Please sign in to post.

Florence - Tuscany Itinerary

I'm looking for some thoughts/suggestions for our itinerary this coming May in the Tuscany region.
Our first stop is Florence, we'll be arriving via train from Nice on a Thursday afternoon(I think, haven't check the schedules yet). The plan is to spend all day Fri & Sat in Florence, it's after that I'm kicking around some options. Possibly a day trip to Pisa on Sun, Sunday night back in Florence, then rent a car Monday morning do some exploring of the hill towns and then spend the night in one (suggestions?). Another thought was to skip Pisa and get the car Sunday morning and spend 2 days driving the hills, not sure if I'd want to spend 2 night in one town or hassle with packing and moving to see another town. Is there anything going on Sundays/Mondays that we'd want to see or avoid? Finally we're heading to Venice on Tuesday, any advice on driving to Venice from that region or should we drop the car someplace and take the train.

Thanks,
-jeff

Posted by
10344 posts

"Is there anything going on Sundays/Mondays that we'd want to see or avoid?"Yes, in Italy a surprising number of car rental pick up locations are not open on Sunday, especially outside the big city.

Posted by
11 posts

Thanks, I checked on that, I was planning to pick up from the airport near Florence

Posted by
251 posts

In terms of traveling to Venice, I would definitely recommend not having a car, but rather just taking the train directly from Florence to Venice.

To go along with that, it's usually more relaxing and convenient getting to sit back and fully experience a town rather than having to be rushed and pack up every day. With that, I would recommend taking a bus from Florence to Siena on Sunday, staying there two nights (as they have plenty to see and to do, and their sites are open on Mondays where many towns' are not), giving you one full day there. Then you won't even have to worry about the hustle and expense of renting a car. It would make a perfect use of your time. Then you can bus back to Florence on Tuesday (it's on the way) and take the train directly to Venice.

Posted by
251 posts

On Sunday you could even daytrip via train to Pisa and come back to Florence before you go to Siena (checking your luggage at the Florence train station, pick up when you get back), that way you could see both.