6 days in Tuscany
 

We are staying 6 days in a villa outside of Florence. We have a car! I need help deciding what towns/cities are most important to see. We are a family of 4. How many days in Florence?

Hi Jaw

How many days in Florence? A lifetime.

Have you checked the miniguide to Florence on fodors.com? It gives 3 days of walking tours.

With a car, there are so many places you can go. I would suggest visiting the following villages, which are some of my favorites.
-San Quirico d'Orcia
-Castiglione d'Orcia
-Pienza
-Montalcino
-Cortona
-Castellina in Chiante
-Montaione
-San Gimignano
-Volterra

And of course it goes without saying that you ought to visit Siena for at least half a day, and also should probably consider a day trip to Lucca and Pisa. As for the other smaller villages above, just look at a map and decide which ones you want to drive to. You can "do" several of them in a day. Good luck.

Greetings! We just returned from Italy on our honeymoon. You will adore Tuscany. Excellent people, food and views are marvelous! When you stay in Florence - be sure to book your tickets for the museums ahead of time. The lines were terrible while we were there. I noticed that San Quirico d'Orcia was mentioned, we stayed there in a 12th Century Castle - great village!! Pienza is marvelous as well. We did a hotairballoon ride over Tuscany - truly a once in a life time experience. However, the balloon resides in Montisi and leaves at 6am - if you want to check in out - www.ballooiningintuscany.com - you might want to stay at a little inn within Montisi - it's a ways from Florence. But will be well worth the money for the experience. If your children are old enough the ballooner will have them help get the balloon ready to go. An awesome breakfast is included....as you can tell - it was the highlight of our two week honeymoon!
Montelcino is included...however we thought Montepulicano better.

IMHO there are no "most important" sites in Tuscany. THe whole point of going to the Tuscan countryside is to just drive along side roads and get lost. You will not enjuy Tuscanyt fully if you have a list of places to visit and just speed from one to the other, you will loose at least 50% of the beauty of the place, that reside not ion monuments of art pieces, but in the plain countryside, in the slowness of life in that region and in the small discoverise you can make along the way, stopping at some tiny medieval church (pieve) in the middle of nowhere.

Determining time for Florence is tough. You need to decide whether you want to absorb the art/architecture aspects (ie. museums/churches etc.) or immerse yourselves into the rhythm of the city itself. I personally would rather set aside a full day to enjoy the pace of the city, stroll the markets, eat some gelato, shop along the ponte vecchio, check out santa croce - there is just so much. Museums take up so much time just standing in line,going through metal detectors, straining to catch a glimpse of the important works over the hoards of tourists. Maybe explore the altro arno instead, if you mus get a historic fix visit the pitti palace and stroll the boboli gardens, hike up to see the amazing view of Florence from San Michele. It all depends, if you have younger children (say under 14 keep museums to a min.)

As for the rest of Tuscany, explore the chianti region one day and if you can fit in a meal at either Castello di Spaltenna or Badia Coltibuono I'd opt for it - make reservations first though. Shop for cermaics at PEP Bizzarie in Castellina - very good rates for shipping to US. Drive further south to Montalcino, go early to visit S. Antimo Abbey and hear the chanting. Visit the fortress, stock up on brunello, and eat gelato often.

If the kids are dead set on Pisa plan a few hours at most 2-3 then drive onto Lucca, rent bikes, walk the perimeter of the walls. If you are into gardens/ visit a few of the nearby villas -you will be amazed at the scale!! Enjoy

My compliments, Alice Twain, for a wonderfully stated comment about the real joy and beauty of Tuscany!

I would add Monteriggioni to the list along with a stop at San' Anitmo outside of Montalcino.

In Florence visit the History of Science Museum.

For some reason, we never made it to S. Antimo Abbey but the afternoon we drove around looking for it was divine, so it didn't feel like we wasted any time...we only got to enjoy the beautiful countryside more fully! I think I'd use my first day to visit a couple of hill towns and get the rythm of the country. Then I'd do a daytrip to Florence to see David, the Duomo, have lunch, do some shopping, maybe Piazza Michaelangelo with its amazing view, lovly little church and fascinating cemetary. Then you could decide if you wanted to do another day in Florence or stick to country and hill towns. Siena is a really vibrant city with a lot to see. Assume you will be back. There may be afternoons when a day lazing poolside looking over extraordinary Tuscan landscape is the best thing to do.