Hi, everyone! We're planning a month-long stay in Italy and are trying to decide where to base ourselves. At first we were only considering Lucca, but we're starting to think about Arezzo. Anyone have any strong feelings on one versus another? We'd like to be able to do day trips and don't plan to rent a car for the whole time, so we'll be relying mostly on trains and buses.
Thanks in advance for your help.
I like Lucca better as a city but I prefer Arezzo's location.
First you should decide where you want to take your day trips, then you decide the base. Both are small cities that are served by rail and buses.
I have stayed in both Lucca and Arezzo, with and without car. Arezzo is a great location if you want to catch trains north or south - an hour to Firenze, an hour to Orvieto, also easy to get to Roma or Bologna/Padua/Venezia and connections. Both have their festivals - I was in Arezzo for the jousting tournament in September. It made for a wild weekend.
Ditto, I'd base it on the day trips you most want to do.
I have only been to Lucca, and I know it has many enthusiastic fans, but I would find it somewhat confining for a month--perhaps too many day trippers.
I’ve stayed in both cities. If you want flat, easy walking then stay in Lucca. If you’re fine with inclines, I would choose Arezzo, mainly because of its location.
Besides some of the locations near Arezzo mentioned, you could be in Perugia in an hour or Assisi in 90 minutes. I stayed in Montepulciano after I was in Arezzo (also attended the jousting festival!).
If you can find the book, “Buon Giorno, Arezzo, a Postcard from Tuscany” by Grillot & Messitte, it’s an interesting 175-page book with lots of topics under history, culture, business, etc. along with beautiful photos. I felt much more prepared to enjoy Arezzo after reading the book.
Why not two weeks in each place?
More to see that way!
We've actually solved the problem: one week in Lucca, two weeks in Montepulciano, and one week in Spello.
Thanks for all your help!
I would never stay in one place for a month. Split up your time and take in more, without backtracking back to the one place.
If you stay in Montepulciano I recommend renting a car. If you don’t rent, then you should stay in provincial capitals (e.g. Florence, Siena, Arezzo, Lucca, Perugia) which are the public transportation hubs for their respective province.
Yes, we're renting a car for our stay in Montepulciano and Spello, but not Lucca. Lucca is first in our itinerary; we plan to rent for the rest of the trip.
