How can I get to the hiking destination if I do not own a car?

Even if you do not own a car, you might be able to join some of our hiking destinations that are not accessible by public transport.

First, we facilitate car pooling. If you happen to know somebody with a car, they might even be able to get a significant discount on the hiking experience if they are willing to share their car with other participants. If so, please get in touch via chat, Whatsapp (+39 351 70 60 636) or email ([email protected]).

However, if no other participants are available and you do not own a car, but still want to join, here are some possible alternatives:

Car Sharing: Enjoy

Enjoy is a car sharing service by ENI, which is available in Rome and other major cities in Italy. It offers fair rates and off-season promotions. Currently, you can get a car for 24 hours at a fare of 49€, including 150km, with insurance and fuel included. During some promotions you might even be able to get a car for 39€. For any additional kilometer, you simply pay a surplus of 0.29€/km.

• Sign up to the app as soon as possible, as verifying and approving your documents (driver's licence etc.) can take some time. 
• Don't forget to select the daily rate, as otherwise you will be charged by the minute and kilometer!
  
• We suggest searching and unlocking the car on the evening before the hike. That way you don't have to search for a car on the same morning that we are about to go hiking. Also, that gives you the option to refuse a car and get an alternative ahead of time (e.g. in case it is very dirty, or something doesn't work). 
• Make sure your phone is always charged and connect the car via Bluetooth. This ensures that the car will also start without problems in remote areas without signal (which is usually required to start the car).
  

More information is available here: https://enjoy.eni.com/en/roma/home

Car Sharing: Car2Go / ShareNow

ShareNow (formerly Car2Go) is a car sharing service by BMW Group, which is available in Rome and other major cities in Italy. Currently, this car sharing service is more expensive than Enjoy. You can get a car for 24 hours at a fare of 59,99€ + 0,19€/km, with insurance and fuel included. The cost is significantly higher than Enjoy, and might be worth it if the distance is not too far from Rome and if you can get other people to carpool with you. The fares on their website seem outdated, as they still show options of 28,98€/24 hours, which we can't confirm.

More information is available here: https://www.share-now.com/it/en/rome/

Car Pooling: BlaBlaCar

For some of the bigger destinations, you might be able to find a ride on the platform BlaBlaCar. The concept is simple: if you have a ride to offer, publish it on the platform. If you need a ride, search and see if anything is available for the town you need to get to (or close enough so that you can use a local bus to get to the destination). We have used this service without any problems, but we recommend planning for possible delays (as often the drivers also pick up other people) and to leave enough extra time to get to the trail head on time. Also, don't forget that you need to plan for your return.

More information is available here: https://www.blablacar.co.uk (The URL is for the UK, but the destinations are international and include Italy).

Classic Rental Car:

Renting a car with one of the more classical car rental companies (Hertz, Europcar etc.) can get expensive really quickly and has some downsides, e.g. most rentals require a credit card, while you can use many of the car sharing providers, including the ones above, with PayPal and other payment methods and often you need to queue up to get your car (on peak days even an hour or more).

To find the best deals and to avoid surprises, we prefer to book with https://www.rentalcars.com

The advantage is that you'll find the best deals, the right car size (you can't specify a precise car model, but a "category" of car, e.g. small, station wagon, SUV) and you can define from where you want to pick up the car (e.g. Termini Train Station, Fiumicino Airport, Ciampino Airport).

Secret tip:

We found that renting a car from Ciampino Train station is often much cheaper compared to other pickup locations. While getting there requires some extra planning (you can use the subway to get to Cinecittà and take a 520 ATAC bus to Ciampino (with the same public transport ticket that you used on the subway), the fares often are almost half the price (e.g. with the rental company Locauto) and might be worth the extra time to get there (we recommend doing this the evening before the hike). Again, all this might be even more convenient if you can offer car pooling to other participants to share the cost.

Extra tip:

Some rental companies allow you to book the car at one pick up location, but then allow you to return the car at a more convenient location at no extra cost. It's always worth asking if this is possible at the counter.

Long term rental:

Sometimes it's cheaper to get a car for a few days, if you need it for other trips as well. This is true for the classical rentals, but especially for companies specialized in long term rentals.

The advantage is that you can reduce costs dramatically if you need a car for several days. The disadvantage is often that these companies are in remote locations, they have a less "automated" approach (e.g. you need to request a quote on a case to case basis) and the prices are a bit less transparent, however often the fares are much more competitive.

One such company is Cammarent, one of their offices is located on the Via Cassia: https://www.cammarent.it/la-flotta-auto/ 

Taxi:

The last option, albeit not always available, is renting a taxi/cab. While it's not convenient or very expensive to get a ride from Rome to your destination, it could make sense to research taxis in the area where you're planning to hike. One option would be then to take a train to the closest train station possible, and then call a taxi. One obvious downside is that not all areas will have a taxi company, and if they do their availability might be limited, especially in smaller towns. On this page you can find several options for the various provinces and cities in Lazio: https://www.3570.it/services

Again, this option is probably more feasible if the cost is shared with others, but this last option certainly requires extra planning.

These are all the options we have tried and tested ourselves. When in doubt, don't hesitate to get in touch with us via chat, Whatsapp (+39 351 70 60 636) or Email ([email protected])