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How would YOU manage this part of our trip?

Posted by (Buffalo, NY) on

We have a leg where we depart Florence for CT, spend two nights there and then the next two nights in Siena. We would like to see Pisa (quickly) and San Gimignano as we go, travelling by train.

My thoughts are - friday, depart florence, hit Pisa on the way to CT, spending remainder of day in Monterosso where we are staying.

Saturday- hike CT

Sunday, depart, see San Gimignano by bus (is Sunday a bad time to be there?) and proceed to Siena.

I'm wondering how CLOSED SG will be on sunday, and if we should instead make that a backtracking day trip from Siena on monday?

Posted by
4132 posts

Jill, no one has answered you so I will try.

In my opinion, the more closed SG the better for you--thinner crowds. (The real "sight," the town itself, is never closed.) I don't imagine much difference on a Sunday in high season.

You might consider spending the night, which will give you the run of the city after the tour buses leave.

Posted by
486 posts

Do you want to enjoy Italy or just say you were there? You can't enjoy anything seeing that many places in that short a time.

Sure, you can say "Look - the Leaning Tower. Bye" or you can wander the streets, find an excellent meal and the best gelato we found in Italy. Same for other places. Spend more time or plan on coming back to see the others.

Posted by
3313 posts

I think this is reasonable. A full day and two nights in the CT is adequate. I'm not sure about getting to San Gimignano by bus, though. If you found a schedule that tells you you can do it, then great! Pisa is a classic stop-by-on-the way town.

Have fun!

Posted by
2333 posts

I'm pretty sure I did the same route in early May 2006 - Pisa, CT, San G. On the same days of the week too. San Gimignano was quite busy (we were there late morning/lunchtime) for a Sunday, after people were out of church. Plenty going on, stores were open. Had an excellent wild boar salame sandwich for lunch (perhaps it was the view - we sat up on the top of the hill looking out over Tuscany...divine)

Take the earliest train you can from Florence so you can maximize time in CT - Pisa is worth the quick stop, the duomo is really beautiful. Saturday on the CT trail is BUSY. Get an early start, watch out for Germans and their walking sticks, and do the hard part of the trail first (Monterosso-Vernazza).

Posted by
70 posts

Thank you. That's exactly the type of advice I was looking for regarding the crowd on CT trail saturday and SG on sunday.

John, I appreciate your response as well. We have done our best to prioritize sites and activities, and for us, Pisa rates as a quick stop. Hopefully we will have the good fortune to visit again and spend more time, but on this trip it WILL be a "look, the tower" kind of stop. I wanted to cut Pisa all together and my husband wouldn't have it.

We've done the same thing cutting out the northern leg of our trip now skipping Milan/Lake C. The weak dollar has forced us to trim the length of our trip.

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