We are returning to Italy for twenty four days, leaving September first, and will divide our time between Rome, the Amalfi Coast, Sienna (Tuscany) and the Cinque Terre. We are familiar with all locations except our stay in Tuscany. We are staying in Sienna for seven nights and will go from there to re-visit Florence for one day. Other days we thought we could use a rental car to explore Tuscany from Sienna, (as we have done before all through Provence/Nice Coastline) but are asking for your suggestions. Also, I need information on getting from Sienna to our final destination in the Cinque Terre....no doubt, through La Spezia. by train?
Posted by
Hendersonville, NC
247 posts
Pam, From Siena to Cinque terre you would take the train. Change trains in Pisa 45min away at Empoli. It about 1.5hr from Pisa to La Spezia. If your going to stay in Siena as a home base you could take the bus for a day trip to Montalcino, Pienza and Montepulciano. In the other direction bus to San Gimignano. That is unless you really want to rent the car.
Posted by
OP
Hillsboro, TX, United States
18 posts
Thank you, Jo, for the information on getting to La Spezia. I had heard that it's sometimes easier to go places from Sienna by bus rather than train and wondered about getting to the Cinque Terre. When we stayed in Provence for a month, we really enjoyed having a rental car to drive the countryside and see the small towns, etc. along the way. I thought that, perhaps, it would be the same in Tuscany.
Posted by
In the Mountains, USA
689 posts
Pamela,
A car in Tuscany is a must in our opinion. While you can see many areas by public transit -a car helps you keep own time tables!
Posted by
OP
Hillsboro, TX, United States
18 posts
Thank you, Sally. I think we'll rent a car for the week that we're in Tuscany....cheaper by the week and other than the time we spend in Sienna and the day in Florence, we'll enjoy the area by car. If you have any suggestions of small towns or areas not to miss, please post.
Posted by
Alta Loma, CA, USA
1446 posts
HI Pamela. I think Volterra is a must. If I remember correctly, it's about an hour drive (or less) from Siena. There are a lot of interesting things to do there including the Etruscan Museum full of interesting artifacts. It's a nice little town to walk around. We had a half-day tour with Annie Adair (in Rick's video about Volterra) & we found it to be very informative.
In regards to getting to the CT, we drove from Siena to Lucca, spent a day & night there & then the next morning we drove to La Spezia, dropped the car off & took the train to the CT. It worked out well. Lucca is an interesting town as well & is on the way to the CT. If we had visited it from Siena, it would have been a 2-hr drive each way. You might consider cutting 1 day from Siena & visiting Lucca on your way to the CT. Just a thought.
Have a wonderful trip. I am SO jealous. We went to Italy last year in September as well & as this September is approaching, I keep thinking about how excited I was last year at this time! Time to plan another trip to Italy.
Posted by
Atlanta, Ga
211 posts
Hard to go wrong with any town that Rick suggests in his books and videos.
Our favorites--all just an hour or so from Siena include:
For the wine--Greve, Castellina and Radda in Chianti (north) and especially Montalcino (south) (probably our overall favorite).
Pienza and Montepulciano are easy to do together.
Volterra and San Gigim are easy to do together.
Another alternative with the great central location you have is to simply take a different main route in a different direction out of town each day and explore. You will eventually run into all of the above.
Several good books at Barnes and Noble by Frommer's and others that are just about driving trips in Tuscany. That would be a good starting place other than Rick's info.
We will be driving around Tuscany from Sept 6 to Sept 15, so PM me if you want to talk in more detail.
We are big fans of driving. You will have a great time.
Posted by
OP
Hillsboro, TX, United States
18 posts
Sheron: I really like your suggestion about taking the rental to Lucca and then, turning it in at La Spezia. We have our hotel reservations in Sienna from nights from September 11-17, but kept the night of the 18th open to decide what we wanted to do with that night. I think we'll use that day/night to do exactly what you suggested and then, get to the hotel in Vernazza for that reservation. Because we use our air miles for free flights, I have to book my trips almost one year in advance. We've already decided to return to Italy next September and take sixteen days to do the Italian Riviera from Cinque Terre north and then, work our way over to Venice where we're already booked on a ten-day cruise to the Greek Isles. I'll get the airfare right after we return from this trip. We hope we'll be able to continue going to Europe every September.....only being able to do it because of learning how to travel inexpensively. Thank you for your help.
Skip: Your suggestion about taking a different route each day is exactly what we did a few years ago in Provence and that fits our style perfectly. My husband just gave me Eyewitness Travel's Back Roads to Italy and I will start reading that today. With the suggestions here and all the other info, I'm feeling more comfortable every day. We'll be in Tuscany at the same time; so, I hope you enjoy every minute of your trip, too!