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Tuscany in December

My husband and I want to visit Tuscany for a few days in December. We plan on renting a car in Rome and driving to Tuscany. We thought we would stay in one hotel and do day trips. Any suggestion of what town to stay in and which towns to visit?

Posted by
123 posts

Hi Gwen. I would start with Rick's Florence & Tuscany guidebook as this has lots of great information about our favorite towns and which ones are better for a base. We recommend hotels and restaurants along with the top sights and how to get around. It's really the best source of information for planning a trip like yours. You can purchase the guidebook on our website here: http://travelstore.ricksteves.com/catalog/index.cfm?fuseaction=catalog&parent_id=155. There are so many great little towns that you might read through there and find one that really appeals to you for a specific reason.

Posted by
10344 posts

You probably will want to look at both weather stats and hours of daylight. In December, both weather and hours of daylight will affect what you can do.

Posted by
1090 posts

Hi Gwen,

You will definitely want to do some research on weather wherever you decide to go. I know someone that went to Tuscany in the winter and decided to drive to hill towns . They had a great time....until they got into snow...and then got stuck a mile from their hotel....and had to walk in snow....in the dark. And from what I understand they don't plow the country roads all that often when it snows there.

Posted by
1994 posts

I would also suggest checking on what will be open, since that may impact your choices. In early January a couple of years ago in Orvieto, a number of restaurants and some hotels were closed for the season.

Posted by
3 posts

Since you're going to Tuscany in the winter, you might want to consider staying at a hotel connected to a thermal bath. There are a couple of really nice ones in the area, including San Casciano dei Bagni and Terme San Giovanni at Rapolano Terme. Especially this second one is set in an area where you can take a lot of day trips from. Then, coming back to the hotel, you can soak in the hot pools.

Posted by
8 posts

Hello!
I can suggest you to take CORTONA as a base; from here you can easily reach Florence, Rome, Perugia, Assisi, Siena, Montalcino, Chianti area with no need to take country roads. I can suggest you BB Vicolo Petrella (www.vicolopetrella.com) for your stay.
Have a good day!

Posted by
335 posts

I like Elizabeth's answer and want to add Montecatini Terme to the list of thermal spa towns as a possibility. The train runs right thru the town, so you can easily visit Lucca or Pisa as a day trip. I stayed in MT for a week several years ago and really enjoyed the spas (try the hydro-bike at the Redi Spa). Have fun!