Traveling in Tuscany Qns

For driving maps, I like the Italian Touring Club series. You can look at routes on viamichelin.com.

How many nights do you have? My concern about your plan is that you may not be calculating enough driving time between stops - even though the distances are not long in kilometers, some of the roads may be winding or speed may have to be reduced.

If I understand your plan for sleeping it is

• one night San Gimignano

• one night "Chianti" (maybe Greve in Chianti woudl suit you)

• one night with access to the Val d'Orcia

plus another night somewhere in Tuscany and maybe Orvieto on the 5th night.

Some ideas/advice:

1. Plot your travel plan at Rome2Rio.com for decent driving time estimates
2. Stay in Montalcino, not Buonconvento. Charming evening atmosphere and you can easily make the lovely drive from Montalcino to Pienza to Montepulciano. Stay two nights here. It will give you all the things you like: wine, good food, quaint town, viewpoints
3. Orvieto is an easy stop on the way to Rome for night 5

I don't know how you'll have time for short hikes as you are driving a lot. The Abbey of Sant'Antimo outside of Montalcino is worth a visit and there is a path there that leads back to Montalcino. Ask locally for info as paths change.

I would not want to get lost in Tuscany. Actually I HAVE gotten lost in Tuscany and for that reason we now travel with a GPS when we drive.

Sonja,
This may help http://www.slowtrav.com/italy/tuscany/hs_planning.htm

Thanks for all the ideas and recommendations. I love the idea of 2 nights in one place and still being able to get through to our destination. I have seen the website for plotting your travels and will definitely do that now I have more ideas. I think getting lost, the lovely man probably meant don't have too much of an agenda just go with the flow but would have preferred more time in Tuscany in order to do that. I do plan to get a GPS as I have heard about the confusing little roads off the beaten track.

Thanks to whoever deleted the extra posts. I couldn't figure out where to do that. First time on this website but have enjoyed all the posts I've read.

In my opinion your plan to change hotels so often is not the best option. All the locations you intend to visit are just a very short drive from one another. Changing hotels is time consuming with all the packing, unpacking, checking in/out paperwork, and in the time you waste doing all of that you can easily drive the entire Via Chiantigiana (Chianti Road SR222) from Florence to Siena. You can drive from Florence to Siena in less than 45 min using the freeway, and in 1.5 hours if using the more curvy Via Chiantigiana.

The best choice is to select a central location as your base (anywhere in the province of Siena, but preferably near the Siena-Florence freeway for easy access to a fast road) and stay all your nights in that hotel from which you can take all the day trips you want. For example from Siena you can drive to all the places you mentioned in your post in 30 to 60 min. Orvieto is a bit farther south, but using the freeway you can be there in less than 90 min drive from Siena or surroundings.

One other point to keep in mind is that for driving in Italy, you'll require the compulsory International Driver's Permit, which is used in conjunction with your home D.L. These are easily obtained at any AAA office and valid for one year.

You'll have to be vigilant to avoid the ZTL (limited traffic) areas which exist in many Italian towns (hefty fines if you pass through these).

Ciao!
I can hugly recommend to visit:
Radda in Chianti
Volpaia in Chianti
Montefioralle
Monteriggioni
Certaldo
Colle di Buggiano
Volterra
San Gimignano
And the bigger cities like Lucca, Florence, Pistoia, Pisa and Siena.
You could plan a day in Chianti, a day to discover other small villages, two days in Florence, one day in Pisa, Pistoia and Lucca, one day in Siena.

Thanks again for feedback. I will utilize all your great ideas to recreate our Tuscany trip.