We are planning to get most out of Tuscany in 5 days in April last week, with Pisa and Siena as our base.
Itinerary as below. Can anyone pls advice if it is doable?
Day 1 - Arrive Pisa (from Venice) and explore Pisa and Lucca
Day 2-Cinque Terre- back to Pisa
Day 3-Florence- back to Pisa
Day 4-Rent a car from Pisa and drive to Siena via Chinati and San gimignano
Day 5-Explore Val d’Orcia Pienza, Montalcino, Montepulciano,Bagno Vignoni
There's nothing about your itinerary that strikes me as not doable, but I wonder why you've selected Pisa as your base. I'd prefer to stay in Lucca if I were doing your itinerary.
However, I also have to wonder about the wisdom of seeing Pisa, Lucca, CT, Florence, Siena, and a host of Tuscan hill towns in just five days. Unless you are not particularly interested in art, Florence deserves more than one day. And you've really allowed almost no time to explore Siena, as you will arrive there late in the day on Day 4 and then spend all of Day 5 on the road.
You're smart to limit yourselves to two bases, but if you only have five days, you should (regrettably) cut something out of your itinerary.
My personal preference with five nights is to sleep three nights in Florence and two nights in Siena, and I would use one, or at most two, days to explore with a rental car. That probably eliminates CT, Pisa, and Lucca.
Many thanks Lane.. We will keep Florence as our base for first 3 days n Seina with a rented car for next two days. Still we would love to include CT n Pisa. Do u think we can do that as a day trip from Florence?
People do make the CT as a day trip from Florence, but it's a long day. The train is at least 2 1/2 hours. It stops in Pisa, so you can get out there and wander around and snap your photo of pretending you're holding up the tower, but if you get a very early start and allow a couple of hours for Pisa, It will be well past noon by the time you arrive in the CT, and allowing another 2 1/2 hour train ride back to Florence, it doesn't give you much time to enjoy yourself.
But if you are committed to doing that, it's certainly doable.
Pls let me know ur thought on below with Lucca as our base...arrive on Luca day 1 explore pisa n lucca...day 2 CT...day 3 Florence....
Lucca diserves one day, Pisa centre:1/2 a day. What I like best in Pisa is the Arno river part near the sea, this is beautiful and has a nice porticciolo with small boats.