My wife and I will be in Italy from Sept 9 to Oct 7. When we are in Florence we want to take some trips to the nearby hill towns. I am reading Rick Steves' travel book on Tuscany so I have some info. I gather that the regional bus line offers faster service from Florence to Sienna, Montepulciano, etc and wonder what experience people have with getting to these towns by bus or train. I have decided not to rent a car but just in case , I have a international drivers lic.
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San Francisco Bay Area (USA)
16242 posts
Siena is an easy bus trip. Also Siena's historical center is largely closed to non residents' cars, therefore a car would not be of much use.
Most other towns can be reached by bus (some also by train, such as Certaldo, Arezzo, Lucca, etc.), however I recommend renting a car for visiting smaller villages more efficiently as public transport is less frequent to smaller towns.