We will be in italy a week in july and are want to take day trips to assisi, orvieto and voltera and want to go to Siena. We are thinking of staying in Sienna and using this as a base to visit assisi, orvieto and voltera. Is Sienna a convenient base for visiting these cities? The alternative is to stay in florence and use this as a base to visit all four place, but we have been to florence and would like to stay in sienna. Does this make sense in terms of the train and bus connections in sienna?
Posted by
Forest Grove, OR
11364 posts
Siena to Volterra is a great daytrip. Montalcino and Montepulciano, as well as Cortona and many other towns are quite accessible from Siena as well. Orvieto is about and hour-and-a-half away, Assisi even further. So it depends on whether a 3 to 4 hour round trip is "daytripable" for you. It is not for us. We prefer to stay a little closer to base. If you have a full week, split your time between Siena and either Assisi or Orvieto. Personally I'd pick Assisi as there are many other great towns around the area: Spello, Spoleto, Perugia, and even Gubbio. It's an hour-and-a-half to Orvieto from Assisi. You could easily stop in Orvieto on the way to Assisi on the day you move from Siena to Assisi, if you decide to do that.
Posted by
Toledo
653 posts
Joe, I second Laurel's advice. Last year I stayed in Siena and Assisi with a couple of friends and we daytripped from there. Spello, Todi, Cortona, Gubbio - all beautiful and easy enough to get to from Assisi. From Siena you can go to Montepulciano, Montalcino, Arezzo, Sansepolcro. I've used public transportation for all of these places.
Posted by
Seattle, WA, USA
7737 posts
As I just posted under a different topic, Orvieto is awesome. Here are some pictures and a few video clips that I took during our time in Orvieto in May 2011. We really loved Assisi, but unfortunately stayed on the periphery rather than in the town center. (Long story - bad travel agent. Won't do that again.) Here are some photos from our trip to Assisi in May 2008. We also really enjoyed Siena when we stayed there in 2003, but that was before I went on my photography kick, so I don't have anything in particular to share from that trip. Some day we'll make it to Volterra. Happy travels.
Posted by
Huntsville, AL, USA
8173 posts
I would suggest you stay in the "hill country" outside of Siena. San Gimignano, Volterra, Siena are very close, and easily accessible by car rental. Options are to go to the wine cities in Chianti and Montalcino, etc. a few miles to the northeast and southeast. The countryside is breathtaking. There are dozens and dozens of bed and breakfasts, agritrisimos and other accommodations that are closeby and less expensive than in Siena. Many of your hosts are also incredible cooks. Venere.com, Booking.com, AirBnB.com and even Craigslist.com listings are full of accommodations in this vicinity. I double check the hotels on TripAdvisor.com for quality feedback. We're staying 4/2 to 4/6 in an agriturisimo for equivalent of $338 for 4 nights. Price the rooms in Florence and Siena, and see what a bargain the countryside is.