8 days to explore Tuscany

A

ainevickers

New member
Hi,
Myself and my boyfriend are travelling to Rome on Fri 17th May 2013 and travelling to Fontebussi near Montevarchi for a friends wedding. The transport to there is all taken care of and we will be staying in Borgo di Fontebussi until Wed 22nd May.

We then have until our flight home on the 30th/31st of May to travel around Tuscany. We have not decided yet but our flight back to Dublin will probably Thurs 30th in the PM from Pisa.

Any recommendations on places we must see, best way to do this etc.?

So far our plan is to take trains or buses to travel from Montevarchi to Florence (3days) to San Gimignano (1day) to Siena (2days) and to Pisa/Lucca (2days) and home! Are we mad to try and stay in so many different places?

Any advice appreciated!! Thanks:)
 
sounds like a good plan!

Ciao Ainevickers,

Actually no, you're not mad - it is actually what I'd recommend as well since you'll be depending on public transportation! I wouldn't be going back and forth from one place... the only exception is if you were to decide to use Florence as a base.

So option one is: stay in Florence, from there you could go to Siena and to San Gimignano on two separate days taking the bus... and then leave Pisa and Lucca to your last two days, heading there to spend the night at either so you don't have to head back to Florence.

Option two: Stay in Florence for a few days, then move on to Siena for 2 nights... from here go to San Gimignano. Then head to Pisa or Lucca for your last 2 nights. Do one town each day.

There are enough things to see in each place to be enough for your week long stay, I wouldn't try to fit in additional places (only if you had a car would I suggest places to stop along the way between each).

I am sure you'll also see and do a lot on those days at Fontebussi, sounds like a lot of fun!! :)
 
Thank You for your reply Lourdes!

We are still deciding exactly what to do with our time.

If you had time to send on any recommendations for accommodation in Florence and Siena I would be very grateful. I am going to have a look through the forum now for some suggestions.

Also, would you be able to tell me how easy it would be using public transport to get from Florence to Pisa airport for an evening flight all in the same day?

Thank you again!
 
bus or train to Pisa

You can definitely catch the train from Florence or by bus to the airport... Terravision runs a shuttle from the SMN train station. Since they both depart from SMN train station, take about the same time and cost about the same, it is up to you to decide which one you prefer, maybe by which one matches your times better: see which one is more convenient! timetables here for buses and here for trains. If your flight was in the morning, I'd suggest staying in Pisa just to make it easier to not have to deal with transport timetables in the a.m. but this works out easier to organize.

You could also see Pisa on your last day: you likely have to check out of your hotel in Florence by 11am anyways so you could then head to Pisa, leaving your luggage at the train station luggage deposit and have lunch there and enjoy seeing the leaning tower and main square of miracles until you're ready to head to the airport... there is a train that heads from the central station to the airport and takes less than 10 min to get there.

As far as accommodation in Florence, start from the historical center here, then you can refine by type - I highly recommend the B&Bs, generally small and well taken care of, offering a great personal touch.

As for Siena, take a look here for a general list of accommodation. We've stayed at Residenza Locanda di San Martino and at Chiostro del Carmine. We liked them both, the plus of the first one were its good views of Siena while the second has a very pretty internal courtyard where breakfast was served. Both had good breakfasts, buffet style with lots of choices and simply decorated rooms. Both are really close to all of the sights.
 
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