Tuscany where to go?

I enjoyed Montepulciano, Pienza & Volterra. There are a lot of interesting things to do in Volterra (the amphitheater, the Etruscan Museum & all of the wonderful etruscan artifacts, visit an alabaster workshop, etc.). In Montepulciano, there's not as much to do but it's a quaint little town to walk around & very pretty. I loved taking pictures there. Have a wonderful trip.

My personal favorite in Tuscany is Cortona. It has a great, unique Tuscan hilltown atmosphere. But, you say you are deciding on day trip-s, plural? If so, how many? Are you going via public transportation? If you haven't gotten to visit any of the Tuscan towns before, I would take one full day to see Siena, one day to see Pisa and Lucca, and if you have any days left, other towns like San Gimignano, Volterra, Montepulciano, Pienza, Montalcino, and Cortona are a few you can choose from that would all be worth it. If you're up for a lengthier day trip and didn't get to see them before, towns in Umbria like Assisi and Orvieto can be worth it as well. Of course, if you are heading to Cinque Terre after Florence and wanted to make a full day of it, you could visit Lucca and Pisa on that travel day since they are on the way. But, whatever would work best for your schedule (and transporting your luggage..).

My favourites are Siena, Montepulciano, Cortona. I don't admire Pisa quite so much, but found Lucca very interesting. Many visitors go to San Gimignano, but others find it too crowded and touristy. It's best to take your time in these towns, wander around, have a leisurely meal, and talk to the locals. Enjoy!

We stopped in Montalcino, Pienza, Montepulciano, Siena and San Gimigiano and used Cortona as our base. Later we also visited Lucca. We'd go to any of them again in a heartbeat. We had a car for the first part of our trip in Southern Tuscany which made going between the hilltowns easier. Tuscany is quite large and southern and northern areas are quite different. How many days do you have? Siena can be done easily by bus. Lucca is easily visited by train or bus. Pisa was not a big wow factor for us, more of a hub on the way to Lucca, many would disagree and love Pisa.

We have 6 days in Tuscany including the time we will spend in Florence...so probably 4 days for daytrips. We have a day and night in Orvieto on the way and we will go to CT after. We are planning to have a car.

be sure to consider Umbria as well as Tuscany; they are very similar since they are adjoining and a lot of nice hilltowns are in Umbria. A lot of hilltowns that people think of as Tuscan are actually in Umbria (Assisi, for one).

I loved San Gimignano followed by Siena. San Gimignano was great to just walk around, relax and soak up the ambience and quiet. We really liked the duomo in Siena.

Sheree

Just like the other poster said - do not forget Umbria. Do get a Michelin Map it is a godsend. We drove for a month in Italy and it is amazing when you look at a map how close some of these towns are- the map will give you distances as well as driving times.

Cortona- Spello, Montepulciano, - in some cases you can do 2 in a day Montalcino-Pienza the drives on some of the back roads are beautiful- take a picnic lunch and stop and savor the country side.

Enjoy

Sheree

I have the same question as you regarding what to do in Tuscany/Umbria. My other issue is, where would you all suggest being your "home Base"? I want to stay in a hill town, not too close to town, but within a 10-15 min walk for dinner. We will have a car as well.

Ash, you can just about pick a town at random and use it as a base. We've used Cortona, Perugia, and Spello. Since you'll have a car, one easy option is to pick a place where that AutoEurope or your preferred operator has a rental office (if you're planning on picking up the car when you arrive in the region). Some hotels offer parking, but keep in mind the streets in hilltowns are VERY narrow and hard to drive around in; leaving the car at a lot or on the street outside of the hilltown walls is what we've done.

As for dinner, all the hilltowns I've seen have places to eat up in the hilltown. Its actually a pretty special time; as it gets dark and the daytrip tourists leave, you start to get a sense of what it was like centuries ago!

Throw away the map, and drive! You will see town after town, and the next one is only as far as the horizon. Many are visited very seldomly, and the best ones are not touristy enough to be on many short lists. They are all for the most part wonderful, especially the smaller ones. We have some awesome pictures that we took while we were just sitting at a town well, watching the elders sit/talk/play with the grandkids/ect... Tuscany is one of my favorite places in the world, can you tell? Good luck, and enjoy! Jeff

A few years ago we did an extended family trip to Tuscany and stayed at the Fonte de Medici in the middle of the Antinori vineyards,about 20 minutes south of Florence. (www.fontedemedici.com) The accomodations have something for everyone--the older generation stayed in the main building with a/c. The families with kids stayed in beautiful and spacious apartments in one of the two rennovated farm houses further out on the grounds. There is a pool and lawn tennis courts. We did two day trips from there: Sienna & San Gimignano and our favorite to hill towns Panzano (home of the "Singing Butcher" of PBS fame), Radda (memorable lunch at Le Vigne restaurant on its outskirts)and Castellina (with medieval underground walkways and a real castle).