My parents and I will be visiting the hill towns for 5 days and were wondering if we should use one town as our home base or find a hotel or B&B in one city each night. How hard would finding a hotel in June been in the more popular hill towns? Thanks!!!
Posted by
Boston
1706 posts
For small towns, I recommend 2 nights per hotel. Arrive late on day 1 and leave early on day 3. Your question is not specific enough to answer well. Which towns?
Posted by
Huntsville, AL, USA
8163 posts
Most of the Tuscan hill towns are south of Florence a relatively short distance. This is a big agricultural area (grapes & olives) and the farms are mostly 20-50 acres. Virtually every farm in Tuscany has apartments and rooms; I'm talking hundreds and hundreds of places. You can find rooms on Hotels.com, Booking,com, Venere.com and AirBnB.com. A good place to get names is on Rick's Graffiti Wall in the Heroic B&B section. You can also Google "agriturismo" for accommodations. I wouldn't be looking to stay in a hill town, but outside a hill town. Popular towns are San Gimignano, Siena, Volterra, Montalcino, Montepulcino and many others. I also like Orvieto an hour north of Rome. Your idea to find a central location do do day trips out of by auto is the right way to see the region.
Posted by
mississauga, ontario, canada
46 posts
I would suggest San Gimignano for your base and day trip from there.This is how we ran our trip in May 2012. I strongly recommend the Hotel Leon Bianco in San G, good rates, excellent location in San G., and wonderful people. San G. also offers itself as an excellent central base for visiting all around the hill towns. Must see Siena,Volterra,Montereggioni,Pisa(because of the tower etc. but that's all), Lucca for the walls, but leave time to wander the back streets. When you get back each evening San G. is a delight. Booking now should not be a problem.
Posted by
Vernon, Canada
32219 posts
Brendon, June is towards the end of the "spring shoulder season" and getting close to the PEAK summer season, so Hotels may be difficult to find for those travelling spontaneously. I'd definitely recommend pre-booking accommodations at that time of year! With only five days, it would be better to use one town as a base (IMO) and then visit other towns on day trips. Which town to choose as a base will depend on the towns that you want to see, and also the transportation options. Happy travels!
Posted by
Seattle, WA, USA
7737 posts
June is smack in peak season, imho. You'll find slim pickings in the more popular towns. I agree with the idea of finding one home base (with convenient parking) and rent a car to get around.