P_Texas

We are spending 14 days in central Italy and flying in and out of Rome. We want 2 full days in Rome, Venice and Cinque Terra so that leaves 7 days for the Tuscany region. We wanted to base in one place and take day trips on the train but after looking at train maps, train websites (both Trinitalia and Italiarail i am more confused than ever. We thought about basing in Montecatini and taking trips to Florence, Siena and Orvieta. Does anyone if their are regular trains from there morning and evening and would they all have to go thru Florence or a main hub first? or any suggestions about a small town (which we prefer) for a central hub that is on a main train line? thank you.

annhig

Hi P,

it can be useful when planning this sort of trip to set it out in detail so that you work out exactly how much time you've got. if you do this, i think that you will find that you don't have as much as 7 days for Tuscany, as you need to take account of the time it takes to get between places.

something like this:

Day 1 - Arrive Rome. take train to ? Venice. stay 3 nights .[gives you 2 whole days but takes no account of jetlag]

Day 4 - train to CT. [will probably take all day] stay 3 nights/2 days

Day 7 - train to ? in Tuscany. Not sure where to suggest - hopefully others will chime in. stay 5 nights = 4 days

Day 12 - train to Rome. stay 3 nights [the bare minimum for Rome, IMO]

Day 15 - fly home

To get specific replies re the best hub in Tuscany, you might want to start a new thread with a more specific title eg "Tuscan hub with rail access needed - suggestions please".

hope this helps - enjoy your planning.

ekc

You will lose most of your first day in Rome to logistics and jetlag. It will take you half of a day to get from Rome to Venice (get up, pack, check out of hotel, get to train station, find train and get on, 4-hour train ride, get from train station to hotel, check in, drop bags, now it's past time for lunch). It will take you most of a day to get from Venice to CT. Therefore, you have much less than 2 days in each of Rome, Venice and CT.

I would cut at least one of these locations, or take some time from Tuscany.

annhig

ekc - I was suggesting putting Rome at the end, because that way the OP will be in the right place for flying home. Also, it means that the first day, which can be a bit of a dead loss, is spent in travelling to Venice, hopefully resting/dozing on the train.

and they clearly only have 4 days for Tuscany if they stick to the rest of the itinerary.

annhig

ooops - ekc - I think that we were posting at the same time - great minds?

msteacher

I totally agree with the suggestion above to give yourself a minimum of three nights (four would be even better) in Rome, and to put that at the end of your trip to save on travel time. After landing in Rome head immediately to either Venice or Florence, while you are still in travel mode.

For your Tuscany days, have you considered renting a car? If your goal is to stay in a small town and explore the countryside, a car is the best way to do this. As a general rule, you get the best train connections from cities and large towns. I would not want a car in Florence or Rome (the parking alone would be a nightmare, let alone the driving), but it's perfect for meandering between small Tuscan villages. So think about whether 3 or four days of car rental may help you meet your goal.

That being said, the places you listed (Florence, Siena, and Orvieto) are all large places that are well-served by public transportation. Orvieto is easily done as a day trip from Rome, and Siena could be a day trip from Florence (although it's also a wonderful place to stay overnight). So you may want to consider spending a few nights in Florence, with day trips to Siena or other Tuscan towns via public transportation, especially because one day is not nearly enough to take in all the wonders of the city.

I also agree with the sentiments above that you may need to pare down your destinations. Of those listed, I'd drop the Cinque Terre. It will eat up too much of your precious time just to get there. What time of year are you going? Keep in mind that if it is during the peak summer season, the heat and the crowds will make everything take a little longer than you think.

Planning is half the fun of a trip like this! Have fun and buon viaggio!

ekc

definitely great minds annhig! Getting to Venice on the first day is a great suggestion - might as well do something useful on that jetlagged first day!

P_Texas

thanks, that is a great idea about going to Venice the first day. we usually try to time our flights so they get in with just enough time to check into a hotel and have dinner then go to bed early
however, we can change that to add on enough time to get to Venice and do the same thing. We are cutting back our time in Tuscany and will consider getting a car. Last time we stayed hopelessly lost but that was w/o a gps. will def. take one this time if we decide to get the car. really appreciate your help.
I would still like to find a smaller town with good rail service and make day trips to Florence and Siena. We love small towns and good regional food and not the larger cities.

annhig

glad that you've taken the advice in good part, P-T. assuming that you are coming from North America, I think that most flights arrive in Rome at about breakfast time, which should give you all day to get to Venice or wherever.

cmeyer54

I must ask a simple question....is there a reason you are flying into and out of Rome and not trying an open jaw ticket? if you could fly into Venice and out of Rome, you'd save at least a day or more. I guess given my preferences, I'd do Rome/Tuscany on this trip with some side trips (maybe base yourself in Sienna and visit Montalcino, Pisa(?) etc or do Rome/Florence with a 2 day stop in Tuscany. I think you may end up with too much intercity travel, a lot of rushing around and few memories of the places you've visited.

Sassafrass

If you do not have flights firmed up anyway, do the "multi-city" option when looking for tickets: into Venice, out of Rome.
Venice is a great place to begin the trip and good place to recover from any jet lag.
It will give you another day for sightseeing and save travel cost from Rome to Venice.

