I have a family of four travelling to the Tuscany area. We are looking for a central location to stay for a week. It needs to be close to Florence (a must for my husband) and Pisa (a must for my children). I would like a cute little village, someplace with a pool, where we can sit and enjoy the lazy atmosphere in the evenings. We will have a car, but it would be great to be walking distance to the town. Any suggestions? I am overwhelmed. Ideally, it would be a two bedroom apartment.
Posted by
San Francisco Bay Area (USA)
15225 posts
To help you decide, Follow these steps first: 1. Look at this website about Tuscany and decide which of the places you would like to visit: www.borghiditoscana.net 2. Write down in a list the names of places you want to see 3. Get a map of Tuscany or use an online map to mark those locations on a map (www.freemaptools.com also works) 4. Choose an area that is central to as many of those locations you want to visit as possible, preferably not far from the freeway for faster access. 5. When you decide which area we can give more specific suggestions or even recommend some accommodations. You can't be close to Florence (maybe even walking distance) and also be close to Pisa. The 2 cities are 55-60 miles apart. At best you can stay in the middle and be 30-40 min from either. I don't know if 40 min drive qualifies as close, maybe by Texas standards it does. In that case you can stay in Fucecchio or Santa Croce. They are in the middle, although that's not the area I would necessarily choose. Follow the 5 steps above.
Posted by
Seattle, WA, USA
7737 posts
In addition to this board, try Slow Trav Forum on Italy They've got a lot of well-traveled Tuscany fans there. And here's the English version of the website Roberto recommended: Villages of Tuscany
Posted by
OP
McKinney, TX, United States
3 posts
To clarify. I would like to be close (45 minutes by car) to Florence, Pisa. I would like to be able to walk to a little village with a restaurant, wine bar, etc. Not sure what little village to choose. We have planned our sight seeing to have us back most evening to sip wine, let the kids swim and unwind. Another option, we could stay a couple of nights in Florence, day trip to Pisa and then go to the "Hill Towns". Thoughts on this?
Posted by
San Francisco Bay Area (USA)
15225 posts
Yes. That is a possible solution. Stay in Florence a few days and visit Pisa from Florence. There are fast trains from Florence that get you to Pisa in 55 min. You should rent a car after you are done with Florence and Pisa. Having a car while in Florence is a nuisance because of traffic restrictions. Once you rent a car, you could stay in a farmhouse or a small town, which you could use as a base for visiting other small towns. Villages in the Chianti are nice (Greve, Castellina, Panzano). Colle Val D'Elsa, San Gimignano, Certaldo, Volterra are other candidates. And so is Monteriggioni, which is the ultimate medieval town (2 wine cellars with wine tasting inside the city walls too). I also like San Donato, San Casciano and, closer to Florence, Impruneta. But the choices are really almost infinite. There are hundreds of quaint small towns and villages in Tuscany. I would look at the website www.borghiditoscana.net, then decide on which town. once you decide you can look at accommodations using the same website. It will redirect you to Booking.com. I have no experience with accommodations in the area, since I've visited those places from my home in Florence, but you can search online.