We'll be staying in Lucca for several days next month-- then renting a car to explore Tuscany, Umbria and Le Marche.
I'd like to stay another couple nights, and day trip to Volterra, San Gem and other towns in the northern half of Tuscany. We'd move on to Siena or Pienza for a few nights to explore the southern part of Tuscany, and Orvieto for Umbria,
Does that seem feasible? Thanks much
If you look for Lucca on GoogleMaps or Mapquest, you'll see that it's about an hour west of Florence. Many of the popular Tuscan tourist towns are south of Florence.
I prefer to stage my day trips in Chianti or around Certaldo and San Gimignano at an agriturismo. It's just a more central location to work out of, and Siena is also close by.
Lucca can be visited in a day. If you are there a few days, see if you can visit Pisa and maybe the Garfagnana, a valley that includes quaint villages such as Barga, Castiglione, Coreglia Antelminelli. Also by train Montecatini, Pescia and Collodi (Pinocchio's birthplace) aren't far. For a beach day, try Viareggio, also by train. Puccini's house, where he composed his operas, is actually in Torre del Lago, near Viareggio.
For the rest of Tuscany the best base is probably between Siena and Poggibonsi. From there you can visit all the most famous Tuscan towns, nearly all within 30-45 min drive from that area.
Ma Roberto, you say Pinocchio was born? I thought he was carved.
Thanks guys!
We're doing a similar itinerary in the fall. We want to stay inside the walled city of Lucca. Where are you staying in Lucca?
Hi Boom-
We decided to stay at the Antica Residenza Santa Chiara. It's inside the walls, reasonably priced, and has good reviews. The fact that it had wi-fi and free parking sealed the deal.
Best of luck on your own adventure!
For Umbria and Le Marche, Orvieto may not be a convenient base because it's in the southwest corner of Umbria. I used Assisi as a base to explore Umbria and Le Marche by car and thought that worked well. I stayed at La Pallotta and parked at the nearby Piazza Matteotti lot (just outside the ZTL), for which the hotel gave me a discount parking voucher. Any nice town in the Perugia area would be a good single base to explore both Umbria and Le Marche.
