We are spending a week in Florence in September. We will not have a car, so we will be travelling by train. We would like to visit Cortona and Orvieto/Civita di Bagnoregio. Can this be done in one day, or should we split it up? If we can only do one, which should we do?
Thanks!
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San Francisco Bay Area (USA)
16243 posts
Do Cortona from Florence. It's closer.
With a week in Florence, I would take several day trips. I would devote a couple of days to Florence (and of course all the nights after the day trips) and the rest to day tripping.
You can do easily by train and/or bus: Siena, Arezzo, Cortona, Pisa+Lucca, Certaldo+San Gimignano.
A car would be advisable for smaller villages that are served by less frequent bus service such as: Volterra, Chianti hills, Colle Val D'Elsa, Monteriggioni, Pienza, Montepulciano, Montalcino, San Quirico and many others.
I would not visit Orvieto/Civita from Florence. There are many other choices of localities within Tuscany, closer to Florence, before one has to go all the way to Umbria to Orvieto or to Latium to Civita. Visit Orvieto from Rome (if you go to Rome).