kaybee

Hello,
Does anyone have information on renting a large villa in Tuscany for aoproximately 12-16 people. Any websites or Agencies you can recommend or specific regions you vacationed in? Planning a trip for 3 families for two weeks in July 2013. Thanks!

Tesana

yes, but can you let me know budget.? and do you have a area of Tuscana in mind?

HappyTrvlr

We like the Chianti region and had a great experience renting through www.chianti-and-more.com, Karin Dietz helped us find the perfect villa.

iris1745

We had a villa just outside of Lucca for 12 people.

What I can stress, is to have group meeting to talk about how expenses will be shared. What is the order of selecting rooms.

For July, you must have A/C, at least for my family.

Plus, as suggested, what is your budget?

kybourbon

http://www.agriturismo.it/en/farmhouse/search

You can search villas for 16 on this website.
http://www.parkervillas.com/search/searchresults.cfm

iris1745

Parker villas is good. We used WWW.VIlLAVACATIONS.COM You can get extensive catalogs from Parker or www.tuscanynow.com sent by mail.

kaybee

Thanks for the replies. I'm not really sure of our budget yet. I actually wanted to gather information first as to what the villas charge per week. But as we have done beach rentals in the northeast I would estimate 2-3k per family per week? I'm not sure of what region yet. I will research. Would like a town with a square and some restaurants, a little lively as we Will have five older teens with us. We have been to Tuscany once before but it was only a day trip to Chianti where we took a cooking class and olive oil tour. It was a wonderful experience and we've always wanted to return with our family. Iris1745 we will definitely have planning meetings to get details ironed out as we get farther along in the planning. And a/c is definitely a must as well as a pool . I will check out Lucca area as well as the chianti website. Thanks all,

Tesana

i can second tuscanynow , here is one that i visited http://www.tuscanynow.com/torre-di-semifonte-id-5275 .

there is a lot that goes into planning a stay a villa, you have to relize you need to do grocery shopping, who is going to cook, do you want a swimming pool, do you want to be deep in the country side with no power lines, traffic , etc. who is going to drive 16 people around , renting a large van is an option , but BTDT it is hard to park.

you mention a town with a sqaure, IMO is not what renting a Villa is about. that is more like renting an apartment, BB , or hotel in a town. some things to consider.

kaybee

Tesana: thanks for the useful information. Tuscany now is a great website. Looks like I have a bit of research to do!

Huggy

Try Vacanza Bella. Daniel has a website. I have dealt with him over 25 years. The descriptions of the properties are extremely accurate.

nytraveler

I don;t think you're going to find villas immediately adjacent to the towns - most are out in the countryside and you will need several cars or vans to get around. Also, be aware that many of the villas have only a couple of adult bedrooms and many that have either bunk beds or twin beds - for smaller kids. Be sure you understand the bedroom configurations and who is willing to pay more for the true master bedrooms,

Naturally this is not true of the larger, more elegant villas - but for the family type that your budget seems to be aimed at.

If it were me - for 3 families - I would definitely want C, a nice pool and staff n the premises. You may also consider hiring a chef to do some dinners - otherwise whoever is driving to and fro the restaurants won;t be able to have wine with dinner.

charnees

Also look at rentvillas.com. They are very helpful, although like with many brokers, you pay slightly higher rates. Tripadvisor.com is also a good place to look.

We have not rented a place as big as you are looking for, so I can't offer any suggestions. At your price limit you should be able to find something suitable.

iris1745

This is the villa we used, on the outskirts of Lucca. www.villalachiusa.com

A dinner is part of the reservation on arrival and the chef can be hired for additional nights.

It was great to come back to the villa after a long day of sightseeing and have dinner waiting.

kaybee

Thanks for all the replies, I will check out rent villas.com and iris1745: Villa Chuisa looks great!