Tuscany Homebase

Last year we stayed at Villa Nottola outside of Montepulciano. It was central to many Tuscan towns. The Villa was reasonably priced, had a great restaurant and made their own excellent wines.

We loved Lucca as a base with easy train access. We rented a car that was walking distance from the center of Lucca.

Florence and Pisa are easy train trips.

Your desire to day-trip by train to both Florence and Siena will be somewhat limiting, I think. Many of the small towns in Tuscany don't have train stations, or the station may be inconveniently located. I think what most people do on a first trip is spend a few nights in Florence (day-tripping to Siena by bus or--perhaps less often--by train) and then move to a smaller town for the driving part of the trip.

I find the Deutsche Bahn website the easiest to use for checking train schedules, though it will not give you fares for Italian trains. Even if your chosen base has rail service, you may find you're facing a too-long trip to either Florence or Siena. For example, the fastest trains from Lucca to Siena take 2-1/2 hours one-way.

I agree with the first response about Montepulciano. We have been using it as our home base for a couple of years now and just this past summer discover a fantastic new B&B, Fonte Martino (fontemartino.com). The owners are fabulous and we are already planning our return next spring.

Montepulciano has amazing restaurants and shopping but still holds on to its quaintness. From Montepulciano, you can easily explore so many surrounding towns. In addition, Cortona and Siena are about 40/50 minutes away, Perugia and Assisi are about an hour away, and Florence is about 1.5 hours away – just to name a few.

If you really want to take the train to Siena or Florence, there are 2 options. There is Montepulciano Stazione – which is a completely different town than Montepulciano. Many think it is the train station for Montepulciano and while there is a train station there, it is a completely separate town that is about 15 minutes from Montepulciano. The trains at Montepulciano Stazione are more local trains and can have many stops between Siena or Florence.

The 2nd option is the train station in Chiusi, which is about a 30-minute drive from Montepulciano. From here, you can get more direct trains to Siena and Florence. You will drive a little further, but the train travel time might be a little shorter.

For us, travel by rental car is always best. We can stop and explore whatever we want on the way to/from our main destination. Driving in Italy is not as bad as everyone says and while the Italians tend to live slower than we do in the US, they do drive faster. It’s important to remember that if they ride your bumper, they really are not being aggressive. To them, they are just driving. Just find a spot to pull over and let them pass and everyone is much happier!

Don’t forget to also go to AAA and get an International Drivers License before your trip. Most rental agencies will not rent to you if you don’t have it. Also, if the cops pull you over (which will likely not happen), you must have the International Drivers License with you. It’s about $20 and is good for a year. There is no test and only takes a few minutes to get at your local AAA.

I hope this helps you out. Just let me know if you have any other questions.

Time of year makes a difference, but note that parking and walking to Tuscan hill towns can take some time. There was a past post here saying that the ZTL problem was not limiting to them in Florence. But our Florence visit was three nights on a Rome-Florence-Reggio Emilia-Venice two-week trip. Siena and Florence are so far apart (I mean, by your car, with local roads, traffic, and parking time) that you can choose your home base by other reasons.

For example, we chose rural luxury hotel because we planned to have our big meals at lunch (typically at wineries, prepaid luxury restaurants with tastings) and only have a snack at the hotel bar for dinner. We needed a pool (for July), and fierce air conditioning. The clincher was effortless departures and returns each day to a rural setting-no parking lots, shuttle busses (okay, only a few places, like San G have busses) or escalators (like Orvieto.) Our sleep was outside Sinalunga. An alternative is a really charming but tiny (little to do THERE on the third night) hill town where the parking (full in daylight!) is close by and there may be tiny pensions or similar. I mean like Monteriggioni. But you may not get a pool and A/C there.

Note that I am not slamming Tuscany or any specific towns. I'm trying to telegraph that you will not be the only ones doing this!

Kate, please see my post entitled "Frances Lodge" under Hotel & Restaurant Reviews.

Montepulciano is delightful, but it's not a convenient location for visiting Florence and Siena (edit) by train. Either Florence or Siena woud actually be a better home base for Tuscan day trips by train or bus.

If you plan to rent a car find a place around or near Siena, for example the Alta Val D’Elsa (Upper Elsa Valley) near the Siena -Florence freeway (I.e. Monteriggioni, Colle Val D’Elsa Area).
Montepulciano is too far south for day tripping to Florence.
Without a car, I would stay in Florence (or maybe Siena).
Use Google Maps to locate hotels Or Agriturismo (farmhouse stay) in strategic areas (near main highways in the area I said)

Sorry to disagree, but we have been travelling to Montepulciano annually for a few years now. Both Florence and Siena are very convenient day trips. Florence is a 1.5-hour drive and Siena is only about a 1-hour drive and we usually try to spend a day in each when we travel to Italy. This is usually more than enough time in each city.

