Day trips from Florence

Day trips by train will limit you a bit if Tuscany is high on your list. Buses reach a lot more places in Tuscany than does the train. Then, which direction are you interested in. There's the Lucca, Pisa, CT direction, the Siena, San Gimignano, Volterra direction, the Cortona, Perugia, Assisi direction and a day trip to Venice takes the same amount of time as a day trip to the CT. More info please.

It's our first trip to Italy so would consider towns in each of the directions mentioned. Definitely would like to see Siena. We are staying in Florence for a week so could plan more than one day trip.

For Siena, you can get there either by train or bus. The train station is almost a mile slightly downhill from the city wall. You can walk up or take a local bus. A very nice way to go is the SITA bus. The SITA bus station is about 800' SW from the main Florence train station. There, you take the SITA Corse Rapide bus which is a non-stop to Siena. This bus takes you to the city wall. They run frequently. Here's the link to the schedule. http://www.sitabus.it/sita-toscana/Firenze-Siena2010.pdf If you wish to jump over to San Gimignano, there is a local bus. I haven't been on this bus so I don't know the bus stops but, here's the link to the schedule. http://www.trainspa.it/EXTRAURBANO/130R.pdf Other suggestions could be 1) Lucca/Pisa, 2) Parma where there are nice food, cheese and ham tours, 3) the Cinque Terre. Others will also have nice suggestions.

Sally, are you interested in Italian wine? If so, I took a lovely day trip to Greve in Chianti by bus from Florence. The Verrazzano Winery was lovely. I opted for the tour with lunch and wine pairings. Very enjoyable day. Ciao! Linda

Some great cities in the area are Siena, Cortona, Arezzo. Cortona has some lovely wineries around it that you can go visit. A little further is Pisa, and Livorno if you want some beach. Venice is a really beautiful, wonderful city so if you want to head there early in the morning and come back late, that would work. Or spend one night and come back the next day.

Many thanks for the bus schedule site and for clarifying areas we might want to visit. I think we can consider at least 2 day trips to some of the places you mentioned AND also take the high speed train to Venice for a day. The wine tour sounds great, too. I'm also checking out a couple of cooking/lunch/wine tour possibilities. Anyone have a recommendation?

When we were in Florence last June we did a wine tasting bike tour through Art Viva, a company who does many walking and bike tours. We rode mountain bikes through the hillside from Florence, stopped at a lovely villa for wine tasting, then rode on to Chianti, where we had a delicious lunch. Fabulous scenery, the ride was very gentle,great wine tasting, and lunch was fabulous. Our guide was very patient, and regardless of the level of the riders, everyone was comfortable. Would definitely go again next time in Florence.
A great way to see the countryside.

If you want to see charming towns and architecture, I highly recommend Siena as a day trip by train or bus. Easy to do as others have pointed out. San Gimignano is also a neat little town (though it is more charming first thing in the morning or late afternoon / evening when there are fewer people around). http://www.lodgephoto.com/galleries/italy-tuscany-siena/ http://www.lodgephoto.com/galleries/italy-tuscany-sangimignano/

Around Cortona is the Baracchi Winery. They give a tour and a tasting session, you have the opportunity to purchase some bottles of their wine or olive oil if you'd like. They were great hosts, and it is a beautiful estate. There is also a hotel and spa and restaurant on the grounds. Expensive but worth it if you want to spend that kind of money. If not the tour itself is sufficient. It makes a great afternoon to go into Cortona and see the city, eat at a restaurant and then go do the tour at the winery. http://english.baracchiwinery.it/mediacenter/FE/home.aspx
http://english.ilfalconiere.it/mediacenter/FE/home.aspx

We just returned from a group trip to Rome and Tuscany. While in Tuscany we retained Paola Migliorini of Tuscany Tours to take us on a day trip through the Chianti wine country. She easily accommodated a dozen of us, picking us up at our villa and driving us while educating us through San Gimignano, a wine tour of Sant Appiano, lunch in Colognole and a tour of Greve in Chianti. She was lovely in all respects and very reasonably priced. It was one of the highlights of our trip. You can find her in the guidebooks or at www.florencetour.com

Pisa is a easy 1 hr trip by train.Non reserved trains are inexpensive and there are lots of them.You would need about 3 hours to walk to the Tower,see it and walk back.

Hi Sally - I just found out about this and since your husband loves train, it might be right up his alley: http://trenonatura.terresiena.it/trenonatura2011/indexUK.html I know I was planning to book for the festival on 9/24. You would have to catch the early train from Florence to Siena to catch the Nature Train but it's possible and definately looks like it's worth it. Buen viaggo!

A great day trip wine tasting/cooking class is available from Accidental Tourist out of Florence. We did it in 2008, and plan to do it again in the spring.