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commute in Val d orcia

Hi,

This is Suchismita, I and my sister are travelling to Italy(We are in our early 30s). We are staying in Siena for 3 days. We want to visit Val d'orcia region in Tuscany, We really wanted to see the rolling hills with its beautiful wine fields and the essential tuscan feel that we have seen in movies so far. It was a long dream for both of us to be able to visit Tuscany one day. We have been to the Florence and Pisa before but never were able to visit the villages. We selected Montepulciano along with Pienza and Montalcino in the region (again based on limited knowledge). We donot have a car, nor do we know how to drive, so we will be solely dependent on the public transport for the trip. We have the 15th of September, 2019, when we want to visit these places. We have a few questions regarding the same. Any help will be great in our planning.

1) Is there any direct Bus or train connecting Siena to Montepulciano or Pienza or Montalcino. If so, Can anyone please let us know the timetables for the bus or train. As 15th Sept is a Sunday, will the frequency be good?

2) By choosing three places to visit in one day, are we putting too many? or is it ok? I ask this as I saw even though Pienza and Montepulciano are in the same route, Montalcino is not.SO doe we need to drop one for the other.

4) Again on the same note, Is it easy to connect between Montepulciano, Pienza and Montalcino, by using public transport? If not, is there a possibility of including any other place in the plan by taking out some.

5) By visiting these places, are we doing justice to our seeing the Val d'orcia region? Will we be able to see the Tuscan landscape while we visit these towns or not?

6) We also like to add that we searched for tour groups that can take us to these places. First, we did not find one that can take us on 15th September. Second, mostly they were wine or food tours, which we are not that much interested in. we want to see the landscape and be able to have time in individual places to see them properly. we believe having to go on a food tour will deviate the purpose and maximum time will be spent on attending the food or winery leaving less time to the destination.

We would really like to know of a tour group that can take us to the Val d'orcia region and show the peaceful countryside without any winery visit.

thanks and regards

Regards,

Dr. Suchismita Sahoo

Posted by
13 posts

Thank you so much for the link. I also wanted to understand if the timetable or bus schedules as mentioned are the same on weekends and on a Sunday, as that is not mentioned anywhere.

Posted by
1525 posts

There are different schedules: feriale is for working days, festivo for Sundays and other festivities. The Sunday schedule is severely reduced - on some lines there may not be any service at all.

Posted by
2168 posts

I'm sorry to have to say that visiting more than one town in a day might be difficult with the buses. The schedules are not as frequent as we would wish. I've been to the three places you mentioned, and I would prioritize Pienza first, then Montepulciano. Traveling from Siena to either or both of these locales will give you many wonderful views of the region. San Quirico d'Orcia is another town we enjoyed seeing, less touristed than any of the others mentioned and possibly easier to reach.

Posted by
13 posts

Thank you so much. We might think of just doing pienza and if time and buses permit one to montepulciano.