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Day trip from Florence- Chianti? Lucca? Other idea?

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Looking for a Florence adjacent activity. Current Itinerary is as follows:

Day 1

Arrive via train at noon, drop bags, lunch

wander - portions of RS walking tour

3pm Duomo climb

Other activities in Brunnelleschi pass

Day 2

Mercato Centrale

10am Accademia - skip the line

Hit the rest of Bunnelleschi pass attractions

2:30 Uffizi

Wander (suggestions?)

7:30 dinner reservation (near Ponte Veccio)

Day 3

Wide open, but this day will include my daughter who will have been in Florence 12 weeks and hit most attractions. I'd like to do something outside the city. Ideally, I'd like to mix up what we see - I fear being muesum'd and church'd out

I'd love seaside option but am striking out -- also trip is early April so not the warmest. Cinque Terre was top choice, but seems insane and is now off list. We will have already been to Orvieto and and Venice earlier in the week.

There are 1/2 day winery tours tours to Chianti that could work. However, I know people don't like Viator much Any recommended companies? Reviews are either wonderful or terrible It seems like you really roll the dice.

Lucca on our own? Siena could work also but not really that interested in Pisa.

Am I missing something? Rent a car for the day? Though its not my favorite option.

Will likely wait to lock this free day in until much closer to travel time. My daughter may hit Lucca on her with her class before I arrive and I don't want to repeat with her. That said, multiple ideas are welcome.

Thanks!

Posted by
11500 posts

Siena makes the most sense. Beautiful town, historic. Then visit the Chianti villages( Castellina, Radda, Panzano, Greve etc. on your way back to Florence.A car rental would offer more flexibility.

Posted by
115 posts

Thank you Suki - Could this (or portions) be accomplished via train. We are all accustomed to city walking - distances, hills, etc. Thanks

Posted by
297 posts

If you're interested in wine tours, we've done two with Grape Tours and really enjoyed both. They have both half and full day options.

Posted by
1239 posts

Siena is very easily accessible by bus so no need to rent a car. You can easily spend the day there.

Posted by
1635 posts

Generally I would not consider wise to spend a day out of 2 and 1/2 tripping out of town, but I understand your concern with your daughter. Siena is an obvious choice, but there are some less than obvious: with a fast train, Bologna is only 35 minutes from Florence, so closer time-wise than Siena. And Rome is 1 hour 40 minutes, so as distant as Siena, time-wise. I remember a day trip with my wife, years ago: a glimpse to St. Peter's, a visit to Castel S. Angelo, Piazza Navona that still had its Xmas market, the Church of S. Andrea della Valle (you have to be an opera buff to understand what links Castel S. Angelo to S. Andrea della Valle), lunch, a glimpse to Colosseum and back to Florence where we live. We did really see little, but the trip is still vivid in my mind.

Posted by
10544 posts

Without a car my two suggestions would be Siena (bus is better than train) and Lucca (train) as both can give you a full day of sightseeing and are worth seeing. If you choose Lucca you might consider renting bikes to ride on the wall, or at least walk it.

Posted by
115 posts

Thank you all...

The grape tour site looks wonderful -- perhaps a tad outside the budget (and that may be why I'm seeing mixed reviews of the tours I've already investigated. they are less "well-heeled")

I probably should've mentioned that my daughter's curriculum includes field trips to: rome, naples, bologna, balzano, vienna, and parma

This, plus geography has dictated my plans (land in rome, orvierto, venice, florence, depart florence)

She's already hit pisa (she LOVED, so much for all the pisa negativity) on her own and now has plans for a weekend in cinque terre.

anyway, I've got no real opposition to siena - i just think she might get there on her own and i think may be similar activities. The walls of Lucca intrigue me - hoping she skips it til we arrive.

or

I also think a chianti/wine activity could round thing out. however, I fear bad tour and not sure i'm going to comfortable with car rental. in a perfect world this would all work on a train.

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