We are planning to spend 5-6 nights in the Tuscany area in September, 2013 and would like to find a town/city that we can stay and travel easily to Florence, Pisa, Chinque Terre,Sienna, etc. It looks as though Lucca is a good choice, but would love to hear from others who have traveled there. We are most interested in taking in the hill country and enjoying some down time from traveling to Switzerland and before we head to Rome. We will obviously be busy making day trips to Florence and Pisa and hope to spend 1 night in Chinque Terre on our way back to Rome. We are planning to get a 2 bedroom apt. wherever we stay and would also like some good recommendations if you have any. Thanks!
Posted by
Sacramento, California U.S.A.
10221 posts
I love Lucca, but would not choose that as a central place to tour Tuscany. If you look on a map it is in the northern part of Tuscany. I would choose somewhere more central. Will you have a car? That will make a big difference in where you would stay. FYI, Lucca is not a hill town. You might get more responses to your question if you post in the To The Boot section.
Posted by
OP
Roswell
9 posts
Thanks for your response. We were hoping to just travel by train, but can certainly rent a car if needed. Where would you recommend that we base ourselves?
Posted by
Ann Arbor, Mi
3696 posts
San Gimignano is a favorite and close to the areas you want to stay. You could also stay at an agriturismo that is a little easier to park and drive to... just not any night life, but can be beautiful and peaceful to come home to. I have stayed in a tiny place close to there called San Donato...just a few b&b's and a winery on a hilltop but with great views of the hillside and vineyard. Another smaller town that I like is Certaldo Alto. Sienna is a bit difficult with a car, as well as you need to make a plan for Cinque Terre as you probably want to take a train there. I have been to Lucca, and it was a fun day, but seems too far out of the way to be central.
Posted by
Sacramento, California U.S.A.
10221 posts
Without a car you will need to be somewhere with convenient transportation. I would stay in Siena or Florence if I didn't have a car. To stay somewhere smaller it would be easier to drive,
Posted by
Huntsville, AL, USA
8141 posts
I agree with the area 20-30 miles south of Florence. We stayed in April between Certaldo and San Gimignano, and it was a beautiful non-commercialized place. We paid 70 euros for a 2 bedroom apartment on an agritursimo, which is about as inexpensive as Italy gets. Virtually every farm has apartments or rooms. We went down to the supermarkets in Certaldo and incredible food stores Poggibonsi, 5 miles south. Day trips to San Gimignano, and Volterra were very easy. Siena was also closeby, but we found the city to be very congested with cars and apartments and parking to be difficult. Booking.com filtered by Certaldo will bring up a bunch of properties in this area.
You can also go on GoogleMaps.com and put in any of the cities in the region. Magnify the map to about 90%, and you can click on any of the hotels, B&B's and agriturismos on the map.
Posted by
mississauga, ontario, canada
46 posts
Hi Dina, we are biased because all 4 of us who toured Tuscany last spring LOVE San Gimignano. We used this as our base for 9 days and toured around many towns small and large. We stayed in the Hotel Leon Bianca in San G., if you check out there rates you may well be pleasantly surprised, it is an excellent hotel with great staff. By the way do not be put of by any negative remarks about Siena, just avoid market days, Tuesdays if I remember correctly, and you will find the city and the people charming. Enjoy,Bill.
Posted by
OP
Roswell
9 posts
Thanks for all of your great responses! I have inquired about several villas around San Gimignano, but haven't heard back. Maybe a little slower in responding than I would expect. :) If anyone has stayed in a villa in this area and can recommend it, I would love to get the name and make an inquiry. Thanks for the tip on Hotel Leon Blanca. I will check it out! Dina