Hi!
I'm planning a trip to Florence, Rome and Venice this January and since we'll be in the country for 3 weeks, we were wondering if a day trip to Siena is recommended? We were thinking that we would stay in Siena for 3 nights, but perhaps it would be easier to day trip it? Thank you!
Hi,
I know it will be cold, but my husband is a professor and my kids are in college so that was the best month for us to travel for an extended time period. It looks like mid 40s for Siena and Florence in January is the norm.
Hi,
My husband and I were in Tuscany 2 years ago and to be completely honest, Siena was my least favorite - although there is lots of history between Florence and Siena. I much preferred Volterra or San Gimignano....all the smaller hilltop towns were our favorites. Not sure if you will have a car or not so that may hinder getting to the smaller towns. It just depends on what you all what to see or do! If you are just planning on hitting the major sights around Siena, then yes, I think a day trip from Florence to Siena is fine.
FYI, Rick does have a tour guide in Volterra (it may only be Sunday evenings) but it was definitely worth it to take a walking tour.
Kristen
Like Kristen- Siena was not our favorite hill town. We stayed 2 nights and that was enough. It is very easily done by day trip from Florence but as with any hill towns they are always more enjoyable in the early am/late pm once the crowds have left although that might not such an issue in January. The Duomo is worth a visit- we happened to be there when floor was uncovered and it was a WOW. The campo was fun but very crowded.
We like Montepulciano, Pienza, San Quirico better.
Montepulciano and Volterra have some Twilight connection if your kids are into that
All of the Tuscany hill towns can be done from Florence- either with a car or via train/bus so I hope you are planning to visit some. If you are looking for somewhere different for a 3 night stay maybe head over to Umbria and see Asissi, Orvieto, Spello, Perugia, etc.
If I understand your question correctly, you're planning to spend 3 weeks in Italy, spending about a week each in Florence, Venice and Rome. You want to know whether it's worthwhile visiting Siena as a day trip from Florence and whether it's worth a longer stay, right?
I've visited Siena both as a day trip and as a few nights stay, and I enjoyed both visits. If there are several things you want to do in Florence or other day trips you plan to take, then taking a day trip to Siena would be an enjoyable way to spend a day. I found plenty to keep me interested for a few days and there are lots of good restaurants, so that's also a good option, but the extra stop would probably mean taking a night each from Florence, Venice and Rome. If you're concerned about whether you'll like Siena, then go for the day trip option instead of committing to a few days.
This trip is in January.
Slightly different opinion here - I love Siena, more than I like Florence. I had 8 nights in Florence and did Siena as a day trip from there. I wished I had more time in Siena. I think if you have a week in the area, you could easily break up the time between the two cities and day trip to some of the hill towns from Siena rather than basing in Florence the whole time.
