Planning to stay 4 nights in the Florence area. I have Marriott points available and wanted to know if it's worth staying at the Renaissance Tuscany in Barga Lucca? Many of you have suggested Florence as a good place to spend some time. Is this too far out of the way? Looks like its located in the mountains. Hotel site lists "ideal spot to discover Tuscany with connections to Lucca, Pisa & Florence."
Thanks,
Jamie
Hi Jamie, I checked out your hotel website and looked at their free shuttle service which takes you to the nearest train station in Barga-Gallicano. The train from there to Florence involves stopping in Lucca to connect onto another train. The total travel time to Florence is over 2.5 hours which makes it doable as a day trip, but 5 hours of train travel in one day doesn't leave much time for sightseeing. So I would say that it is too far out of the way if your objective is to visit Florence. Also, the website says that it's 130 euros for a taxi from the Pisa airport to your hotel. If you do decide to stay there, you might want to consider renting a car since the hotel seems fairly isolated.
We are using our Marriott points at that hotel for 4 nights in September. We have never been there, we plan to use it as a relaxing stop in the middle of a almost 3 week trip to Italy. We plan to visit Luca while there, and maybe Pisa. We are renting a car only while in Tuscany. Enjoy your trip. We are looking forward to ours!
Laura
We used points also and stayed at this resort for two nights last year. We hadn't originally planned to visit this part of Italy, but after being extremely disappointed with Lake Garda, we decided to go to Barga and use points. What a great decision! This property is very unique and has gorgeous valley views. It's about 30 minutes driving from Lucca and it's not actually in the village of Barga. It sits across a valley and looks at Barga. You definitely need a car for this part of Tuscany. We do highly recommend it though. We just loved Barga.
Good to know April! Thanks, glad we made the decision to use some points there.
Thanks for your responses!
We're heading there in July and decided Florence isn't doable while there, but are looking forward to adapting to the countryside pace and taking things slow. We'll be cooking in Lucca and hope to find a winery somewhere nearby as well as visiting and trying to mingle with the locals in Barga. If you really want to see Florence, there's a Marriott there too - it just doesn't look as appealing as the one in Tuscany.
~~Lisa
