2 Day Road Trip in Tuscany for Family

koteifamily

New member
Hello! My family and I are doing a road trip and I'd love advice on the best itinerary. We have three small kids.
We arrive in Florence on a Saturday in April and spend one night there and then have a rental car we pick up Sunday midday.
We'd like to figure out the best itinerary in order to see the Tuscany countryside but end up in Venice that Tuesday morning.
Lastly we'd love to visit the hot springs as part of the itinerary.
But I'm having a hard time figuring out logistically how to go from Florence to Venice and still see the Tuscany countryside.
 
Ciao! Welcome to our forum! I understand your difficulty because Venice is indeed north of Florence, while the outdoor hot springs are all mostly in the south of Tuscany.

I think you can make it work out if you do something like this: get the car as soon as you can on Sunday, and head directly to Siena and from there either down to San Filippo or further south to Saturnia. The goal would be to not make any stops and make it in time with daylight to enjoy the hot springs at least for an hour or so. You should aim to have a hotel or B&B or other lodging nearby and plan ahead with them for a late check-in that day, so that you can head there after the hot springs. You will need a shower before dinner time as the sulfuric water is a bit stinky. Then head out to dinner and a walk in a nearby town. If you head to San Filippo, there are many small quaint towns in Val d'Orcia and the countryside scenic views are worth the time spent driving between the towns.

The next morning drive back in northern direction and make stops: you can stop in Monteriggioni outside of Siena since it's a small walled town and covers the "castle/fortress" to be visited in Tuscany, then head to Siena for a visit and get lunch and gelato there! Gelato is a must with kids! ;) This second night should be somewhere in this area: you can usually check-in in the afternoon, so I advice rest a bit and then head back out to explore. Either stay in Siena or head to San Gimignano, a hilltop town with lots of medieval towers along the Via Francigena pilgrimage route. What ages are your kids? Grab another gelato, the one in the Piazza della Cisterna in San Gimignano has won international awards for being one of the best in the world! Depending on time, you can either drive around the Chianti countryside with dinner planned at one of these towns. Or if time is short, you can drive through Chianti on your drive north to Florence on the following morning. By when do you need to arrive in Venice on Tuesday? I would suggest just driving back to Florence through Chianti for the views, but from there taking the A1 motorway to get to Venice quickly from that point on.

So it's doable, but I don't know the ages of your kids and whether 1 night in southern Tuscany and then another night somewhere near Siena is not too much for them. You know them better so it is up to you to decide whether it works for you.
 
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