reneehawk

I am traveling to Italy from Florida in August. I know August is not the best time to travel to Italy, but it's the only time we can go. We will be in Rome for one week, ending on a Saturday. That Saturday we plan to head to Tuscany for three nights. Then we head to Venice on Tuesday and depart from Venice on Wednesday to return to the U.S. We are struggling to plan our itinerary for the Tuscany portion of this trip. It seems so hard to fit everything in, and should we rent a car or travel by train. I was thinking perhaps we should go to Florence first for one night, then San Gimignano for one night, then Siena one night. What do you suggest? Also, will that be difficult with hauling our luggage everywhere? What are the must-sees?

Steve_James

Hi Renee - You really need a week or two to see Tuscany

In your situation with only 3 nights you best plan IMO would be to base in Florence - much better than changing hotel each night.

From Florence you can easily day-trip to Siena and San Gimignano (- by bus).
There are other easy options by public transport too, e.g Pisa, Lucca ...

You really don't need a car for you itinerary IMO - you can travel comfortably Rome-Florence-Venice by train.

If you prefer there are also organised excursions from Florence - e.g CAF Tours, SITA ...

http://www.caftours.com/en/regtoursac.htm

http://www.sita-on-line.it/CentralSI...T.htm#-Offerte

Hope this helps ...

Steve

TuckH

As Steve says, you need more time for Tuscany. Not only that, you need more time for Venice. Therefore I suggest that you drop Tuscany from the menu and spend those days and nights in glorious Venice.

Vttraveler

I agree stay in Florence all 3 nights and do some day trips from there. Or maybe 2 nights Florence 2 nights Venice since you are flying home from there.
Your plan calls for moving around too much and missing time in two great cities with many "must see" sights.

CRAZY4TRAVEL

Although it's true that you really need more time for Tuscany, you could get a taste of it on this trip and plan to come back.

I agree with Steve to just base yourself in one place..Florence or Siena and do a day trip from there. I think Florence, Siena and San Gimingano is too much for 3 days though. I would either do Florence and Siena or Siena and San Gimignano bur not all 3.

reneehawk

Thank you all for your helpful advice. We are so excited about our first trip to Italy. The Rome part is a company trip which cannot be changed. We decided to add four nights and explore more of the area (Venice, Florence). We have small children to return to, so we cannot extend our trip any longer. I am now thinking of doing two nights in Florence, then two in Venice. I am excited about Florence, though we will have experienced much history and art all week prior in Rome. So we are looking to have a more peaceful time in Florence and Venice, where we just "experience" the life there and see the sites and taste the flavors. I am not determined to fit in all the historic/art sites in Florence and Venice, so much as I am to just take in the atmosphere. I would, however, like to do two side trips while in Florence. We get to Florence Sat. morning and can explore the squares, etc. all morning and have lunch. Then I thought we might do an afternoon trip to Siena. The next day, I thought we'd do the same in the morning and do an afternoon trip such as a Chianti tour. Any thoughts? We are struggling to find hotel availability in Florence. I have read many suggestions on this site, which are all helpful. If anyone knows of a place I may not have heard of that might have availability, I'd love to hear of it. We want something with A.C. and private bathrooms and mid-price range. Nothing too rustic, but it doesn't have to be luxury. This forum is filled with wonderful, well-traveled people. I thank you all for your thoughts...

BowenLinda

A friend and I really enjoyed the Hotel Alessandra in Florence www.hotelalessandra.com/index.html
Not sure if it has air conditioning, though, which I think you would want in August.

Flame123

reneehawk - I have been to Florence many times and always stay in Hotel Casci. It is a fabulous hotel, has great a/c, is spotless, right smack in the middle of town with a great location, wonderful, kind family who run it and may be great for you. It is indeed nothing fancy but that was never a consideration for me. All I need is clean, gracious hosts and super location. You can also check www.tripadvisor.com to read all the glowing reports there.

Enjoy your trip.

Vttraveler

If you don't want to go into museums and churches in Florence I think your plan there could work. You obviously realize you are going to miss a lot of great art with that approach.
I would still advise only one side trip maximum, but you can probably keep plans somewhat flexible (at least the trip to Siena--you may have to reserve something for a Chianti area tour. I have no experience with that)
I would encourage you to plan to spend some time at the Duomo and the baptistery and to go to the Piazzale Michelangelo for the view of the city

CRAZY4TRAVEL

To me the main point of Florence is the art. If I was looking for atmosphere, personally I would base myself elsewhere like perhaps Lucca or Siena.

This is just my opinion as I love Rome but I'm not a big fan of Florence...especially in the August heat.

CRAZY4TRAVEL

Hi Nikki...Yes I think you could time your visit so you could do Font de Gaume and the museum in Les Eyzies in the morning and La Roque Christophe in the afternoon. I think adding Lascaux II to that same day makes it somewhat frantic. We decided to cut La Roque Christophe and in hindsight that might have been the more interesting of the two for us.

We only looked in the window of the and saw what people were eating so went into the restaurant. They don't give you a menu...other than desert because they only serve one thing (could be beef but we thought it was magret). In any case, it was in a tasty sauce. I would normally recommend this type of restaurant but we didn't want to trudge around in the rain looking for a restaurant.

CRAZY4TRAVEL

So sorry about that last post...it was obviously meant for my Dordogne thread.