Hello,
We want to select a place like Lucca as a base and then travel to visit Florence, Pisa, La Spezia, Riomaggiore, Santa Margherita Ligure & Portofino. What city would be best as a base (with access to trains to visit all these cities). We would prefer not to rent a car.
Thank you for any feedback
Posted by
7056 posts
How many days do you have? Where are you arriving/departing?
I think it would be easier as well as more enjoyable to stay in Florence and then stay somewhere on the coast, seeing Pisa in between.
Otherwise, check the transit times between all of your list and choose accordingly from one of the places on your list, assuming you have ruled Lucca out for some reason.
Posted by
OP
2 posts
Thank you for your feedback. We are trying to avoid, packing and repacking because my husband and I and the other couple we will be with, both will have already been a few places moving about. We want to do daytrips if at all possible. We will both be coming from Rome and then most likely taking a train to Florence to head in different directions after this leg of our trip. We will have a total of 7 days here.
Posted by
Saint Paul, Minnesota
2342 posts
So you have 7 nights in one place and want to visit Florence, Pisa, La Spezia, Riomaggiore, Santa Margherita Ligure & Portofino.
For "like Lucca," I would say Pistoia, but the train times are very long for the 4 coastal towns. The actual place where you can stay and get to all the places you name on reasonable train journeys is Pisa. We stayed in Pisa for 6 nights one September and liked the city very much. There is much more to it than the leaning tower! You just have to be strategic about where to stay, where to eat (e.g. not on the path between the train station and the tower), and when to visit the field of miracles.
Look at the train times.