Starting Italy trip in Orvieto staying 5 nights in bed &breakfast in Orvieto touring Umbria and southern Tuscany with car. Spending 6 nights before returning to Rome. Would like to visit Florence for a day and if possible Cinque terre. Should I base myself in Siena or Volterra
Posted by
San Francisco Bay Area (USA)
17027 posts
Anywhere in a small town or agriturismo (farmhouse) in the vicinity of Colle Val d’Elsa (or even Colle VE itself), as close as possible to an entrance to the Siena-Florence freeway. You can peruse Google Maps to see some and then search further on their websites.
From Colle Val D’Elsa everything important will be less than 30-45 minutes away (Siena, Monteriggioni, Chianti, Florence, Volterra, San Gimignano, Certaldo, etc.).
The Cinque Terre is not near anything however. To reach Riomaggiore by car you will need at the very least 2.5 hrs, so not an ideal day trip.
Posted by
9327 posts
We did a Road Scholar tour that had us based in Siena. We visited several small cities or towns in Tuscany. We did visit Volterra.
Siena is a much larger city than Volterra. There is lots to see and do in Siena. Volterra is small and as I remember high up on a hill.
I enjoyed staying in Siena and preferred that to stay ing in Volterra.
Posted by
California
1627 posts
We stayed in Montecatini, we had a car and chose to take the train into Florence and drove to Cinque Terre parking in La Spezia and took the train into the villages.