Rental Car Europe

[dlferree]

It was mentioned in another post that they would not rent a car to drive in Rome. We are making a two week trip to Europe, one week near Rome and one week in Paris. During our Italy week we will be staying in Capalbio, approximately 1 1/2 drive from Rome. With that info would you recommend we rent a car or would you use public transportation. We currently plan to use public transportation in Paris, but are willing to reconsider if need to.

Thanks,
Dave

 

[Passepartout]

I would NOT drive in Italy. Period. Full Stop. They are super aggressive, streets are narrow. Parking is all but non-existent. Cars are banned in most inner cities. The vast majority of cars are manual. Leave the driving to someone else.

Jim

 

[beejaybee]

Is all your time in Capalbio going to be spent going to Rome or are you planning on visiting the countryside?
As Jim cautions driving in Italy has drawbacks. For example, we got ticketed in Pisa for parking where we shouldn't and 2x in Lucca for entering the Zona Prohibita and parking where we shouldn't. During our visits to Rome and Florence we stayed in those cities and didn't rent cars.
The rental car companies track you down and besides paying for the violations, those companies charge a fee for finding you were the guilty renter!

 

[geist1223]

I have driven in Spain, France, Germany (including East Germany before the Wall came down), Denmark, Norway, Sweden, all 3 Benelux Countries, England, Wales, Scotland, Ireland, Mexico, Canada, New Zealand, and Australia. I will not drive in Italy. ¿Enough said?

 

[K2Quick]

I've driven rental cars a couple of times in Italy without any problem. The vast majority of that driving was in rural areas where it doesn't feel really any different than driving in Germany or Austria. I would never drive the car in a major city in Italy, though. In those cases, I'd just drive to a town on the outskirts and take the train in from there. It will be cheaper and less stressful from that point.

 

[dlferree]

Is all your time in Capalbio going to be spent going to Rome or are you planning on visiting the countryside?
As Jim cautions driving in Italy has drawbacks. For example, we got ticketed in Pisa for parking where we shouldn't and 2x in Lucca for entering the Zona Prohibita and parking where we shouldn't. During our visits to Rome and Florence we stayed in those cities and didn't rent cars.
The rental car companies track you down and besides paying for the violations, those companies charge a fee for finding you were the guilty renter!

We plan on one or two days in Rome, maybe one in Pisa, the rest exploring the area around Capalbio. Is the public transportation adequate for our needs. Never been to Europe before.

Thanks for all of your replys.

 

[Hindsite]

We drove in Italy in September, picking up a car from Rome airport and then heading north of Rome about an hour. That's all fine, quite pleasant and we had no problem touring the local area or parking in local towns etc. I would not take a car into Rome, but its quite sensible to drive or take a bus to the local train station to get the train into Rome.

My experiences, over many years, in Rome have been poor in relation to the pickpocket risk. I just won't go at all anymore, please be super, super vigilant as the deception and co-ordination of the gangs is high. They will barge you in a crowd to separate you from the rest of your group so you end up separated on the subway, they will separate you on an escalator and an apparently old woman with a baby in her arms actually has a fake baby and her hands are free to rob you. Back many decades ago they used to rob you by having a large sheet of cardboard and wrapping it round you to hold your arms while they emptied your pockets. I've not been robbed, but just don't need the effort of the hypervigilance I feel the need of in Rome, there are many other beautiful places to go that don't require it.

 

[dlferree]

Thank you all for your responses. After reading your responses and an internet search about driving near Rome, I decided not to rent a car. I contacted the resort and asked about getting around without a car and they highly recommended renting a car as their really is no good source of public transportation near the resort. So, I'm back to renting a car while using @Hindsite"s recommendation of driving to a nearby train station and using the train to go to Rome and using the car for driving around the countryside near the resort. The trip is in April, I'll revisit this thread when I return and let everyone know how it went.

Thanks,
Dave