P_Texas

i already have tickets but we love sightseeing from trains so really not a problem for us. and we never rush, just saunter

cmeyer54

I guess we've found that 4 days is pretty much the minimum we like to spend in a city, so if this was a trip I was planning, it would be Rome for 4 days; drive to Sienna for 2 days, drive to Florence for 4 days and the take the train back to Rome, stay close to the airport and fly back. In Rome, you'll want to see the Colosseum, Forum, Pantheon, Spanish Steps, Vatican Museum/Sisine Chapel, St Peters, possibly Villa Borghese Gallery and you want to do that in 2 days?? In Venice, you'll want to see the Gallery Academia, St Marks, Doge Palace, Grand Canal, etc ...again, in 2 days? I think you're being too ambitious unless you want to see one or two major sites and call it a day

kybourbon

>>>flights so they get in with just enough time to check into a hotel and have dinner then go to bed early<<<

Flights from the states arrive Europe in the mornings as they are overnight flights. Too bad that you've booked tickets already.

You can travel to Venice (4 hours from Rome Termini) on the first day or Florence (90 minutes from Termini). Just depends on how much transport you want to do with jetlag. It will take about an hour to get into Rome from the airport (assuming you are taking the Leonardo Express train from FCO).

bilboburgler

Chiusi, has an old town and a new town (where the station is) the new town is not much to look at but the old town is on top of the hill and has the Etruscan National Museum in it. Good views of the local towns from up there as well.

I'd see it as a smaller town with rail links between etc.

P_Texas

thank you bilboburgler, that was very helpful. i had not heard of Chiusi before and it looks perfect for our homebase. it is in the center of several places we were interested in making day trips to. is this the kind of town that is wonderful to just wander around in in case we just decide to stay there instead of going to the larger cities?

bilboburgler

P, it's ok (in the old town), the nearby Monte-s (various) or Pienza are busier night time places but I think you will enjoy the typical alleyways and fine views from the top point.

"larger cities" (Montelcino and Montepulciano are really just towns), Siena could be described as a city but still not that big

sandralist

If you settle on Chiusi as your base, then consider going to Chiusi first rather than Venice. (Might as well start with the Etruscans!)

Chiusi is very small, and while it has some excellent indoor sights and restaurants, an energetic traveler could accomplish seeing everything in a day in terms of sightseeing. However, because the life of the town is not entirely oriented toward tourism, it is also possible to get a feel for contemporary Tuscan life by hanging around the town and just observing, and that is actually not so easy to experience in that area of Tuscany/Umbria, which gets so many tourists, so if that sort of travel ambience interests you, Chiusi is quite nice and will put you in touch with an untouristed side of Italian life even though you are just a stone's throw from some of the most famous Tuscan and Umbrian destinations.

Even though you won't have a car, you might consider paying for a 40 euro taxi ride to Montepulciano. There are also much cheaper buses, but they have very limited schedules. From Montepuliciano you can often find a bus or taxi to nearby Pienza. Visiting the beautiful town of Arezzo, and ditto Orvieto, is very easy by train from Chiusi. Cortona, which was the setting for "Under the Tuscan Sun" is next door by train (and loaded with tourists).

In Chiusi itself, in addition to the outstanding Etruscan museum, there are also small museums of sacred art and Etruscan tunnels under the town. There is also a highly regarded food market one day during the week (I forget which one).

Finally, there is also a car rental office in Chiusi (maybe even 2) in case your change your mind about driving.

If you decide you prefer the north, you might consider Pistoia as a base, but unless you actually stay in Florence, it is very hard to accomplish a day trip to Siena from any other Tuscan base, north or south, without a car. If you really want to see Siena, something you might consider is tacking it on to the end of your Tuscan stay as an overnight.

Possible itineraries:

Fly into Rome, head directly to Chiusi
Spend many nights and days in Chiusi
Take train or bus from Chiusi to Siena for lunch, afternoon sightseeing and overnight
Take train or bus to Florence, stow luggage in Florence train station, sightsee all day, get luggage and proceed to Venice
From Venice, take train to Rome

or

Arrive Rome, go to Venice
After Venice, head to Florence, stow luggage in train station; at end of day, proceed to Chiusi or Pistoia/Lucca/Montecatini
Days in Tuscan base
Take train or bus to Siena, overnight
Take bus to Rome

Unless you pick a northwestern Tuscan town for a base it will be difficult to include le Cinque Terre in your trip unless you do it first thing. Depending on which train connections you make, it is either just under 4 hours to le Cinque Terre from Rome (the same as Venice) or just under 5 hours. So you could try this:

Arr Rome, go to le Cinque Terre by train
After that, Tuscan base (possibly seeing Florence en route)
After that, Venice
After that Rome

It would be hard to fit Siena into an itinerary that starts in le CInque Terre, but depending on which Tuscan base you picked, it might be doable if you did an overnight there.

P_Texas

thank you Sandralist, i really like the last itinerary you posted. i am thinking about following that and making Chiusi as our homebase in Tuscany. i know this may offend many, but i plan to just do a quick sightseeing tour of Venice, Florence and Rome and then enjoy Tuscany .