Hello Everyone,
After Rome, my family would like to experience the calmer side of Italy. Rather than jumping around from city to city, hotel to hotel, we would like to stay in one place and using public transportation take trips to Pisa, Florence, and the hill town villages.
So far we are looking at Lucca, Siena, ......any other recommendations???
Thank you in advance.
John
You mentioned two of my favorite cities...Lucca and Siena. Both would be great bases. The Lucca train station is more convenient to get to than the Siena station...it is farther away. If you are using buses as your mode of transport, then either city would be a good place to be your base. Plenty to do in both cities if you aren't traveling around to various sights close by. Siena is unique because of its contradas and the Campo is wonderful. Lucca is unique because it is still surrounded by its medieval walls which are perfect for a bike ride, stroll, or picnic. Let me know if you want hotel or restaurant recommendations.
Karren,
Thanks for the reply...yes please...hotel and restaurant recs are always welcome...spill the beans :)
John
John,
How long will you have to spend in Tuscany?
Siena might not be a bad choice. It is more centrally located than Lucca, but is bigger and busier.
From Siena you could visit the hill towns of San Gimignano and Volterra. If possible, arrange the trip to Volterra so that you return in the evening. The sunset there is magical! You could also arrange a wine tasting tour from there(Example: https://www.viator.com/tours/Siena/Small-Group-Brunello-di-Montalcino-Wine-Tasting-Trip-from-Siena/d944-5493MONTALCINO).
You can either take the bus or train to Florence. Florence is hard to see in a day. Start early and stay late, or pack a small bag and stay overnight.
Hey DougMac,
Thanks for the reply....we are flying home via Milan so the original plan was a couple days Tuscany and then Cinque Terra...but if we combine those two we have 4 nights to play with, leaving one overnight in Milan.
John
I think trying to do Tuscany and CT in four days would defeat your intent of avoiding jumping around from city to city, hotel to hotel.
The hardest part of visiting Italy or any European country is to come to terms with the knowledge you can't do and see everything you want. Planning too much is inevitable since Italy has so much to offer. You can run yourself ragged and still not see everything on your list. When we went to Tuscany recently, we ended up dropping Montepulciano, Lucca and Assisi from our original plans.
For us the magic happened in the smaller moments - spending an hour or so with an artist in his gallery and frame shop in Greve, shopping at the local grocery store or spending an extravagant amount of time at a food and wine pairing. If you are rushing from one must see site to another, you'll miss that magic. I can't live my life in fear of never being able to go back - it would have wrecked the wonderful time we did have. I've got four more trips to Italy mapped out in my head. I'm sure we'll make one and I hope we make them all.
got it...so we'll drop ct.
Why not base in Florence and do day trips from there? Florence is very centrally located with great train and bus connections. After Rome, Florence may seem like a village. Tons to see and do (cooking classes, tours to wine country, great art, and very walkable) but if bored, get out to Lucca (easy by train) or Sienna (easy by bus) or rent a car for a day to see the hill towns. Connection to Milan is also easy.
Florence as a base would be my choice too.
You can get to Lucca, Bologna, and Siena without renting a car. And you can do a wine tour from Florence if you don't wish to get a car to drive the hills.
Plus, Florence deserves 2 full days - I still need more time there and I have been 5 times !
Between Siena and Lucca, Siena has better bus connections to hill towns like Volterra and San Gimignano. Florence is a good option for reasons others have stated, although travel time to hill towns will be just a bit longer. I think it's slightly more convenient to visit Siena, Pisa and Lucca from Florence than to visit Florence, Pisa and Lucca from Siena, but either Siena or Florence would be a great choice.
Thanks everyone for your advice!
...so if we as we look into your suggestions of Siena or Florence...any Hotel or restaurants stand out from your travels??? We have our teenage son going with us so the wine tours won't be high on the priority list...
John
Speaker / Blogger
@fortsafety
We have our teenage son going with us so the wine tours won't be high on the priority list...
Why not? ;-) My wife and I were part of a high school trip to Europe in 1966. My best friend's mom, a high school science teacher, was our chaperone. During our meetings before the trip, she pointed out to our parents that Europe didn't have a drinking age. She also pointed out that we would be visiting world famous wine (and beer) regions and that having a nice glass of wine was an integral part of the culture. She felt it would be a shame if we missed the experience and said that if the parents were OK with it, she had no objections to us sampling the offerings.
We tasted local beer and Mosel wine in Germany, Orvieto and Chianti in Italy and Champagne and Bordeaux in France.
Just an FYI... Drinking age in Italy is 18.
If you want a quieter environment , and with the short amount of time you have. look at Poggibonsi. Easy day trips by train and bus to: Pisa, San Gimignano, Monteriggioni, and Florence. The trip to Lucca is longer but could be combined with Pisa.
Leave Florence as your last day, check your luggage at the train station. And explore this beautiful city. Then take a late train to Milan for your flight the next day.
Check out Rome2Rio for transportation options between towns.
Just an FYI... Drinking age in Italy is 18.
Bummer. I was aware they had instituted in the drinking age in the ensuing 50 years since our trip. BTW, at the time I was all of 15 and Deb was 14 at the time. Often, after a long day of sightseeing, we'd join our chaperone at the hotel bar for a Tom Collins or Whiskey Sour. :0
We all drank responsibly (if you can call drinking at 15 responsible), unlike some of the other older high school students on the tour.
I love Hotel Casci in Florence. Great location, great breakfast, awesome hosts and won't break the bank.
In Siena we stayed at a wonderful B&B called Antica Residenza Cicogna. Superb hosts, well decorated rooms, great breakfast and well located in the old town. Siena is my favourite Tuscan hill town and you can easily spend 2-3 days exploring it. It is connected by buses to San Gimignano and Volterra, although the connections are not so frequent and its better to see the return times when planning the day trip.
In Lucca we stayed at the La Rome which is wonderful 14th century mansion turned into a B&B. Again it has wonderful rooms, great and cheerful hosts and a good buffet breakfast. It is located very close to Guinigi tower which helps in locating it in a town where it is very easy to get lost. Lucca is a peaceful place and I would recommend walking the walls around it with the locals in the morning. It is well connected by trains and buses to Pisa and to Florence. The Pizzeria Felice which is a small family run pizzeria sells amazing pizzas, water chestnut and ricotta cakes and a tasty crepe called the caching which was my wife favourite snack in all of Italy.
Both towns are amazing..Have a great trip!
Thanks for all your advice. Keep it coming :)
john @fortsafety
We stayed in Lucca a few summers ago and it was gorgeous (although super hot, as it was August). I can't remember where the room we rented was, but the city is great and definitely worth a visit for a couple days. It's very romantic to walk along the ramparts in the evening and it's great because of the limited cars in the city center. We have never been to Siena but are going in September! This seems like a good base for the hill towns and we plan to stay a couple nights and do a day trip to Assisi. Although Lucca is much better for proximity to Pisa.
I would highly recommend Hotel Davanati in Florence. That was one of the nicest hotels we've been to. Happy Travels!
Florence - Hotel Scaletta - right over the Ponte Vecchio with a delightful terrace overlooking the city to enjoy coffee and breakfasts
Florence - Mama Gina's on Borgo Jacopo for cannelloni - yum !
I haven't been to Lucca, but Siena was very cool and would be a good base. The area where the Palio is held has some beautiful restaurants that are lovely in the evening. We loved it. Some of the smaller hill towns are probably closed up tight at night. I think you're wise choosing a little bit larger town as a base.
