Florence to Rome via Siena (Thursday)

No high speed trains to or from Siena

A day trip to Siena would give you much more usable time
Take the bus from a Florence as it drops you in town ( train is outside if town, bottom of hill)

Thursday would be fine anywhere for sightseeing, doubt anywhere will be closed

You would be much better off visiting Siena as a daytrip from Florence. That is a journey of 1-5 hours each way by regional train, with no changes.

There are no direct trains between Siena and Rome. The journey involves a connection at Firenze. So if you were to stop in Siena on your way to Rome, you would have to return to Florence first. Makes no sense at all.

Thank you so much! The Rick Steves map for trains made it look like there was a connection between Siena and Rome, but I suppose you are right. When we were there last week, there were regional delays up to 2 hours, so we relied on taxi. I may just leave Siena for another trip. I just feel bad because it may be the last time my in-laws are able to go abroad health-wise.

In another post someone said there is a bus to Siena that takes about 1.5 hours each way. Is it still possible to do a half day? How early do those buses leave? Do they require a tour, or are they just transportation?

Bus takes 1 hour, 15 min
This is a local bus not a guided tour
Plenty of Italians need to get from Florence to Siena

It’s a very easy and very popular day trip
Buses run from early am thru late evening
https://www.at-bus.it/en

There are other train routes from Siena to Rome that don’t change in Florence
Regional train with change in Chiusi

If you want to visit Siena I don’t see why not

You might consider heading right to Florence on arrival then put all your Rome nights together at end of trip- eliminates the split /1 nighter

As it is you only have 2 full days in Florence - you should add a night there for every planned day trip

Since your trip is a year away I’d hold off on booking any non refundable lodging til you figure out your itinerary

I only looked at the less time-consuming trains between Siena and Roma. Connections through Firenze take 3.5 hours for the whole journey. Connecting through Chiusi adds another 45 minutes. And it puts them on two regional trains, which they disfavor. So I did not mention that option.

After a lovely stay in Florence, my husband and I enjoyed the regional train to Siena (you can take the bus too, as others have noted). We spent the night after exploring, but you could absolutely make it a nice afternoon's stop on your way back to Rome! Visiting the Duomo there is worth it alone. It's easy to arrive at the train station, I believe they still have lockers at the station where you can leave your bags and grab a cab into town. Taxis wait right there at the station and it's an easy drive in.

After a night in Siena, we hopped back on the train to Rome, but did a stop in Orvieto as well! We spent an evening there, but there's also lockers at the train station too I believe, where you could drop off your bags and enjoy the town, then head back to Rome.

The trains are relaxing and fairly easy...the views pretty.

It's fairly easy to make a visit to Siena (or Orvieto) on your way back to Rome.
Hope this helps.