3-4 Days in Tuscany
 

Hello,
I will be leaving Florence October 17. I have 3-4 days to spend in Tuscany. I will have been to Cinque Terre and Pisa just before Florence. Was planning to rent a car in Florence (when I leave for the Tuscan countryside). Where should I spend the time I have (3-4 days) before heading south toward Rome?

Thanks in advance.

Val d'Orcia. Montalcino, San Quirico, Pienza, or Montepulciano. Look for the Tuscany section in the attached itinerary.

Stu Dudley

Do you have 4 full days (5 nights)?

Although I also love the Val d'Orcia towns, there's an awful lot to see along the way to southern Tuscany... Chianti towns and scenery, Siena, Crete Senesi towns and scenery... And then there are also a couple of interesting towns a little to the west of a direct route south... San Gimignano, Volterra, Colle di Val d'Elsa, Monteriggioni, and more gorgeous scenery. All of these areas, towns and surrounding scenery are distinct in themselves. All of Tuscany is not the same, and you'd be well served to peruse some guidebooks or online sources to see if particular towns/areas sound more appealing to you than others.

If you in fact have 5 nights (or even 4 nights), I'd split them between two bases that will give you reasonable access to towns in different areas. I wouldn't beeline to the Val d'Orcia and not see some of these other towns/areas. If you spent all of the nights in the Val d'Orcia, you'd be too far south to go back and see anything north of Siena. Speaking of Siena, you should decide if it's a priority for you. Depending on your interests, it would be very easy to spend an entire day there.

If you haven't driven in Italy before, you should learn about ZTLs... zona traffico limitato. Although this blog (link below) says the zones are primarily in large cities, we've found that nearly every Tuscan town of any size has a ZTL that's in effect for some hours most days of the week. Don't trust your GPS to warn you. As you drive around, park the car as you approach a town and then walk to the center.

https://www.zestcarrental.com/blog/i...nes-explained/

I agree with Jean if you have the time. Siena and Pienza for two nights each would work well. There is a three star hotel in Siena with free parking within the walls that would work for you. I don’t remember the name of the hotel and don’t have easy access as I’m on board a United flight getting ready to take off from Bergen. Will look for it when I get home

The hotel in Siena that mjs may be thinking of is Palazzo Ravizza. The front door of the hotel is within the ZTL, but ingress/egress for the parking lot on the rear side is outside the ZTL. You can drive to the front door to check in, drop luggage, and then circle around to the parking lot. The hotel staff will give your license plate info to the police so that a citation won't be issued. The hotel is within an easy walk to the Campo, the Duomo and other sights. It's a nice property.

mjs likes Pienza in the Val d'Orcia. I prefer Montepulciano. Different strokes...

""mjs likes Pienza in the Val d'Orcia. I prefer Montepulciano. Different strokes...""

And I prefer San Quirico.......

Stu Dudley