My 60 year old mom and I (30yo) will be spending 8 full days in Florence at the end of April 2018. We plan on making Florence our home base and doing some day trips from Florence. We have separately been to Rome, Cinque Terre and Venice and want to stay close to Florence. We will not be renting a car and will rely on public transportation or tours to get around. We want to do a day trip from Florence to a small/medium town (something in between San Gimignano and Sienna?)w with a view of the rolling tuscan hills. My mom is not a wine aficionado so tours that are strictly wine tasting are out. Anyone have a suggestion? Thank you in advance!
Posted by
Huntington Beach CA
1163 posts
How about Pisa and/or Lucca? It’s easy to do it yourself, have you got the RS Italy book? We followed Rick’s instructions and was able to make the trip ourselves quite easily.
Posted by
San Francisco Bay Area (USA)
16209 posts
Here are some (each bullet is a separate day trip)
-Siena
-Lucca+Pisa
-Cortona+Arezzo
-Pistoia (+possibly Montecatini)
-San Gimignano+possibly Certaldo.
Also Fiesole, on the hill above Florence (but one afternoon and evening is enough)
Posted by
Sydney, NSW, Australia
61 posts
Our family caught the train from Florence to Pisa and then on to Lucca. It was lovely to walk the walls around Lucca late in the afternoon ( some family members hired bikes and rode around the wall). It was quite a long day ( we went to the Tower and had lunch in Pisa), but it was a wonderful one! We loved Lucca!
Posted by
8460 posts
We did San Gimignano and Siena.
Posted by
OP
12 posts
thank you everyone. Love the suggestions. I will check out the Rick Steves book on how to get to Lucca. Thanks everyone. I will forward your ideas to my mom!
Posted by
Sunriver
1321 posts
Take the train to Bologna. Great town, great food. You could take a food tour
Posted by
martinez, ca, usa
2429 posts
Hi Thinnesbrownwedding
I'll just add a few other things to think about. Take a cooking class, we did which was fun, a food tour "eatingitaly.com" has some things. In lucca is chefpaolo-cookingtours.com has a half day class. Taking the train for morning and after can walk the walled city. Also near lucca is the town of collodi, pinocchio's home. They have a park in honor of him "discovertuscany.com" under tuscany for kids (i know not a kid) but talks about the beautiful garzoni gardens and butterfly house. There is the famous "butcher "dario cecchini" that has his shop in panzano in chianti, something different to see, taking a bus from florence there for a day trip. These are not so wine orientated and wanting you and mom to enjoy and have fun. Wish my mom was still alive so i could do this with her, thanks for caring this way about mom. Happy travels
Aloha Princess Pupule
Posted by
west Chester, PA
372 posts
Lucca with visit to Pisa is a great day trip via regional train. You can easily take a public bus to Siena and if you go to Piazza Roma (by the Accademia) catch a bus to Fiesole for a breathtaking view of the Florentine valley, especially at sunset. Have fun with your trip!