We recently had friends travel with us and they really push hard to stay in Florence. We convinced them otherwise but promised to take a daytrip to Florence. They were astonished by the number of tourist and tours in Florence and we left after spending a few exhausting hours there. After, they said they were so much happier we convinced them to stay in Montepulciano.

Kate mentioned in her post that she would like day trips to Florence and Siena by train and will have a car while in Tuscany. There are 2 close train stations to Montepulciano (Chiusi and Montepulciano Stazione) where this is easy to do.

Thank you for all of the advice, it's helpful to hear from others that have experience with the area. We will be traveling in April and will have our two children (ages 3 & 5) along with us, as well as my parents.

We are still searching on a place to stay, looking mostly around Siena now. My husband and I are disagreeing on if we should be in the countryside but close to Siena or in Siena. He wants to be able to walk to restaurants. I want to have space for the kids to run around outside.

The reason I was thinking train for Florence and Siena is I thought it might be difficult driving into those two cities for a first time driver in Italy, maybe I should just plan on driving. My husband has driven in Ireland and Portugal. He's more confident than I am and we may actually be picking up the car in Florence.

TJ does have me back to thinking about Montepulciano now. If we don't stay there, I know we will be visiting. At least I have it narrowed down to 2 options now.

Thanks again, all of the advice is so helpful

I love Montepulciano but wouldn't do an extended stay there without a car. The Siena area may be more central for visits to Tuscan towns and Florence if you prefer to travel by bus and train. No matter what you decide you'll have a great trip, so don't be overwhelmed. Think about the great feedback you've already been given, and as you refine your itinerary you can always come back with more questions. I will add that with young children, I think that having a car would be more convenient than public transit.

Regarding the car, Kate, you may want to ask folks who've driven Italy (we've not yet had the desire to do so) about appropriate size as well as boning up on Italian traffic laws. I'm thinking with 4 adults and 2 children in carseats plus luggage, you may be needing a van to fit everyone and everything comfortably. A van could be an issue, size-wise, depending on where you take it (or are allowed to take it) but I'll leave the details to those folks "in the know" for recommendations. :O)

There's also some concern about leaving anything of value - like luggage - visible when away from the vehicle, not that maybe you intend to do sightseeing from place-to-place that would cause you to have to do that.

Editing to add: one advantage to trains is having restrooms on them - even if some of those aren't exactly wonderful - when traveling with little people, who commonly have to go NOW and go OFTEN. No need to haul around carseats, either. Of course families do travel by car often enough but, well, might be something to think about?

The reason I was thinking train for Florence and Siena is I thought it might be difficult driving into those two cities for a first time driver in Italy, maybe I should just plan on driving. My husband has driven in Ireland and Portugal. He's more confident than I am and we may actually be picking up the car in Florence.

We stayed just outside Greve in an agriturismo. I agree with driving in Florence and Siena. We took the bus to Florence, but drove to Siena. Driving in Siena is not hard, but finding parking near the ZTL center can be a challenge.

I can see the charm of staying in Siena. There would be plenty of things for your youngsters to explore in the city, probably more than staying in an agriturismo. OTOH, a well placed agriturismo could open up some adventures as well.

How long will you have? I sure hope you have at least a week.

We were just talking about probably needing a van, so this is something we will need to look into more. If others do have opinions on a van being allowed on some streets please let me know.

My parents have been to Italy and were saying getting in and out of Siena is not the easiest. Do others agree with that statement? Would it be a lot coming and going if we decided to stay in Siena as opposed to just outside Siena?

We will be staying 4 nights before continuing to Rome for 5 nights.

If you decide on Siena, check out Aia Mattonata (https://www.aiamattonata.it/). We stayed there many times in the past as well. The owners are adorable and I think they have 5 rooms there. They are located in the countryside outside of just outside of Siena.

weigh all the pros and cons:
Will you have to drive to dinner every night?
Do you want to have to park a van, and to drive to go anywhere?
Can't the kids run around in a neighborhood in a town?
If I was going to have to drive a van, I'd reconsider, and I am all for driving in Italy under the right circumstances
If you had weeks, I can see getting out into the countryside, but I am not sure if this trip is the right one for it (yet--but it could be once you have everything fleshed out). Good luck!
The overwhelmed part should be tackled first, because once you know exactly what places and what experience you want, it will fall into place.

We have based in Chianti region four trips, perfect for your interests. Look at Castellina,
Panzano,Radda, Greve. And rent a car!