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Siena, Volterra and other towns from Florence

We will be traveling to Italy in May and have 2 days based in Florence that we want to fill with side trips. We are a family of 4 adults and definitely want to see Siena, Pisa, and Volterra among other options. Can we easily do this by public transportation or do we need to rent a car? Is Siena a full day? If so, then I think that's a good day trip by train/bus. Thanks in advance for your thoughts!

Posted by
663 posts

Siena is very easy to do by bus, as the bus only takes 45 minutes from Florence and will drop you very close to the center of town. It's a lovely town that can be done in a day, however it's also a lovely place to stay for a night or two.

Pisa is best done by train, and should only take up half a day.

I haven't been to Volterra yet, so I'm not sure about that one. You might want to rent a car for a day to see that and San Gimignano.

Posted by
703 posts

Stephen, a car worked well to visit Volterra and San Gimignano, but I can't say for sure that's better than other modes of transport. It certainly is more convenient. If you are just going to Pisa for the tower, a half-day or so by train from Florence is done quite easily. But if you want to visit Luccca for a half-day its quite easy to get to the Pisa/Field of Miracles by train and local bus, then an intercity bus to Lucca, and back to Florence by train. The transportation how-to is described in the RS Italy book. Have a great trip.

Posted by
7010 posts

Pisa, Siena, Lucca, and San Gimignano are all easily done from Florence as day trips by bus/train. Volterra is a bit longer (about 3 hrs) by public transportation so better done with a car. If you rent a car for one day you can do Volterra and San Gimignano in the same trip.

Posted by
7977 posts

Florence is a pretty expensive town to base in if you don't intend to see Florence. Why not spend a night in Volterra and one in Siena and use a car between them?

Posted by
3696 posts

I was also going to suggest staying someplace other than Florence if you expect to not be in Florence... or perhaps you have an apartment there for a week and have two days devoted to day trips? If not, I would rent a car and stay in a village and travel Tuscany by car.

Posted by
2455 posts

Stephen didn't mention San Gimignano, but the fact sometimes mentioned in guide books is true: it takes only 30 minutes to drive between Volterra and San Gimignano, both great places I think, but it takes 2 hours each way to make the trip by public bus, and those schedules are not very frequent.

Posted by
32 posts

Question: If one doesn't wish to rent a car, is Volterra, in your opinion, worth the "trouble" of getting to via bus?

Might there be a better way? I've always wanted to go to Volterra so much.