My female friend and I, both in our sixties, are going for two weeks in mid May. Was considering Lucca as a home base, or should we do a week in Lucca and a week somewhere else? Pisa? Carrara? Or is two weeks in Lucca good, with day trips to other smaller cities. We are flying into Pisa. No desire for big cities. Prefer not to rent a car and drive.
Posted by
804 posts
If you prefer to use public transportation then you should stay where the trains stop. Also buses. Consider Pisa, Florence, Certaldo, etc. in addition to Lucca. Check out a Trenitalia map. Most all towns are reachable by train or bus, but it takes longer to get around.
I would break up the two weeks and stay one week in Tuscany, and one week further south in Tuscany, or in Umbria.
Posted by
Washington DC
29959 posts
Without a car (which is also the way I travel), train and bus links are key--especially when you're contemplating spending a full week in a not-large city/town. We really need to know what places you want to visit.
All the potential bases you mention are in northwestern Tuscany and not centrally located. They have zero or few Freccia (fast) train links to Florence, the city from which rail lines tend to fan out--thus a city where you might well have to change trains to reach destinations in other parts of Tuscany. Pisa, being a quicker trip from Florence, might be more practical than the other two from the transportation perspective, but few people recommend spending a lot of time there.
You can explore train schedules on the Trenitalia website (https://www.trenitalia.com/en.html). Quite a lot of the popular small towns in Tuscany either have no rail service or are served by train stations a bus ride or taxi trip away. Hill towns, naturally enough, don't have centrally located train stations. When buses are involved, transportation is slower. For this reason, many people prefer to rent a car for part of their time in Tuscany. I haven't done that, so I can offer no advice.
Posted by
San Diego, California, USA
1861 posts
This is a good map of what parts of Tuscany can be covered by train and some with connecting buses.
https://www.wanderingitaly.com/maps/images/tuscany-rail-map.png
While Lucca and Pisa (and surrounding cities) are Tuscany if you're thinking the hill town of films I would look into Siena, Arezzo, and Cortona. San Gimignano is pretty - train and bus from Siena - but is harder to reach I think is too touristy. Organized tours from places like Siena can take you to smaller hills towns without needing to rent a car or drive yourself.
Some day trip ideas from Lucca:
Pietrasanta - arty small upscale town
Pistoia - pleasant real Italian town on the same train line
Barga - small mountain town with a strong Scottish influence
Pisa - the obvious choice - you can even bike it if you want
Castelnuovo di Garfagnana - mountain town with a castle fortress and an amazing theater
Florence - of course
Also Viareggio - Italian beach resort, Forte dei Marmi - more upscale beach community
And there many others depending on your interests.
With two weeks to explore I would move around some and see some different areas.
Have a great trip,
=Tod