Day trip from Florence. Pisa or...?

Gee, lots of possibilities! Consider Siena, San Gimignano, even Orvieto, along with Lucca. Any one would be more satisfying than Pisa, I think, although you could go to Lucca and make a stop in Pisa while going or returning. Or, consider a day-long wine tour, which might involve a couple of nearby towns, wineries, maybe a country abbey.

Lucca is Roman, visit Lucca and walk the wall around the city. Montecatini Terme, I have been told, was a Roman spa and outpost for retired legionaries. Montecatini Alto is a cute hill town just north of the city. Both of these are simple and easy train rides from Florence. If you go south Siena, Monteriggioni, San Gimi, Certaldo, are all good.

A hill town is a distinct possibility.

We are going to Tuscany in December.
Pisa/Lucca would be great choices. Also research Sienna and Montepulchiano. Either are a short train ride from Florence.

If you like Medieval, then these medieval fortified 'borghi' (villages) are the most obvious destinations, all close to one another:
San Gimignano, Certaldo, Monteriggioni. A car would be useful for these small towns, as buses may not be very frequent.

We took the Best of Tuscany tour with walkaboutflorence.com. The bus leaves from SMN in Florence and goes to Siena, lunch at a Tuscan farm/winery, San Gimignano and finally Pisa. It was a long day but we packed in a lot.

Volterra. Love, love, love Volterra. Recently spent 3 days there. Yes, very medieval, not Renaissance. Only hiccup: best way there, I think, is train to bus, so 2 - 2 1/2 hrs each way. But if you get started early in the morning, you will have a magnificent day. Rick currently calls it his "favorite Tuscan hill town" (or something similar). See his Tuscany book.

Start out early from Florence for Pisa, and spend the morning at the Piazza dei Miracoli visiting the Leaning Tower. Move on to Lucca for the afternoon/evening, taking a late train back to Florence after dinner.

Thanks for the suggestions.

Renting a car in Florence...easy? Very expensive? Time to do some googling.

all rental vehicles come with the same old list of possible headaches. Don't get caught driving in the ZTL or you'll get a big fine. Don't scratch or dent or DEFINITELY not a wreck. Parking is horribly difficult in the city centers like Florence. Don't speed, take plenty of Euros for all of the myriad of tolls you'll be paying. DOn't forget to budget for petrol at 1.83 Euro per litre which is about $7.90 per gallon unleaded.

Yes, rental cars are not all they're cracked up to be. But I know most American's just can't function without a rental vehicle attached to their sides (or at least they think they can't).

Tim is trying to discourage you from renting a car. While it is true that a car in Florence itself is not needed and actually it is a nuisance, however if you intend to visit the countryside or the small towns of Tuscany, a car is the most efficient way to do it.

Let's analyze the towns, that most people above, including me, suggested you to visit (in order of popularity): San Gimignano, Volterra, Monteriggioni, Certaldo. I've limited the list to these, because they are reasonably close to each other, and you could actually visit all of them in the same day.

To go to these towns, you will incur little or no toll costs (depending on where you pick up your rental). At most you'd spend 70 eurocents, that is the toll from the Firenze-Scandicci entrance to the Firenze-Impruneta Exit, if let's say you pick up your car at the Hertz station on via del Sansovino and proceed to the above towns. If you want to return the car to the airport (that location stays open until midnight, in case you want to return the car as late as possible), the toll from Firenze-Impruneta entrance to the Firenze-Nord exit is €1.50.

The price of fuel, like in America has gone down lately. As of today prices are under €1.40/lt (equivalent to $6.15/US gallon) for gasoline (benzina in Italian). But most cars there are diesel, which are more fuel efficient, and diesel fuel (gasolio, in Italian) costs around €1.28/lt (equivalent to $5.60/US gallon). Fuel taxes are high, obviously, but the entire distance you'll be traveling, assuming you visit all of the above mentioned towns is under 200km (125 miles) therefore at most you'd consume 12 or 13 liters of fuel, so the entire fuel + toll costs would amount to less than 20€, hardly a fortune.

The rental car, assuming you rent through a consolidator (intermediary), like www.autoeurope.com or www.kemwel.com, often cited in this forum, will be under US$30/day, full no deductible insurance included.

To avoid incurring into fines for entering the Restricted Traffic Zone in the historical center, (Zona Traffico Limitato or ZTL) the trick is to select a rental return locations outside of the historical center. You can pick up the car in the historical center (the ZTL doesn't apply on exiting the city center), but to return the vehicle, choose a location outside of it. Since most locations open at 8am and close down at 8pm, I suggest you select to return your car at the airport. The airport rental locations close at midnight, therefore you will have more time if you return it there. As I said you can pick up the car in the historical center (all rental companies are in a street called Borgo Ognissanti), that way you can walk there, however make sure you return it at the airport, for extended hours. Don't travel on a weekend, as the lines are longer at the rental car companies and there are a lot of Italian day trippers to those towns too.

Thanks for all the info everyone! I think I'm going to skip the car, and probably the hill towns. Pisa and Lucca are enough of a day trip and there is always next time for the other parts of Italy.