Tuscany Itineraries help needed

N

Neto

New member
Hello,

My wife and I will be visiting Tuscany this month for 5 full days, based in Florence.
My time is running a bit short to finish our planning, so while I research all of the options below, I thought I would post them here to get some needed advice :).

It is our first time there, so I'm trying to hit the best spots for a first time, to enjoy them without rushing too much, but also not lingering (except for drinking delicious Tuscan wines!).

Any advice is welcome. Thanks!

I have 3 itineraries outside of Florence in mind.

Itinerary 1: Florence->Pisa->Cinq Terres->Florence.
  • The first question I have in mind is: Do we do it by ourselves or take a full day tour?
  • Second question that comes up is: if we do it ourselves, should I use trains or rent a car?
  • Looks like in Cinq terres, I should visit at least 2 places: Riomaggiore and Manarola. Squeeze in Monterosso if possible. Any other area that would be a "must see"?

Itinerary 2: Florence->Chianti->San Gimigiano->Volterra->Florence
  • I think this itinerary may be too long for 1 day. Is it?
  • The idea is to visit some wineries in Chianti then visit the 2 cities. Having been to Napa and Sonoma in USA, I know visiting wineries easily becomes a full day thing, so I'm thinking I could move Chianti to a 4th Itinerary.
  • I think I read somewhere that San Gimigiano also has wineries, which would compliment the "wine tour" for that day.
  • I'm not sure if I should use train, a rented car, or a tour for this, don't know if some tours actually do this route.

Itinerary 3: Florence->Siena->Montalcino->Chianti(if time permits)->Florence
  • Similar questions here, train vs car vs tour?
  • Any other city/location worth fitting in if time allows it at all?

Possible Itinerary 4: Remove Chianti from the above and make a full day in Chianti

All this being said, we also want to see all the goodies in Florence. One day would definitely be too short for Florence, that's why I think I would need 3 squeeze in the 3 itineraries and 2 full days in Florence.


Looking forward to any advice!

Thanks,
Ernesto
 
Ciao Ernesto,

These are full days you've got planned so while you can see some on your own (the CT one you can catch trains and then roam as you wish, so that's not too complicated - read this first), I would suggest getting "help" in the organizing of things if you choose some organized tours for the other days.

For example, I haven't seen any that include Volterra but for anything wine tasting, it is always best to have someone else do the driving so that you can both enjoy the tastings without worry of how to and when to, etc.
Take a look at some of the tours out of Florence into Chianti and to San Gimignano:
http://tours.discovertuscany.com/en/8357/Chianti/d26111-ttd

I'd particularly recommend this full day tour that I did a year or so ago, it includes SG, Siena, Monteriggioni and wine tasting ;-)
https://www.discovertuscany.com/tuscany-tours/tuscany-one-day-tour-siena-san-gimignano-chianti.html

If you want to get to Montalcino, I also recommend a tour - again, so you can do tastings without worrying about driving.
http://tours.discovertuscany.com/en/8357/search/montalcino

Here are some day trips that are easier to do on your own with public transport from Florence:
https://www.visitflorence.com/itineraries-in-florence/top-day-trips-from-florence.html

Let me know if you need more assistance!
 
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