I am in the beginning stages of planning 3 weeks in Italy next September. We would like to spend a week in Tuscany. My questions are -
Stay in one place for the entire week or split the time between 2 locations?
I am assuming we will have a car for the Tuscany portion of the trip, but if we split our time between two locations will that be necessary?
If you were choosing 2 locations, where would they be and why?
This is my first of what will probably be many posts. I value any input. Thanks!
I wouldn't recommend dropping off the car/driving in Milan, Florence or any larger city that could have restricted zones that are difficult to avoid. Pick a smaller town/city for drop off--Bologna's not bad and is an easy train trip to Milan.
I spent a week in Cortona and loved it. I had been to Florence before, so did not feel the need to take a trip there. I did take the train to Orvieto though, which was very nice. But I could hang in Cortona for a long time. I loved it. It's more low key than some of the more popular hill towns in Tuscany, one of the reasons I like it.
If you are going to rent a car, you will probably prefer booking in one central location out in the country for the week and driving around.
If you are not going to rent a car, you might prefer to split the time between two locations with good train/bus service. Florence would be a logical choice, and then I would choose a smaller town to get a contrast.
We had the same dilemma this past September. We picked Montepulciano and Perugia. Our thinking was that we would use Montepulciano as a base for Tuscany and Perugia as a base for Umbria.
We stayed just outside Montepulciano in San Albino, in a very comfortable hotel, had a place to park the car and it worked great. Our choice of Perugia didn't work out as well, partly because we didn't have a good place to park the car and we just weren't that happy with the city.
So, I would chose Montepulciano again. For the Umbria region I might pick Spello as it's a really lovely town with lots of interesting looking restaurants. You could also drop your rental car off and spend a few days in Orvieto.
There is quite alot of info posted on this board about Tuscany. You'll have a great trip!
Andrea - My suggestion for a super place is -
http://www.casolarelibbiano.it/ - Please check out their website - Berta and Andrea are great hosts and the property is gorgeous. Located just outside San Gimignano about three miles it works so well as a base of operations to see San Gimignano, Volterra, Siena and other areas of Tuscany.
Ciao, Greg
Just to make it more difficult for you, I suggest you add Assisi to your possible cities. It's in Umbria, rather than Tuscany, but it's really beautiful.
I was thinking we would day trip into Florence rather than stay there. Is it worth staying overnight?
We are starting our trip in Rome and from there I thought we would go to Tuscany, then C.T. If we decided to rent a car AND spend a couple of nights in Florence should we go there after Rome, then rent the car when leaving there? I would also like to see Umbria. Day trip from Tuscany or go on the way to Tuscany? So much to figure out! Thanks for the replies so far.
I guess I should have been more specific about the trip, which is just in the beginning of the planning stages. We will be in Italy for 3 weeks, flying into Rome. After Italy we will go to Germany for a week (Octoberfest!) and fly home from Munich. The places I am considering for Italy are Rome, Tuscany, CT and Venice. If possible I would also like to fit in Lake Como and Verona. The only thing we are committed to is our flight into Rome and home from Munich, and that we are staying one week in Germany. The rest is up in the air. Any advice on the order of what to do things is greatly appreciated. Thanks.
Hi Andrea,
I'm probably one of the few that thinks that a day trip to Florence is o.k. Also highly recommend Verona--it's one of our favorites!
You could consider Rome, Orvieto (for Umbria), Montepulciano or Siena (base for Florence and Tuscany.) Pick up rental car in Orvieto drop off in Siena. Train to CT, then Verona (Lake Como if time allows) and Milan to fly to Munich.
I just came back from a two week vacation in Italy. I spent 5 nights in Rome, 2 nights in Venice and 7 nights in Tuscany.
I would HIGHLY recommend for 1 week stay at the
La Torre in Villa Casale Montecchio
www.casalemontecchio.com
The owners of the house truly know how to make you feel at home. They make sure you are well taken care of and it shows in the detail they put into the home. It is in a perfect location to drive to nearby cities like Sienna and Cortona.
You stay at Casale Montecchio you will never want to leave.
I appreciate all the suggestions so far. I mentioned Venice, but no one else has. Is there a reason for that? Is it not worth going to? I didn't plan to spend too much time there, but I thought it was a place we should spend a couple of days. Sharon's suggestion as to the order we go is along the lines of what I was thinking, with the exception of leaving out Venice. Thoughts???
We did a 3 week trip in reverse...started in Venice, stayed 6 nights, then drove to San Gimignano where we spent 2 nights, then drove to Sienna for 1 night, then drove to Montalcino for one night, then drove to Spello for a 2 night stop, with a stop on the way in Montelpulciano, and two days exploring Umbria, including Azzizi, then drove to Cortono and spent one night there before driving to Florence where we spent 3 nights before taking the train to Rome for 4 nights. As you can see, we spent 10 nights in Tuscany and Umbria...with another 2 nights you could stay in the CT (cutting a day out Venice or Florence). I don't recommend staying outside of any of the hillside towns or cities as part of charm of visiting Italy is the ambiance of the towns and cities after dark and above all the passegiata that occurs every night in virtually every town...leaving town to stay in a remote villa is akin to leaving town to get back on the cruise ship...you just miss out on so much. That trip was back in 2002, our last trip to Italy we spent some more time in Tuscany ending with 2 nights in Lucca, where we met some nice American's who were staying outside of town in a villa...they complained that if they wanted to drink wine with their dinner, they had to stay at the villa since no one was prepared to drive on dark and unmarked roads while under the influence. They missed the social scene that we enjoyed every night in town.
Hi Andrea,
Visiting Venice depends on how much time you have...I might consider saving it for another trip but it is do-able from Verona--only about 1.5 hours by train. At some point, you need to visit Venice but 2 night would be enough--I'd try to lay out your itinerary so far and see if you have enough time--if not, save it for later!
Sharon
Wow! Our trip we're planning for April/May is almost identical. We are flying into Rome and staying 6 nights, taking a 4 hour train to CT and staying 3 nights, picking up a rental car in La Spezia and staying 2 random nights in Tuscany somewhere (maybe Lucca), then a week in Montepulciano (seems like a perfect location to me for daytrips even into Umbria - we will take a day trip by train to Florence), then 4 days traveling up to and staying in Venice.
I don't know where you prefer to stay, but we wanted to stay in apartments as much as possible and many of them in both towns and in country homes/agriturismos require a week stay. They are also usually a better price when you stay for a week.
I've been planning this trip (our first) for a year and feel like that's part of the vacation! Have fun!!
