Volterra+Sam G. on Sunday? (Day Trip fr. Florence)
May 30th, 2006, 01:02 PM
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Volterra+Sam G. on Sunday? (Day Trip fr. Florence)
Hi Fodorites,
As a day trip from Florence, I'm going to A.D. 1398 Festival in Volterra in late August, on a Sunday. I am returning to Florence that same night before renting a car to drive to my Siena accomodation on Monday. I will have a rental car during my subsequent 2 day stay in Siena to drive around before dropping it off on my way to Rome.
My question is, should I pick up a rental car a day earlier so that I can hit another town (like San G.) after Volterra, before heading back to Florence? Or are the hill towns so dead on a Sunday that I might as well just hire a private driver to get me to and back from Volterra to Florence that day? (saving San G. for when I'm in Siena?)
San G. seems to be easy distance from Volterra, but not sure if it is advisable on a Sunday.
I heard the Volterra festival is really neat and the town only uses the medieval currency during the festival.
Thank you kindly for any advice.
As a day trip from Florence, I'm going to A.D. 1398 Festival in Volterra in late August, on a Sunday. I am returning to Florence that same night before renting a car to drive to my Siena accomodation on Monday. I will have a rental car during my subsequent 2 day stay in Siena to drive around before dropping it off on my way to Rome.
My question is, should I pick up a rental car a day earlier so that I can hit another town (like San G.) after Volterra, before heading back to Florence? Or are the hill towns so dead on a Sunday that I might as well just hire a private driver to get me to and back from Volterra to Florence that day? (saving San G. for when I'm in Siena?)
San G. seems to be easy distance from Volterra, but not sure if it is advisable on a Sunday.
I heard the Volterra festival is really neat and the town only uses the medieval currency during the festival.
Thank you kindly for any advice.
Jun 6th, 2006, 10:19 AM
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Your post caught my attention as I actually did this 3 years ago (if you search you'll find my report). We went from Florence to Siena (Palio) to Volterra to San G. We had a car all along.
Went to the 1398 Festival the day after the Palio (complete luck) and then stopped in San G for the night. Can't recall what day of the weeks were in play but it coincided with Ferragosto. My impression of SanG is that it is very tourist driven and of all the hilltowns it would likely be open on a Sunday (I wasn't very impressed with San G for this reason, but I digress). Can't speak for other hilltowns as the above ones were the ones I visited.
The drive from Siena to Volterra is really pretty (curvy roads) and less than an hour. San G is likewise less than that from Volterra (40 minutes???) and is a neast drive headed into town.
Be aware of hours of operation for car rental places. I seem to recall issues with picking up on Sundays.
Went to the 1398 Festival the day after the Palio (complete luck) and then stopped in San G for the night. Can't recall what day of the weeks were in play but it coincided with Ferragosto. My impression of SanG is that it is very tourist driven and of all the hilltowns it would likely be open on a Sunday (I wasn't very impressed with San G for this reason, but I digress). Can't speak for other hilltowns as the above ones were the ones I visited.
The drive from Siena to Volterra is really pretty (curvy roads) and less than an hour. San G is likewise less than that from Volterra (40 minutes???) and is a neast drive headed into town.
Be aware of hours of operation for car rental places. I seem to recall issues with picking up on Sundays.
Jun 6th, 2006, 01:59 PM
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Eschule, thank you so much for replying! I located your trip report and it was fascinating--I hadn't know anyone who attended this festival before reading your report, and we structured our Tuscany itinerary around it. We are planning to pick up the car Sat evening because of exactly what you said.
Interesting to read what your thoughts were on San G. Maybe we'll do what you did and stop by San G. in the evening after a day in Volterra, but we do have to drive back to Florence for the night.
Interesting to read what your thoughts were on San G. Maybe we'll do what you did and stop by San G. in the evening after a day in Volterra, but we do have to drive back to Florence for the night.
Jun 6th, 2006, 02:42 PM
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Enjoy Volterra . Beautiful views from atop the hills. We also enjoyed the fact that it was the one place we went to where English was not prevalent and we were forced to try our butchered Italian (which became interesting when we had to figure out the double conversion of grossos to euros and euros to dollars).
I defer to the numerous Italy experts (which I am admittedly not) for suggestions on other hilltowns (they're the reason I went to Volterra in the first place). Be advised that we ended up staying in Volterra until late afternoon so you might be pushing it trying to squeeze in an additional place between there and Florence (although the stores in San G were open late as was other attractions so maybe it could be done).
I defer to the numerous Italy experts (which I am admittedly not) for suggestions on other hilltowns (they're the reason I went to Volterra in the first place). Be advised that we ended up staying in Volterra until late afternoon so you might be pushing it trying to squeeze in an additional place between there and Florence (although the stores in San G were open late as was other attractions so maybe it could be done).
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