Itinerary questions

K

klinn

New member
Hi, I'm trying to build a June 2025 trip for a family of 4 (all over 18) and we have 3 weeks to work with. Will be starting in Marseille and taking the train to Vernazza-planning on 2 days in CT, then train to Lucca and then to Florence. Is it realistic to use Florence as a base to explore Tuscany? Ideally, we don't want to rent a car but if train day trips don't work, I would consider it. We then plan to train to Venice. After that, I'm not sure. Should we fly home from Rome? Venice? How much time should we take in each place? Sorry, for so many questions. Thanks is advance for any help you can provide!
Kelly
 
klinn said:
Hi, I'm trying to build a June 2025 trip for a family of 4 (all over 18) and we have 3 weeks to work with. Will be starting in Marseille and taking the train to Vernazza-planning on 2 days in CT, then train to Lucca and then to Florence. Is it realistic to use Florence as a base to explore Tuscany? Ideally, we don't want to rent a car but if train day trips don't work, I would consider it. We then plan to train to Venice. After that, I'm not sure. Should we fly home from Rome? Venice? How much time should we take in each place? Sorry, for so many questions. Thanks is advance for any help you can provide!
Kelly
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Hi Klinn, I am Italian and I live in Tuscany in a small town called Romola. I definitely recommend renting a car to have more freedom to move around. In Tuscany there are many cities and villages that are worth visiting, I'll mention a few: in addition to the cities of Pisa, Lucca, Siena, there are villages like Vinci, San Miniato, Castelfiorentino, Certaldo, San Gimignano, Volterra, Monteriggioni. But there are still many, medieval villages rich in history and beautiful things to see. Not to mention the beautiful landscapes rich in olive trees and vineyards neatly combed with centuries-old art. If you love wine then, you are in the right place, just one word, Chianti, is enough to make you understand where you are. Here you can taste the variety of very fine wines that these lands produce. Lands disputed for hundreds of years between Florence and Siena of which both claimed dominion knowing its value. Vernazza as a first stop seems like a great choice even if it is Liguria and not Tuscany, my wife is originally from La Spezia. The Cinque Terre are beautiful. Florence as a base can be good if you like the sweet din of the city more than the tranquility of the countryside. Choose an easy location to get out of the city if you want to visit Tuscany, otherwise you will waste precious time in traffic. However, with a car you can choose as you want. For the return trip, Florence airport could also be good. Three weeks is a lot but there are also many things you plan to see, if I were you I would try not to expand your radius of visitation too much. Enjoy your visit to Tuscany.
 
Ciao Kelly,

You can most definitely use Florence as a base for the time you want to spend in Tuscany! Especially if you don't to rent a car: there are options.

Train but also bus as well as guided tours - I actually highly recommend these for day trips you might want to take to do any wine tastings in Chianti or to just explore that area, because there are no train tracks that cross the wine area.

What do you have so far as division of days in Marseilles, Florence/Tuscany, Venice, Rome?

I would suggest at least a full 7 days for Tuscany - you can also divide up the time between 3 or 4 days in Florence, then go to Siena for another 3 days and use that as a base for exploring the area to the south of Siena. You could also take 2 days in go to Arezzo by train from Florence, use that as a base to go to Cortona with bus.

I'd say a full 4 days in Rome, you can most definitely end your time there or head back north by train to Venice and end the trip there.
In any case, the train is definitely the way to go from France and between all of the main cities in Italy.
 
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