We are planning 9 days in Florence/Tuscany between our Rome and Venice stays as part of our first trip to Italy.
We are thinking of dividing our time between Florence, so we can do Pisa and Cinque Terre etc and would like several days in a smaller town. Looking for recommendation on a smaller town that would have enough things to do or be able to do day trips by bus or train.
Thank you
Without a car, you might consider staying in one of the larger cities and taking day trips by regional bus or taking tours. Tuscany travel is just more efficient via automobile since you can see so many more places..
The roads are well paved and directions well marked. Since the region is hilly, the roads just tend to be a a little crooked.
In relying on public transportation, realize that the smaller towns are generally served by bus and the connections are often not the most convenient. If you stay in Florence you can make day trips in various directions (e.g., Pisa one day, San Gemignano and/or Volterra another day, Siena another).
If you stay in a smaller town, it will be a hassle to make connections to other places, so you'd want to choose one that's enjoyable on its own and offers things of interest to you.
The major exception to this is Cinque Terre, which according to all advice is best visited by train.
The book "Cento Citta" by a NY Times travel writer is 25 years old but still may give you some inspiration. https://www.amazon.com/Cento-Citta-Guide-Hundred-Cities/dp/0805014659
I love that book!
If you stay in Firenze for five nights, you could spend the rest in Umbria (choose from Assisi, Perugia, or other locations with good bus/rail connections. If you prefer to stay in Firenze the whole time, there are many daytrips (Volterra, Lucca, Arezzo, Siena), any of which could be a 2-night stop or a daytrip. Fiesole and Pistoia are also easy to reach.
Or spend a couple of nights in Orvieto on your way to Roma.
For your small town stay a rental car is best. If not renting a car then use Florence as your base, as Florence is the transport hub. You cold also split your stay between Florence and Siena for a few nights. Siena is a good transportation hub for the Val d'Orcia (Montepulciano, Pienza, Buonconvento, etc.).
The Alta Val d'Elsa (Upper Elsa Valley), like Colle Val D'Elsa, San Gimignano, Barberino, Certaldo, and the Chianti Hills are half way between Florence and Siena and can be easily reached from either city.
Or consider staying in Bologna between Venice and Florence. No, it's not a small town, but it doesn't get a lot of tourists, so it's "low key" (interesting, but not major, sights) with lots of restaurants and you can easily stay within walking distance of the historic center in one direction and the train station in the other, for day trips to more places than you can shake a stick at - Ferrara, Ravenna, Padua, Parma to name a few.
florence is your best bet as you can connect with tours for smaller towns and do independent day trips easily to Lucca, Pisa, Siena, Arrezo. The smaller hill towns of Tuscany are not well served by public transport and you really need a car or a tour to visit them and their regions.
Thanks for all the great suggestions. We decided to stay in Florence and do day trips out of there since it is so central and easy transport available.
Now we are looking for accommodations in Venice. (See separate post)
Cheers,
I would not see Cinque Terre as a day trip from Florence. If you want to go there (and with 9 days in the region you should) ; spend a couple of nights in one of the Cinque Terre towns.
Once you do that you may not want a 3rd Tuscan base and no other town for day trips by train or bus works better than Florence anyway so Florence is logistically always best.
Some of the other towns you could make work but not sure they would be considered small towns, like Siena for example, there are both buses and trains that leave from there to other towns.
The smaller towns would be tough as most won't be served by train and the bus schedules operate more for commuters than tourists.
I agree that Cinque Terra deserves more than a day trip from Florence. Earlier this year, I trained to Monterroso (one of the 5 Cinque Terras) from Venice, and stayed two nights. I used my full day just to lie around the beach, float in the water, generally decompress from 4 weeks of France and italy travel. Next year, I'm spending three nights there. While there's not a lot to do (e.g. no museums) there is a lovely little town center, and next time, I'll use the 2nd full day to hike or boat ride between the other towns.
Train travel from Florence to Cinque Terra is easy. But know that the trains don't stop for long, so get ready to get off!
have fun
