We leave in a month! We will rent a car at Florence airport and drive to Cortona which will be our base for 6 nights. (relais villa petrischio) I know, I have heard it is not the best location, but it's what i have! What map is best to use driving around Tuscany? Day trips I am trying to narrow down are Montepulciano,Siena, Voltera,Pienza (Orvieto). Any opinions good. Please add/delete to my list. Ideal vacation is drinking wine, taking in the views and experiencing small village life. San G too touristy? Will probably train into Florence for a day to look at the museums. Should I go? or just stick to countryside?
thanks,
MOLLY

We stayed in and loved Montepulciano, and visited Pienza several times. We also liked Orvieto and Montalcino which, if you're a wine person, should be on your list because it's famous for Brunello. You can go to the Fortezza for wine tastings and also climb to the top for fantastic views.

I didn't like Siena but it's probably not Siena's fault. It was a terribly hot day and I was overtired and cranky. Everyone else loves it and if I ever go back to Italy, I'll give it another go.

We tried to go to San G but couldn't find a place to park the car.

Michelin has a map of Tuscany the I've used a few times with decent success.
A day in Florence, or a part of a day can be a bit overwhelming if you haven't been there before. Get a good guide book that covers the place and plan carefully if you want to get a decent sampling.

We found AGIP maps the best: they are kept up-to-date.

one of the only reasons i would go into florence would be for the david and uffizi museums. is it worth it for this? what else is a must in florence on a short day trip?

If you like markets, the San Lorenzo outdoor market is a good one and the indoor food market is good too.

Hi Mrs Darwin --

I have navigated Tuscany without problem using this map:
https://www.trektools.com/product.ph...rtner=slowtrav

It provides a good amount of detail and is useful for planning as well.

As far as where to go, your distances will be quite far (see www.viamichelin.com). I really enjoyed Montepulciano and Pienza. San Quirico d'Orcia would be closeby as well. The scenery around that area is just beautiful.

Enjoy!

Sorry, I see that the map link didn't work now. I went through a link I had bookmarked on slowtrav. The map is called Touring Club Italiano-Tuscany Map. It's a regional map with a scale of 1:200,000.

Good luck!

With Cortona as your base you should be looking at Umbrian destinations as well. Assisi is not to be missed and the road via Deruta, Torgiano, Bevagna is also very good. Volterra is too far from there, as is Montalcino. You do want the 200K to 1 map ratio from TCI.