Tuscany trains, buses and bases..oh and opera too!!

Hi everyone, just found your forums, I hope you can all help me.

Firstly, myself and my wife have been to Italy a few times, but in May 2025 we want to dedicate our holiday to Tuscany only.

I am a bit older and disabled, walking with a stick, but can still manage a few thousand steps in a day…maybe 10,000 max though. We like to travel by public transport where possible and also like to see beautiful villages and history…with fine wine and food…you can see why we want explore Tuscany .

Initial plan is to fly into Pisa, and then set a base in Lucca, for three or four days visiting both Pisa, Florence and exploring Lucca.

Then using train to get to either arezzo or siena, but looks like arezzo is easier to get to and easier to get back to Pisa for flight home to Scotland, we wanted to see smaller villages like Montepulciano and pienza….but they look very difficult to get to using buses and trains and I don’t wanna drive.

I’d be delighted to receive recommendations or suggestions.

Two bases is idea for us, I’m too old to be packing up and moving every day, so we need simple slow paced travel with not too much energy required. Better to see key things and take our time rather than try and cram in everything.

We are very flexible with times but want to travel in May 2025 if possible but length of stay can be variable.

Lastly my wife has a bucket list event of seeing opera in Italy…we missed this in Verona two years ago…so if any of you brilliant people have any suggestions it would be great….i think Puccini was born in Lucca do that would be amazing if we could tie that in.

Thank you
Bovrilheid

Ciao Bovrilheid,

I'm sorry I had somehow missed your post from a few months ago and May is getting closer... so you likely have gone ahead on your planning and your questions have changed. What have you decided so far as concerns base or bases to use during your time? You didn't mention how many days total?

In case you haven't yet booked accommodations, I would highly recommend staying in a city center like Florence for the entire time so you don't have to pack up and move around and plan to use public transport from here to do day trips. Those can be on train or bus, but you also have the option of joining in on guided tours which are great because they can get you to places out in the countryside without the need to drive there yourself. This includes towns in Chianti as well as Montepulciano and Pienza - general Val d'Orcia area or also Siena.

A long day trip would be a tour that includes both Pisa and Lucca or Pisa and Siena - but the walking is limited at each place and you get transportation in between. Take a look at some of the options for guided tours from Florence on our affiliate partner Viator page.

Hope this info is of some help, let me know how else I can help.