Planning on basing out of Florence and planning day trips via train or group tours to avoid renting a car: Lucca, cinque terre, san gimignano, siena, chianti and cortona. Would like some cooking demos such as Olive farm, pasta, bread etc (not cheese or wine). Would like interaction with locals. Is this too much for 8-10 days? Is $5000 for two possible (plus airfare). How do I find the best tours to hook up with? What is best area in Florence to stay nice but economically.
Posted by
Boston
1955 posts
You can have a wonderful trip for $5,000. but the more you research, the better it will be. Lots of your questions will be answered here: https://store.ricksteves.com/products/florence-guidebook?variant=46196111278236
Posted by
San Diego, California, USA
2125 posts
Hello ifabisch, this is a board full of Italy enthusiasts who are happy to help answer questions but are not going to put together a package for for you.
Here are some notes that will hopefully help:
- You don't mention where you are flying from so no help on flights beyond Google flights for comparing prices. Florence is a small airport so you may have trouble getting directly in there. By proximity look at Pisa and Bologna and then further out Venice or Rome and Milan MXP. You can just put Italy into Google flights and watch more than one city.
- Florence is small so staying anywhere in the city center is good, but if you plan on taking that many daytrips then closer to the station or along bus/tram transport to the train station. The good news that you can be nearish the train station and still be near the city center. Use Booking.com or RS recommendations from the book to find prospective places that fit your budget.
This is a good guide to Tuscany by train:
https://www.wanderingitaly.com/maps/images/tuscany-rail-map.png
- Lucca, Siena and Pisa are easily reachable by train but you might want the bus for Siena
- Cortona and SG are train+bus options so they can take longer
- Chianti is a wine and not an official region so search destinations instead. Greve and Radda in Chianti are two famous Chianti towns and at least Greve is reachable by bus from Florence
I recommend searching previous posts on this board for details on places - there was just a thread on Cortona as a daytrip from Florence that you might find helpful.
For non-train/bus cities an organized tour is easiest - again check the previous posts for discussions and recommendations.
Be sure to leave enough time for Florence itself and pre-book tickets to things you want to see - David/Accademia, Uffizi etc.
Have a great trip,
=Tod
Posted by
10251 posts
We did a wonderful Road Scholar tour of Tuscany and Umbria (The villages and towns of Tuscany and Umbria).
Our base city was Siena and we took day trips to several place, including some of the ones you mentioned. We didn't do Lucca or Cinque Terre, which are quite a distance from Florence.
You might consider bashing in Siena. Of course, your transportation would be important. Rail and Bus the likely options.
In our tour, we were never farther than an hour and a half from our town to visit.
I remember taking the train from Florence to Siena and that alone was more than that, since these regional trains stop frequently.
Consider looking for day trip tours
https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Products-g187895-t16389-zfg17447-Florence_Tuscany.html
https://www.discovertuscany.com/siena/what-to-do/day-trips-from-siena.html
https://www.visittuscany.com/en/ideas/top-10-day-trips-from-siena/