Tuscany in September Itinerary Advice?

Tuscany is one of those places where you can get so much more out of your trip with a rental car. Roads are well paved if a little crooked. But they're well marked and easily driven.

We picked our car up in Florence and drove to an agriturismo 30 minutes south of there. We used it for 4 nights doing day trips. We later went to Siena and down to Orvieto. We turned the Hertz car into their office which is across the parking lot from the Orvieto train station. Then we took a 70 minute train into Rome Termini.

With 14 nights to spend, you could branch out a little more than your itinerary shows. And the Rome FCO airport is a much better place to fly out of.

Cinque Terre is a unique and beautiful place, but it comes with drawbacks including crowding from cruise ships in the autumn. Read up on it to see if it matches your interests. It can be done as a day trip from Florence, but it's arduous. Use the search box above to find the train details.

That person who encouraged you to go to Cinque Terre--how recently has he or she been there, and what time of year was it? The area is massively over-touristed these days. It was lovely when I visited it (most recently in the 1990s), but that Cinque Terre is long gone.

I'm not telling you not to go, but you should go with your eyes open, realizing that it is definitely not a must-see at this point. And it takes quite a lot of train time to get there.

Thank you all so much for your thoughtful input. I think we might save Cinque Terre for another trip and find another day trip or two. We're still planning to stick to trains - but keeping an open mind ;)

I really appreciate your advice.