5 Nights Tuscany
 

Headed to Italy, will visit entice & Rome and 5 days Tuscany (have already been to florence. Driving from florence airport, any ideas area//location to stay, even 2 home bases

Siena as it’s right in the middle and you can drive easily to San G, Luca, Chianti, Val D Orcia etc

That makes a lot of sense, I prefer a village as well for evening dining, instead of driving at night on country roads. Does it make sense to go to Lucca first directly from
Florence stay one night and head to Siena following day?

I would stay all nights in Siena but I hate moving hotels. The hotel Ravizza in Siena is located within the walls of the city and has free parking in the back if you book through their web site. Easy to get out/in to the highway. Nice 3 star hotel with decent breakfast. fifteen minute walk to the center of town. Nice people.

what time of year?

October in 2 weeks time

I think we might break up the 5 days Tuscany and have 2 nights Cinque Terra and 3 nights Tuscany and 4 nights Rome. We were in Florence and Rome same time last year.

Some say the CT is still mobbed at that time but if hiking you can get away from mobs who mainly stick to villages, coming off cruise ships or from bus tours - and staying over means you'll have the towns at the calm moments in morning and evening but still lots of people. CT is a major detour off going to Rome - I'd suggest 5 days at a slow pace in Tuscany - wind you way down to Chiusi turn car in near station and take train into Rome where you do not want to have a car. Siena is a great base but large city which at that time of year could be neat - at night unless you like solitude of a small town. If taking train Chiusi those are regional trains with flat fares so just buy at station -no seat reservations available anyway. If in Siena you may want to go by bus to Florence after returning car and take high-speed train to Rome in about 90 minutes - but book those tickets way early to nab deep discounted but limited in number tickets - www.italotreno.com and Acquista il biglietto con le nostre offerte - Trenitalia - general info on trains check www.seat61.com - the best train site and great info on booking own discounted tickets - general info BETS-European Rail Experts and www.ricksteves.com. And really driving into Rome is a bad idea - large parts of inner city off limits to private vehicles - Orvieto would also be a great hill town to return car in and take regional trains to Rome.

Thank you for all that info. We are conflicted if we spend entire 5 nights or spend a night or two somewhere else. I don’t want to be bored and we don’t drink so wineries aren’t our thing. I would prefer villages or hotels near village so you can venture out to dinner without driving. Depending on where we end up we willl return car to Chiusi or Florence AP. Any recommendations on fab towns or hotels/B.B. wld be a treat

Siena is most definitely not a village, if that's the atmosphere you're seeking. I prefer to drive secondary roads and not the autostrada or major highways, so for me Siena is at the outer limits of how far/long I'm willing to drive to some parts of Tuscany. One+ hour to Montepulciano/Pienza, Volterra, San Gimignano, Radda... And I wouldn't want to do drives like that on multiple days in a row.

If Lucca is high on your list (it wouldn't be on mine, but that's another POV), you should go there before heading south. If the CT is still on the list, I'd go to Lucca by train, then to the CT by train, and rent the car after CT (La Spezia).

I think it's impossible to pick one place that's convenient for exploring all of Tuscany. (Check driving times on maps.google.com and add about 10% to the estimates.) IMO, if you only plan to spend 3 days in the region, I'd focus on one part of Tuscany and then identify a town central to that area.

"I don't want to be bored..." Believe me, that won't be a problem. There is much more to see than you have time for.

If this was my trip (and it's not), I would take a cab from the Florence airport to the main train station in Florence (Firenze S. M. Novella), take a train to either Siena or Chiusi, depending on what part of Tuscany you want to be in, and drive to your hotel/B&B. I'd skip Lucca and the CT.

You may be a little late for booking lodging. Tuscany is very popular in October, so I'd make some decisions quickly and start looking for lodging ASAP.

Yes Montepulciano is great and very close to Chiusi - could make a nice small town base and near it is Chianciano Terme - one of Italy's most famous and spiffy spa towns - an old hill town with a park-like spa part of town down below. Interesting to stroll around - lots of parking - just before Chiusi - why Chiusi's train station is called Chiusi-Chianciano or something like that.

We are arriving into Florence train station from Venice
and are taking taxi to airort to pick up rental car & return to Chiusi. That was original plan until the unknown set in and I questioned myself and thought it was too much time in the region driving around looking at villages. If we stay the 5 nights we will drive rental from Florence south. maybe make Radda & Montepulciano home bases. Somehow I think I’m in for a surprise

Well you could also drive further towards Rome - like to Orvieto - really neat place with maze of tunnels to trek thru that volcanic pile of a hill town.

We divided our time between Chianti and the Val d'Orcia

That time of year fall foliage in Chianti should be absolutely stunning. We were there the 1st of November one year and it was like driving through an oil painting, even though it was past peak color.
We stayed in Castellina in Chianti at the Hotel Palazzo Squarcialupi. Old palace, rooms/baths are updated. The spa is unbelievably beautiful. Good breakfast. There was a very good restaurant up the hill a little from the hotel. Easy drive in and out each day.

That’s awesome, I jus saw that hotel online, will check to see if avail and book asap. I was looking at Radda as heard it is nicest but yr spa hotel sounds interesting. think we will do same 2 Nts Chianti and 2 nuts Val dOrcia. What hotel did you stay at in Val dOrcia? Thank you so much for taking time to write and share your experience

We booked an agriturismo outside Pienza. I don't remember the name, but you said you want to stay in town anyway.
I loved Montalcino....but that had a lot to do with the wine. It's also a gorgeous area to drive around. You also couldn't go wrong with Montepulciano or Siena.