 'golfo di gioia' and i just love the name.
Posts: 4718 | Location: Boston or Florence | Registered: 07 July 2001
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