loan

Hi
After reading a lot +++ about where to stay in Tuscany to explore nearby towns, i stil can not decide which place is the best if i want to base myself in Chianti region or any other region to do a day trip to Florence, Pisa , Sienna, Lucca and San Giamignano?
It is my first trip to Italy and i have 7 days for this portion of my trip to visit Tuscany, we will have a car for this leg of trip.
I ll appreciate any suggestion .
Thanks

bobthenavigator

For those destinations I would use 2 base locations, and Florence would be one of them. The other should be south---Siena or even south of there. You can do Lucca/Pisa from Florence by train. You will not want a car in Florence.

tuscanlifeedit

I think you have to realize that this grouping of towns doesn't really work very well. Pisa and Lucca go together; Florence and Chianti work; Siena and San Gimignano are a good match with other nearby towns, and easy access to Florence by bus.

I think you need a map and maybe play with driving distances on Google maps or ViaMichelin.com.

As I write this, it occurs to me that staying in Siena would allow you ease of access to Florence, a relatively easy town to keep a car in, and easy access to other interesting towns.

Dayle

Loan,

Where will you be prior to your 7 days in Tuscany? If it were me, I would do my day trip in Florence (arriving from where ever by train), then pick up a car upon departure from Florence.

Personally, I prefer to stay in much smaller towns than those you name above (I've visited all but Lucca). Smaller towns or even villages/agritourismo are easier to get in/out and park.....much more enjoyable too, to me!

We stayed in this TINY Chianti village - San Sano. It's about 20 min drive north of Siena on the Chianti hwy, although you need a very detailed map before it shows up.

Check out Hotel Residence San Sano****. We loved it and were there for 4 nights. Did day trips to Siena, Greve, La Badia di Coultibuono (lunch and tour of cellars), San Gimignano and Volterra. This was back in 2000, but it was completely untouristed except for the handlful of visitors at the hotel, which is a cluster of restored stone homes.

Buon viaggio

pizzocchieri

If you stay in San Miniato or nearby you are in an ideal position to do every single one of your targets as a daytrip with a car: Florence, Pisa , Sienna, Lucca and San Gimignano. Another very good location for you would be Fiesole.

Don't let other people's fears of driving near Florence spook you into turning Florence into an inconvenient day of trying to sightsee, stow luggage and rent a car all in the same short time frame. You can get plenty of advice about how to daytrip to Florence with a car without getting tickets, getting stuck in traffic and finding parking depending on where you are coming from. You need to have a plan, but if you have a plan, you can drive to Florence from elsewhere.

Also, if you stay in Fiesole, you only need to take a 15 minute bus to Florence.

Since you have a full 7 days in Tuscany, you will really enjoy the region more if you have a car. Most first-time tourists have no trouble driving to Siena, Pisa, San Gimignano and Lucca and finding parking. You can use the car to see all sorts of other lovely towns along the way. For instance, if you are driving from San Miniato to Siena, the lovely town of Certaldo is right on that path. If you are coming from Fiesole, the possibilities are endless.

Make sure when you look up San Miniato that you get the right town. It is not San Miniato al Monte. But also look up Fiesole or towns right near there (Settignano is one).

Have a great 7-day adventure!

pizzocchieri

Also be aware that Siena these days heaves with tourists nearly year-round, and basing there makes it a much longer drive to Pisa and Lucca -- too long for me for a day trip.

Here is some info on San Miniato

http://www.san-miniato.com/

Here's some about Fiesole

http://goitaly.about.com/od/fiesole/a/Fiesole.htm

returntoyourseat

I just returned yesterday from our two weeks in Italy. We went to many towns as we had a car. I loved the small towns of Pienza and Montepulciano. Siena was just too busy, it is certainly worth a visit but just didn't appeal to me. We stayed a LaFoce and it was a great base. I am going to do a trip report as soon as I get unpacked, because I want to share our tour with Elizabeth Minchilli, and some of the restaurants along the way. We picked our car up at FCO and returned in Florence. We ended up driving to the Marriott AC and dropping our luggage and then returning the car. It was pretty easy with a GPS. For seven days pick and choose your bucket list wisely, as the day gets away quickly. One of the places I wanted to visit was Carrera, we just didn't have the time, but while standing in line at train station in Florence a group of ladies from Australia said it was one of the highlights of their tour. Oh well another reason to return.

RSS

Agree with others, NO car in Florence. Train works from places in Tuscany to the train station in Florence.

Favorite town is Radda! Siena, San G etc, exceptionally touristy.

RSS

loan

thank you all for those informations, will look into those suggest towns as base and hopefully come to a final decision soon !