Rome to Florence

If your plan is to leave florence every day, why not rent a car and stay in a farmhouse somewhere in the countryside? I did that for 8 days last year and it was a truly fantastic experience. Then if you did want to go into florence for a day, you can always park in a town close by and take a short train ride in.

Or are you asking about public transportation because you're trying to avoid renting a car? A lot of the best hill towns are not easily accessible by public transport, and private tours are very expensive.

Either way I applaud the effort to slow down, I think you will see Italy in a whole new light and love it even more :)

We rent a "Villa" (read converted farm outbuilding) outside of Florence for a week most, but not always, every year. We can take our rental car to the local village and take a direct bus into Florence. Many days we drive to a hill village and tour one of those (many are only a two or three hour drive). Have a GREAT lunch and then return "home". The villa gives you the opportunity to have a relaxed breakfast on your own terms and well, what we love is to fix our own dinner using what is fresh from the local co-op. We relax outside watching the sunset and then maybe it's a co-op pasta, a fresh grilled fish and salad, well you get the idea. Oh and you can have some vino and not worry about driving!

Check out villalapergola.com just outside of Florence.

Also, from Florence there a bus tours that go out for a day to one or two towns. We did not do that becauswe we rented a Villa for a week and just drove from there but....if you do not want the hassle of renting the car, then you could do a few day tours via tour bus.

If you end up wanting a little break from the amazing intensity of Rome, consider Ostia Antica (closed on Mondays).

Ron in Rome has excellent information on it.
http://www.roninrome.com/%20sites-and-attractions/day-trip-from-rome-ostia-antica

We did about the same thing last November. Only 4 nights in Florence, 5 Rome. We started in Florence

We flew in through Rome. Bought train tickets at the airport train station. (in case our flight was delayed.) Changed trains in Rome.

Someone mentioned Ron in Rome. He had great information to speed up getting to the train station, buying tickets, and making connections.

Our plane arrived in Rome about 8 or so. We got to Florence, walked to our hotel, and were settling in early afternoon. We stayed in Florence.

This was our first time to Florence; so we only took one day trip out. (Siena, San Gimignano, a winery, and Pisa. Would have loved more time in Siena and San Gimi.)

There were also things we didn't but would like to have seen in Florence, as the Science Museum, which is supposed to have some of Galileo's possessions, telescope etc.

We grabbed the train back to Rome about 11. No reservations. Got to Rome early afternoon. Only problem was figuring out the legit taxi drivers at the Rome station. We wound up with one of the cons. The legits are way better and cheaper. But we got there.

In Rome we did things a little different from most. We had reservations for the Vatican Museum, and Borghese (Our hotel was near Trajans Market.) We had the hotel call a cab, which would drop us off at the Museum. Then we'd slowly walk back to the hotel, exploring what was between there and the hotel. Navonne Square, Pantheon, Ponte St Angelo etc.

Hope that helps.

Have fun,

Agree that if you want to savor Italy (or anywhere for that matter) it's best to stay more nights. Last year we spent 5 nights in Siena, 5 nights in Florence, and 7 nights in Rome. We took one day trip out of Siena to San Gimignano using public bus and it was great. We spent all of our time in Florence, lots of museums and churches to see, but took an afternoon bus ride to Fiesole. We spent all 7 days in Rome. We found the longer stay in each town allowed us to get a real feel for the town and to enjoy the sites at our own pace and found public transportation, both bus and trains, to be very convenient.