How to see TUSCANY

A car is a huge plus in Tuscany...let's you wander at uour own pace and stop at wineries and and amazing hilltop towns along the way.

Thanks for your response Christi. Can you please share what towns to visit each day?

There is a list of the most beautiful small villages in Italy by Region: https://borghipiubelliditalia.it/en/toscana/

PS Yes, you need a car. And an IDP. And you all need to memorise the ZTL sign. (And you'd also better remember that May 1 is a national Holiday all over Europe).

@Dario, thanks. We'll arrive May26th.

@Dario, appreciate the link. This is very helpful!!

https://www.ricksteves.com/europe/italy/tuscan-hill-towns

https://www.ricksteves.com/europe/italy/tuscany

Get the Rick Steves Florence/Tuscany guidebook

@ChristineH Thank you. Appreciate it.

Two more great resources:
https://www.discovertuscany.com/san-gimignano/
https://www.visittuscany.com/en/towns-and-villages/san-gimignano/
Think not of seeing "Tuscany" but of seeing a tiny corner of Tuscany--it is truly packed with attractions!

@valadelphia AWESOME!!

Hello :)
In my opinion based on my experience, YES you need a rental car for Tuscany.

My wife and I have spent 51 nights in Italy (3 trips)
A few thousand miles in a rental car.
In our opinion, We would not have been able to visit all the places that we have been without the rental car.

I will include some of the places we visited below, and as you will see in that list, there are many hilltop villages in Tuscany that will give you some ideas to research.

For reference here is where we have been in Italy so far.
ITALY CITIES SLEPT IN
Monticchiello (Tuscany) 5 nights
San Quirico Val D’Orcia 5 nights
Sorrento 4 nights
Castiglione (Ravello) (Amalfi Coast) 4 nights
Rome 4 nights
Stresa (Lake Maggiore) 4 nights
Levanto 4 nights
Venice 3 nights
Florence 3 nights
Turin 3 nights
Como (Lake Como) 3 nights
Bellano (Lake Como) 3 nights
Milan 3 nights
Monterosso Al Mare (Cinque Terre) 2 nights
Montipulciano 1 night
51 Total nights as of August 2022
ITALY CITIES VISITED
(A visit is defined as a city that we spent at least a few hours in and maybe slept and/or had a meal and/or shopped.)
Monticchiello
San Quirico Val D’Orcia
Sorrento
Castiglione (Ravello)
Rome
Stresa
Levanto
Venice
Florence
Turin
Como
Bellano
Milan
Monterosso Al Mare
Montipulciano
Val d'Orcia
Arezzo
Cortona
Assisi
Spello
Pienza
San Quirico d'Orcia
Montalcino
Greve in Chianti
Lucca
Pisa
Volterra
Civita
Orvieto
Amalfi
Ravello
Minori
Maiori
Capri
Positano
Monterosso Al Mare (Cinque Terre)
Vernazza (Cinque Terre)
Corniglia (Cinque Terre)
Manarola (Cinque Terre)
Riomaggiore (Cinque Terre)
La Spezia
Monteriggioni
Siena
San Gimignano
Sant’Agnello
Isola Bella
Isola Madre
Isola Superior
Villa Taranto, Verbania
Pallanza, Verbania
Baveno
Varenna
Bellagio
Menaggio
Lenno
Portofino
Portovenere
(I know I am missing a few....) :)
We have flown in and out of Milan, Rome, and Venice.
We have driven well over 2000 miles in rental cars

Have fun with your planning!
:)

Hello again :)

If you do decide to get a car, I would suggest picking a direction and then in that one day try to pick a few cities to visit depending on how aggressive or relaxed you would like those visits to be. We are not museum people either so I completely understand where you’re coming from. Arezzo is 70 miles east of where you are staying so for example, one of the days I would get in the car and decide which cities you would like to visit east of where you are staying the next day pick some South cities and then north and then west, etc.
My wife and I averaged 2 to 3 hilltop villages in tuscany per day. Sometimes we visited four depending on how close they were and how large the cities were.

:)

Wine is excellent in Tuscany and as you say you’re into wine, I’ll focus my recommendations in that direction. Rick’s guidebook has some good wineries in it.

Chianti would be close to where you’re staying. I haven’t visited there but a colleague really enjoyed it.

Further south is Montalcino (Brunello di Montalcino). If you’re a Brunello fan at all, this is a must visit. If you’re not (yet), buy a bottle in the US and see if you like it.

East of Montalcino is the Orcia region near Pienza. Although small and relatively unknown, I also enjoyed visiting a winery there. If you want to take home a hard to find bottle to impress someone this would be a good place.

Further east of those is Montepulciano (Vino Nobile di Montepulciano) which is another famous region. You can do tastings in the town proper and also at many wineries in the nearby countryside.

Cheers!

Hi, we are doing a similar trip next month also staying in one town and exploring. We chose to base in a a town with a train station so we can get to Florence and Lucca on day trips on the train and we rented a car to explore the Val d'orcia and Chianti regions and also possibly visit some hot spring. This forum has been helpful in helping me to understand the DUI limits in the region so we decided to do a small tour group to do some wine tasting which will leave from Florence. If we do come across a winery in our exploring we plan on purchasing a bottle and drinking it later that night when we are back at our lodging.

@Letizia I can't agree with you more. This forum has helped me a lot in trip planning and learning the in/out of every country. Thank you all for the information.

Here are some wanderings we have done in Tuscany. One thing we have learned is to start by driving to the furthest location first, so our drive back to our lodging is shorter.

Research these and pick the villages that are most interesting to you.

These combine well.

Castello Di Brolio. Wine,gardens restaurant. Gaiole.

Montaione, Castelfiorentino & Certaldo Alto.

San Donato in Poggio , Casa Emma winery.
Greve in Chianti. Winery shop Vignamaggio on the piazza.
Castello Di Verrazzano, just north of town wine tasting, fantastic food.

Panzano several great restaurants, Showman butcher shop.

Castiglione d’Orcia. Charming village, ride up to town is interesting.
Bango Vignoni.
San Quirico d’Orcia.

Siena & Montereggioni.

Montalcino, wines happy place. Take your time here, but split tastings and take bottles back with you. & Buoconvento.

Radda in Chianti, wines see above advise.
Castellina in Chianti.

Colle Val d’Elsa, & Volterra.

Montepulciano, the drive and wines are worth the trip, add Pienza if you have time.
This is a 3hour drive R/T.

Most of the others are under 2 hours.

Edited

We have been to Tuscany many times and always have rented a car. If not renting a car, your visits in Tuscany would be greatly limited.

@gerri, thank you for the tips. I will make a note of it. By the way, where did you choose as your homebase? We're staying in San Gimignano

@gerri, thank you for the tips. I will make a note of it. By the way, where did you choose as your homebase? We're staying in San Gimignano

That's a good base. Now, go to Google Maps and check the driving time to places you want to visit. Siena, Volterra and Lucca will be an easy reach. We tried to keep our excursions from Greve to no more than 45 minutes driving one way.

I totally agree with renting a car. I plan my daily driving routes using via michelin route planner. It also tells you cost for gas and tolls. I try to never drive more than four hours total in one day. That gives me time for meals, tours, getting out of the car for a stroll, etc. Three hours in a day is better, two hours even better. Often the one thing people forget to consider is travel time in their trip.