Tuscany (Florence and Countryside)

Don't even think about a scooter. The roads are not easy to drive with hills and curves and speeding Italians, bikers and farm animals. Take a tour bus and sit back and enjoy the view. Remember that the first day is a travel day and it takes a while to get the lay of the land.

Nicolette First question - are you an experienced motorcycle / scooter rider?

Good first question from Nigel. Many interesting sites can be reached by bus (trains won't drop you off in the center of town). Frankly, two days in Florence (especially if this is your first trip) is barely enough, but much better than no days. Montepulciano is beautiful, as is Todi, but these aren't really countryside. Your hotel will probably have brochures about excursions to wine tastings in Tuscany (many include transportation). It really depends on your style of travel. One thing I've done is go from Florence to Arezzo to Sansepolcro, which includes a beautiful slice of countryside travel.

Just something to think about.
Even if you're used to riding scooters/motorcycles you'll also have to consider the way people drive here. It can be nerve wracking in a car. They'll watch out for you but if you're not used to it and you get nervous while tootin around.....wouldn't be too much fun.

Driving around in a scooter does make me a little nervous for the reasons that you all have mentioned. Driving is different in another country and we're not used to it. That would be something to consider. My husband does have some previous experience riding dirt bikes, if that is anything like a scooter at all I'm not sure. He would be the one driving if we did. Thank you for your Tuscany suggestions. The last part of our trip is still up in the air (whole trip only total of 1 week! So short!). Would you suggest 3 days in Tuscany or Rome? I know it's a difficult one. Not long enough either way. But I was first considering 3 days in Rome, but what do you think?

When you ask whether you should spend your 3 days in Tuscany or Rome, I'm guessing you're thinking about rural Tuscany, rather than Florence (which is in Tuscany). Depends on your interests and what you want out of this trip. More history than you could see in 300 days, along with a great city vibe, then the answer is Rome. If you're looking for beauty, some history and culture, and hanging out in rural towns, then choose Tuscany. Both are wonderful and very enjoyable, but for very different reasons.

I think on this particular trip I'm looking more for beauty and small towns so I've been thinking Tuscany.

Unless you have nerves of steel, tooling about Tuscany in a scooter is not the best idea. We were upgraded to a BMW on our recent trip and it was nerve-wracking even in a nice powerful car. I cannot suggest a GPS with an Italy or Europe card highly enough. The roads can get a bit confusing, and even with an excellent map you can get a bit disoriented. There are some excellent drives in Tuscany. The hilltowns are a treat, as is the Chianti region. I particularly liked the Sant'Antimo Abbey, and the really neat small town near it.

Nicolette, I don't know if you're budget will allow, but I just did a FANTASTIC tour with ArtViva out of Florence. It is called "Best of Tuscany" tour and it visits 3 hill towns plus a winery with lunch and wine and olive oil tasting. It was a wonderful day!

Hi Nicolette, My wife and I just got back from Italy, and stayed in Florence for 4 nights and did a tour of the Chianti region. The countryside around Florence is amazing, and we actually wish we would have had more time in that area. However, you need to decide what you want to do with only two days in that area. You can tour the Uffizi and Accademia in one day, we did it. Make sure to pre-book though!! However, we also enjoyed the Mercato Centrale and the San Lorenzo Market. I would try to make time to do those also. In fact, I enjoyed that more than the Uffizi, but then I am not a huge art buff. As for the countryside, if you are good on a scooter, go for it! But e decided we did not want to deal with the hassle of driving in Italy and the stress, so we went with a private tour company that is very reasonably priced. http://www.slow-days.com/index.html The tour guide, Simon, is from the UK and is really a nice guy and very knowledgeable and his wife is from the area. We went out on a tour with Simon and two others, five total, and toured the Chianti region. He is flexible on his itinerary, which is neat. Just ask him. But we wanted to see Radda in Chianti, which truly is a neat little town. We also had lunch (included) in Gaiole in Chianti and toured a Castle and had wine tasting. All expenses are included in one set price - 125 Euros. I really was very happy with the there company and it was an excellent day and I would recommend it to anyone!
Jason

siena is a must. also, check out some of the hill towns rick recommends (i'd avoid san giminano, though: terrible crowds unless you're traveling off season). the S-222 "highway" from florence to siena is the most beautiful road i've driven on in my life. definitely take the S-222 instead of the freeway if you're driving between these two cities.

I was in San Gimigniano last week, on Wednesday, and there were no crowds. It was my favorite hill top town and has the BEST gelato in the world. I would encourage you to visit SG.