Places to Stay in Tuscany and Umbria

Lucca, Siena and Assisi

How about Orvieto?

Not having a car eliminates many of those areas’ charming towns.
Since we always rent a car , I am unsure of bus and train frequencies in Tuscany.
Tuscany- We especially are fond of Chianti and Siena would be a good base to explore those villages( Castellina, Panzano, Greve, Radda etc) but not by train. We have been there four times.
Umbria- We spent two weeks in lovely Spello and used it as a base for exploring Umbria. There is train and bus service.
We have friends who were in these areas last year without a car and seemed to do well.
We have never ever been bored in this area. From our rental home in Panzano we could walk down dirt roads to several wineries. We also could walk into town which was a requirement.

Without a car, if you want to take day trips, aside from Florence, which is a big city, Siena comes to mind.
In Umbria, Assisi fits most requirements, although without a car is still a challenge to take day trips to smaller towns. It’s doable however, since there are buses in Assisi, and down the hill, at Santa Maria degli Angeli, also a train station.

We did Tuscany and Umbria without a car maybe nine years ago. We spent four nights each in Siena and Perugia and did several day trips from each, mostly by bus. Including Florence from Siena, and Gubio and Assisi from Perugia. Worked out well.

Some places already suggested are also good. Orvieto and Lucca in particular for me.

Thanks so much for the suggestions. I will consider them all. I am pretty much settled on Assisi. The other two are still up in the air, although I am leaning towards Siena. Does anyone k is if Siena or any of the other towns offer good opportunities for hiking/walking in the countryside? I’d love to be able to walk right from town, but I’m also willing to bus or train somewhere and start the hike from there. Four to six miles is ideal for us, but we can do longer if we can stop and rest along the way.

The Via Francigena, an ancient pilgrimage route, runs through Siena. https://www.viefrancigene.org/en/the-path/ You could hike some of it if you wish.

I love that idea. Thanks!

Glad you like the idea of the Via Francigena. When I was in Siena (which I loved), I did an afternoon trip to Monteriggioni, mostly by bus, but walked from the bus stop and up the hill on the Via Francigena. It is possible to walk the route all the way from Siena. I also found out that it’s pronounced ‘Frahncheejena’, with the accent on the second syllable. I was way off!

I would love to do a town to town hike. I just looked it up, and Monteriggioni to Siena might be doable as long as we don’t have to compete with cars. We do not enjoy walking along busy roads. We don’t even like quiet country roads if the road is narrow and there are no sidewalks. I’ll have to look into this.