A week in Tuscany

Herbert:

The great thing about Tuscany are the hill towns. They call them hill towns because (Surprise!) they are on hills - trains do not like to go up hills - and trains only go where the tracks go - so I prefer a car. I am sure that many will disagree with me - and I am just as certain that the train worked fine for them - this is just one man's opinion.

Also, I do not like packing and unpacking all the time so I tend to stay in one town (we have got into the habit of renting a villa for a week - a real bargain if you take the time to pencil it out) and take day trips. It does mean a little too much time in the car on some days - but on the whole my wife and I prefer having a headquarters for a whole week - much more relaxing for us.

Our favorite little Tuscan town and the one we use for our home base is Panzano - located on the "Chianti Road" exactly between Florence and Siena. The little village has loads of charm - great restaurants - several local friendly wineries. It is just wonderful.

Take some time to consider how you wish to travel and start poking around on internet searches and in no time you'll put together a plan/itinerary that is just right for you.

Have fun.

I agree with Jon.

We will stay for a week in Tuscany and have booked an appartment in a historical farmhouse in the Chianti area. Comes with pool and a traditional pizza oven in the back yard :-) You do need a car for this option. But by renting an appartment for the entire week we save quite a bit of money compared to paying for a hotel in one of the bigger centres like Florence and that buys us the rental car and the flexibility to explore the country side with its hilltowns AND Florence or Siena. And we don't have the hassle of packing and unpacking every day.

We plan to see Florence, Siena, Lucca, Vnci, San Gimignano, Montepulciano, a hill town ... and will probably decide spontanously on the "exact" itinerary once we are there. That's the beauty of staying in one place: your itinerary doesn't have to be fixed in advance. Only our day in Florence is set because we got ticket reservations for Uffizi and Academia.

For planning purposes: if you rent an appartment for a week in Tuscany instead of a hotel room be aware that most places will only rent from Saturday to Saturday in high season. More flexibility in low season (or you just have to search a bit more).

Herbert,
While what is best depends on what you like, I like the Val d'Orcia, southern Tuscany. This is one of the most beatiful areas of Italy. A car is required to see most of the area. For ideas on what to see http://www.slowtrav.com/italy/tuscany/hs_planning.htm