Hello all—
I am working on the last segments of our upcoming Europe trip (April 26-May3 in Paris with Overnight train on the 3rd, then May 4-15 in Italy (Florence 4 nights, Siena 3 nights, Rome the rest of the nights). My husband just asked if there was anyway to work Montepulciano into our trip for wine tasting, and I can comfortably squeeze it in on May 10th, and still leave us a solid day and a half in Siena. My question is, should I book it as a day trip from Siena and leave for Rome the next day as planned, or book a hotel for the night in Montepulciano, and take the train on the 11th to Rome from there? (I can easily change our RE morning train from Siena to Montepulciano that morning, to catch our Frecciarossa reservation to Rome)
Doing an overnight would mean bringing all of our bags (we will be traveling with 21” cases and backpacks), and would depend on the hotel agreeing to store them until check-in, but being able to enjoy wine tasting throughout the day and evening without traveling back to Siena. Of course, doing a day trip has the opposite benefits — no bags to deal with, but the constrained by train travel back to Siena. And looking for any recommendations for hotel in Montepulciano within the hilltop city, view, historic, charming. Budget negotiable, although for one night probably leaning lower to mid range (180€ or less)
This will be our first Europe trip in decades, and we are in the 55-66 age range for an idea of our basic details. Sadly sedentary due to covid, but currently working on that with exercise to prepare. Overall for the trip I have been trying to factor in some chill days, and limiting reservations to allow for energy fluctuations.