Siena & Florence

The answer to your questions partly depends on what you are planning to do while in these locations. Have you formed a rough itinerary yet? Also, most buses operate from the area north of the Centro, semi-near the stadium. You can look at this area on a map, and compare with the location of your hotel.

In my humble opinion, you would not regret a visit to Assisi. My wife and I both agree that it was the most beautiful and interesting hill town that we visited (and we visited a few). However, it's quite a trip from Siena. It's either a train all the way changing trains twice or a bus to Chiusi and then a train to Assisi. Either way, it's almost 4.0hrs. from Siena. It's 2.5hrs. from Florence by train.

Surajit,
Siena to Assisi by bus 2 hours. See http://www.sena.it/

Use this map http://www.google.com/maphp?hl=en&tab=wl&q= to locate the bus station and your hotel. If you experiment with this map, you'll find answers to some of your questions. Do you have a guide book for Florence and Siena?

Your interests will of course determine your choice, but for my money I would put the time in Florence. Siena is lovely but I am not sure I would give it 4 nights, particularly if Florence only got 2. There just is not as much in Siena as in Florence. And the Piazza Gramsci is the bus terminal area. Between Siena and Florence the bus is better than the train in terms of convenience and ease.

There is quite a lot to do and see in Florence but, if the Tuscan hill towns are in your plans, you will be well situated in Siena. There is bus service (except Sunday) from Siena to San Gimignano, Volterra, Montepulciano, Chiusi and other towns. You can even rent a car in Siena to see more. Just don't drive in Florence. If you don't plan on seeing this much of Tuscany, you might consider more nights in Florence especially if its less expensive.

The hotel is located on Piazza del Sale, which sets back off a busy street. It's about 200m from Piazza Gramsci, where most buses depart. Should be an easy 5-10 minute walk - just slightly uphill. City buses to the train station run frequently along the main street and there's a stop at Piazza del Sale, so it would also be easy to get to the train station for buses departing from there. The walk to the Campo (main square) looks to be about 600m, so it's about a 20 minute walk with no stops along the way - relatively flat.

Since I would be keen to spend some time in the Tuscan countryside seeing the hill towns.. I could look at staying 3 nights.. does it make sense seeing Civiti di Bagnoregio, Perugia & Assisi from from Siena while we are there? and then moving back to Florence for another 3 nights where mainly museum visits would be the plan.

I am personally on a foodie trip to sample all kinds of regional stuff so hopefully that will get satisfied..

Henry, good info. I looked it up and it's much better than my suggestion above. However, it looks like 1 bus for the day departing at 10:30 and 1 bus returning at 17:00. That gives you 5.0hrs in Assisi on this particular bus line (which is quite good).

awsome !!!!!! I can see my trip falling in place now with this great help. thanks guys..

another thing... i plan to travel from venice to siena.. initially planned to take the ES all the way to Firenze SMN & then bus it.. but now there is a train from Mestre which goes to Firenze Rifredi which i see is a station close to SMN with some local connections.. this route saves almost 20 euros per head.

but my query is .. are there buses available straight from Rifredi or is the trip to SMN inevitable ?