msackton

I'm flying to Italy in October, and just managed to change my frequent flier tickets to give us an extra two days in Italy!

This means we need to rethink our itinerary a bit. The original plans was: arrive Florence Monday, days 1,2,3 in Florence. Day 4, leave early for Tuscany. Day 4,5,6,7,8 in Tuscany, with day 8 being something of a travel day. Night 8 in Venice, days 9,10,11 in Venice, leave early on the morning of day 12.

Now, we have two extra days to add in the front of this. The main complication is that we are meeting my brother and his wife Monday morning in Florence. So we can't really add time to Venice or Tuscany, and we don't just want to spend our extra days walking around Florence, as we don't want to feel like we are revisiting on Monday and Tuesday everything we saw on Saturday and Sunday. Also, I don't really like the idea of avoiding the best sights for the first day or two we are there so as to avoid revisiting them all. Or is there enough to see in Florence that that won't be a problem?

I was thinking of spending our first day/night in Fiesole (does anyone know how much it would cost to take a cab from the Florence Airport to Fiesole? And what's Fiesole like? Is it a small enough place that if we just walk around for a few hours and then crash from jet lag we won't feel like we've missed it?)

The next day we'd stay at our hotel in Florence, but take a day trip to Lucca and Pisa. Are they both doable in a single day?

Any suggstions for a hotel in Fiesole? We would normally look for 2 star <150 euro, but for one night we would consider staying somewhere fancier, say up to 250 euro.

wantagig

As far as the size of Fiesole is concerned, it's a very small village. You could easily do a day trip here. (20 minute bus ride from Florence)

If I were you, I'd stay in Florence rather than packing and re-packing just for one night. I've done a day trip to Pisa using the train from Florence. It's easily do-able. And I suppose you could squeeze in Lucca on the same day if you started early enough. IMHO, seeing both would be too much traveling around. You can also do day trips to San Gimignano, Lucca, or Siena your first two days.

Are you familiar with the "search" feature on this website? At the top of this thread there is a little box that says "search". Type in Fiesole and then highlite "Italy" on the box next to "search". Then hit your return key. You'll find lots of info and probably answers to many of your questions that you may have regarding Fiesole.

As far as a cab is concerned. The difficulty might be in getting a return taxi ride to Florence. One night we were in the main piazza of Fiesole and we wanted to get a cab in Fiesole to take us to our campsite. (Camping in Fiesole was really neat.) There was a taxi call box right in the main piazza where the bus had dropped us off. The problem was that the taxis come from Florence-not Fiesole. They said they'd charge us from the minute they left Florence to take the drive to Fiesole to pick us up. It was going to be expensive so we walked back to camp. During the day, there may be a taxi driver waiting around to take people to Florence, but I don't know if you could count on it.

I might try a morning daytrip to Fiesole for a couple of hours, head back to Florence and then go to Lucca.

I hope this helps.

msackton

As far as packing and repacking: we need to do that anyway, as our original hotel in Florence is full for Saturday night (the night we now arrive). But we can change our reservation from Mon-Thur to Sun-Thur. I guess I should have made that clear. So we have one night where we are going to have to stay somewhere random.

As far as taxis: We don't need a taxi for Fiesole TO Florence. We'll take the bus. I was just wondering how expensive/easy it would be to get a cab from the airport to Fiesole, if we decided to spend our first night there.

San Gigi. and Siena are both on the itinerary for our time in Tuscany, so they are out for day trips.

If we are choosing between Lucca and Pisa, which one should we go to?

capxxx

I like Pisa better, although I bet many posters will disagree with me.

Pisa has:
The leaning tower, of course, and the neary by Dom, Cemetary, Bapistry, etc.
A very pleasant shopping district with arche collonades and a nice pedestrian feel. The chocolate store is to die for.
A university area hopping with music, petitions to sign, and students hanging out. Several nice outdoor restuarants.
A few more museums and churches.

Lucca has:
A high surrounding wall that you can walk or bike on. It gives nice views.
A few churches; a building with a tree on the roof.
A sort of peaceful suburban feel, which can be a nice change from hectic tourism.

Hope this helps. Maybe you should head for one of the thermal spa towns that are a little bit north and between Florence/Pisa.

wantagig

Grabbing a cab from the airport in Florence is easy. (It's a small airport) Sorry, I can't answer the cost question though. Maybe someone at one of the hotels in Fiesole could give you an idea of the price.

I too would choose Pisa. It's easily do-able and since you're all the way over there with time to kill, seeing the leaning tower in person is pretty neat.

ira

Hi ms,

A cab from the airport to Fiesole would be about 5E more than to Florence SMN - 15E.

For your stay in Fiesole, see

http://www.promhotels.it/hotels/villa_aurora/

http://www.villafiesole.it/index.htm...c589428667735c

Make sure you watch the sun go down over Florence from the terrace of the Bar Bleu.