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Tail end of Italy trip suggestions

Posted by (Western NY) on

Hello everyone, my 1st time posting on Rick's site. Been reading on here for years, great info

My wife and I start a vacation in Oslo in July and then fly down to Florence for the Italian part of the vacation. We are staying 2 nights in Florence and then start west to Lucca and on to Corniglia in Cinque Terre. (1 night in Lucca, 2 nights in CT). This part of the trip is all booked, we have July 9, July 10 and July 11 open after that. Our only restriction is that we will spend one final night in Florence on July 12 and fly out in the morning of the 13th. I know we could spend a lot more time in Florence but we have been in Florence before and won't really be going to museums or any of that, just wandering around taking in the beauty and flavors of our favorite city

We have so many ideas and could really use some advice:

  1. The one we originally planned: Take the train from CT to Siena on Sunday the 9th (9 am to 1:30 pm) for a one night stay, then on to Orvieto for 2 nights (day trip to Civita from Orvieto). A lot of moving around, long train ride but we are very light packers

  2. The one we are thinking about. Stay the extra 3 nights in CT and use it as a home base for a couple day trips... Pisa, ??? We sometimes make the mistake of moving around too much. Corniglia fits our idea of a great place to park ourselves and relax, save Siena, Civita, etc for the next trip

  3. One additional night in Corniglia then stay in a countryside manor on the way back to Florence for a night or 2. Winery with cooking class... something like that would be great but having trouble finding one. I love this idea if a cooking class is involved!

Open to any suggestions on different destinations, different itineraries. Thank you in advance!!!

PS - We will not be driving

Posted by
2334 posts

It's hard to stay in a countryside manor if you're not driving. The only problem with CT is that it is SLAMMED in the summer and the trains are so packed it makes day-tripping rather difficult and unpleasant. If you want to spend those extra days doing the hikes between the CT villages, then I would go for it. If you want to go farther afield, I would recommend Portovenere rather than Pisa, which I found rather underwhelming. OK, sometime you have to see the tower, but save it for a future trip. And Orvieto is great, but it seems rather far out of your way for this trip. There are so many wonderful places closer to where you'll be. If you want a one-night stay in Siena, then how about San Gimignano for the next couple of nights? You might even look at Ponte a Nappo there (Rick's book), a farmhouse "a mile below town" with "stunning San Gimignano views." A bit of a walk to and from town, but it might give you the country manor feel!

Posted by
7175 posts

Extend Florence, and rebook Lucca for 2 nights, then add Siena.
July 4-7 Florence (3nights)
July 7-9 CT (2nights)
July 9-11 Lucca (2nights)
July 11-13 Siena (2nights)
July 13 Fly out of Florence

Substitute Cortona/Arezzo for Orvieto/Civita and do it from Florence on your extra day.
http://www.discovertuscany.com/cortona/
http://www.discovertuscany.com/arezzo/
Or a day by local bus to Chianti if its country and wine you want.

Pisa or Pistoia can be visited from Lucca easily by train.
San Gimignano is easily visited by bus from Siena.

Get a car with driver for the hour or so long drive to Florence airport directly from Siena.

Posted by
15798 posts

I like the idea of 2 nights in Orvieto. Pisa is a half-day trip from Florence. I wouldn't go out of my way to see it. If you can work out a train route that goes through Pisa, you could leave your bags at Pisa Centrale for a few hours to see the Field of Miracles.

Posted by
15 posts

Thank you for everyone's comments. We decided to take the early morning train out of CT and head to Siena for 3 nights. Found a nice place on the outside of Siena proper called Hotel Borgo Grondaie: (http://www.hotelsienaborgogrondaie.com/sienahotelstuscany/)

I like the location of Siena with relation to visiting Monteriggioni and San Gimignano for a day trip. Both places look very easy to get to via train/bus. We actually may rent a car for a day or 2 in Siena which really opens up our options. Does anyone have any tips on car rentals near Siena before I start Googling?

Thanks again everyone, really good comments for this trip and future plans to Italy

Posted by
15798 posts

Sounds good, Coach. Keep Orvieto on the list for next time.

Posted by
11294 posts

For car rentals, look at Kemwel and AutoEurope (now sister companies, but frequently with different prices). Be sure you are getting all the insurance you want (one option was appealing - until I saw it had a two thousand euro deductable!). If you need an automatic, you may be limited in where you can pick it up; if Siena doesn't offer them, you may have to go to Florence for one.

Posted by
15 posts

Thanks Harold - I called Hertz earlier today and they can actually get an automatic for us in Siena and will allow me to use my Hertz points to pay for it. I will look into the insurance included with that rental. I appreciate your comment and the heads-up on the deductible

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