We fly into Rome at 10:30 am and are renting a car; want to book the first night in southern Tuscany about one hour out from Rome. Our plan is to take a week with the car exploring Tuscany and western coast. But that first day I know we will be tired, so want to secure that. Any suggestions? We are 2 adults and one 15 y.o. boy. I see the southern Tuscany has a lot of the Etruscan ruins. Any specific area/town would be appreciated. We are budget travelers by looking for charm: $50-150 per night. Thank you.
Posted by
Forest Grove, OR
11852 posts
Santa Marinella on the coast is about 45 minutes from FCO, Tarquinia about an hour, and Viterbo about an hour-and-a-half. Santa Marinella should be easy with little navigation required, as is Tarquinia. Viterbo is a bit bigger, but might be harder to deal with when you are jet-lagged. All are really northern Lazio.
Capalbio is about 1 1/2 hours from FCO, close to the coast, and is just into Tuscany.
Try Booking.com for lodging choices.
Posted by
Columbus, OH, USA
68 posts
Pretty sure you'll need more like two hours to get you into southern Tuscany (depending on whether measured from downtown on FCO). Either way, you might consider Orvieto depending on your itinerary. It's right off the highway on the way to northern inland Tuscany. The town itself is worth a half day of casual walking exploration and the surrounding countryside is peaceful and relaxing.
Posted by
OP
Northern California
98 posts
Thank you for replies. Those are both good suggestions. We have the car for at least 7 days so want to explore Tuscany working our way up towards Lucca / Pisa / Florence - will drop off car in Florence then take train back to Rome a week later. So question is which way to start our exploration up Tuscany area. From the Coastal west section, or from areas near Orvieta.
Posted by
Chicago
8703 posts
Tarquinia and Cervetari have wonderful and quite different tomb sites. I'd get a hotel there, drop your stuff so it isn't in the car while you are touring and then visit these tomb sites. After that dinner and bed will be about right on jet lag day. Head north the next morning. Try to fit in a visit to Saturnia -- with bathing suits on under your clothes. There are no changing facilities and one person will have to keep watch over the valuables (trade off) but these hot springs waterfalls are magnificent. WE just changed by the car. YOu will smell like sulphur for a few days, but it is worth it.
http://www.theguardian.com/travel/2010/may/01/italy-tuscany-natural-hot-springs
WE once stopped in the small town of Sovana and got a map of the local Etruscan natural tomb sites in the hills and drove and hiked up to several of the tombs. Very interesting.
Posted by
OP
Northern California
98 posts
Wonderful suggestions Janet! I had seen that the hot springs were there and we love that sort of thing. And the tombs and ruins are what we are looking for too. I was thinking about the 'approach' we would take to Tuscany; and it feels right that we would start at that side. I know it's kind of crazy but we are going with a very loose itinerary. We have plans to get to Lucca by the end of that first week and see sights all along the way. I will definitely check out those towns you suggested for first nights.
Thank you so much. I will do my best also to post highlights from our trip and let others know what I learned too.
Posted by
OP
Northern California
98 posts
We ended up booking an apartment in Pitigliano. I think we may have picked a difficult place to get to on the first day - but it looks beautiful and so much to see and do. Fingers crossed we are excited - and hope the GPS works well!