We will spend 4 days in Florence and would like to take a day trip to one of the hill town near Florence. We were told that most of the hill towns can only be reached by bus. Which one can be easily access but not too touristy?? Any suggestion?
Posted by
Lewisburg, PA, USA
346 posts
Well, we are great hill town experts, having visited ONE in mid June, but we LOVED Sienna-maybe our favorite place on our trip. The bus was easy from Florence ( find it a day ahead of time-it's not really NEXT to SMN, but around the corner to the left). It was moderately crowded, but we got there early and really enjoyed ourselves. If you go, I hope the busker who plays Bach on his accordian is still there and by all means check out the place RS recommends for hot sandwiches-the best we had.!
Posted by
Vernon, Canada
32222 posts
Linda, I'd also suggest a day trip to Siena (or perhaps even a night or two, if you have the time). It's a historic and beautiful city. If you travel by Bus, you'll be dropped in the main part of town, so it's easy to walk to all the sights. Although Siena is somewhat "touristy" and very popular, I'd still recommend a visit. I made a brief stop there last year, and quite enjoyed it! Happy travels!
Posted by
Chicago
24 posts
Mostly the buses run down the valleys; the hilltowns and vineyards are higher up. However there are some exceptions. One of my favourite hilltowns, easily accessible from Florence (45mins on the bus), and not particularly touristy is Panzano http://www.panzano-in-chianti.info/ Better still is Montefioralle, but no buses go there and its quite a hike up from the nearest town Greve-in-Chianti. http://www.montefioralle.info/ If you are on a tight budget you could take local buses and try and do it yourself but spending a little more and taking a small group tour means you get to see and experience more in the time you have. I have used http://www.slow-days.com for their 'day in tuscany' and would highly recommend them.
Posted by
Seattle, WA, USA
7737 posts
Do you have the RS Florence/Tuscany book? It's loaded with daytrip suggestions, along with all the logistics on how to do them. You can read about the various options and then pick the one that best fits what you're looking for. You'll get a better overview than relying on random responses on this board. But remember that places that are "touristy" are often that for a reason - they're really worth going to. Siena, for example, is amazing. Happy travels.
Posted by
Bay Area
3551 posts
San Gimignano is great hilltown on bus route. It is not as touristy as Siena unless tour bus load (s) arrive. we were there in summer in AM and it had few tourist by mid afternoon it increased alot. so go early.
Posted by
Orono, Maine, USA
2 posts
Yes, San Gimignano is beautiful however it is well and truely on the tourist trail. Between 9.30am and 7pm it can be hard to appreciate its charms along with 15 thousand day trippers. The best way to see it would be to book a hotel/ b&b , arrive late in the day and spend the evening and following morning with the place virtually to yourself. Then get that early bus out before the spell is broken...