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Santa Margherita Ligure & Siena Easter 2024

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Good day - after reading many posts and Rick's guidebook we are thinking of the following and would love feedback. We are flying in and out of Milan w/ 4 adults and 4 kids (15 to 8).

Santa Margherita - 4 nights (over Easter weekend and Monday which we understand is a very busy time for locals)
Siena - 4 nights
Milan - 2 nights

We will have a car. We want a mix of sea and hills. Relaxing, but opportunity for adventure. Intent of the trip is experience Italy and spend time with friends. We are all more small town type vs. big city which is why I'm thinking base of Siena vs. Florence, but open to suggestions. As we learned from research it appears you could spend a lifetime discovering Italy, but we'd rather immerse in a few places vs. hop place to place. Many thanks. -M

Posted by
11485 posts

It is wonderful to see Santa Margherita on your list! Great choice! We have visited there twice, wonderful. Popular with Italians too. We were among very few English speakers at our hotel there. Visit nearby Camogli too.
And Siena is another very good choice to give you the flavor of Tuscany.

Posted by
1026 posts

Hello mindyfsimon,

The Ligurian towns that run down the coast - Rapallo, Chiavari Sestri Levante and Porto Fino of course - are just a few minutes away and worth exploring if you want to branch out and explore. Whether a car is an asset or the train is better is up to you but I suspect you might want to keep the car parked for the most part.

We just got back from three days in Siena and it is a wonderful city but be ready for tourist crowds in the city although probably less after the holiday. My only concern with staying in Siena over Florence is that if you want to do things in Florence - museums etc - be sure you're up for driving an hour plus each way and be very careful to know where the ZTLs are in Florence and how to get directly to the car park unscathed. You might also see about a hotel that provides parking Siena or has clear instructions on the best way to handle a car for checking in and out.

Since you have a car I would suggest checking out at least one town on the way between the coast and Siena. Lucca and Pisa are obvious stops but if you want to experience more hilltowns you could do Volterra (and maybe San Gimignano as well) en route to Siena since the drive is not that long. In all hilltowns just park in the lots provided outside of towns and do not drive in risking ZTL and embarrassment.

Have a great trip!
=Tod

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