Planning on a May trip to Florence. I would like to visit Tuscany too. My husband doesnt want to drive. Does anyone have info on day trips we could take. Tours or private drivers and the cost?

Hi mb,

How much of Tuscany do you want to see in your one day?

You can do a daytrip to Siena on your own by SITA bus.

I have mentioned this company a couple times on this board: Sunnytuscany.
They offer private tours for you and your family and they can be self-tailored although they have many that are mapped out for you. I took the day to Siena and San Gignimano (spelling). We stopped at a family owned restaurant and even a butchers store to sample wild boar salami as it was wild boar season! My driver, Riccardo is still with the company I understand. The price has gone up a little since I used them a few years back and with just two people it may be a bit pricey. There were three of us and it worked out to only be a bit more per person than an all day bus tour would be!! www.sunnytuscany.com

Mbtr - For day- or half-day tours from Florence consider CAF Tours or SITA:

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

http://www.sita-on-line.it/CentralSI...lSITA-IT.htm#5

Alternatively it's easy enough to plan trips by public transport to ... Siena, Pisa, Lucca, Cortona, Orvieto, Bologna, ... even Assisi, Rome, ...

Hope this helps ...

Steve

You would enjoy a quick trip to Vinci. It's a beautiful little town with a great museum housing many of Leonardo's inventions, some in small scale other life size.

there are no direct buses from Florence to Vinci. I recommend you to take a train from Florence to Empoli and then a bus from Empoli train station to Vinci. There are buses that leave from Empoli to Vinci approximately every half an hour-45 minutes. The bus company is COPIT (Buses are less frequent at weekends!)

Last March my wife and I hired Luca Garrapa who owns www.hillsandroads.com. One of the best decisions we made on our trip. He lives just outside Siena and is a native Italian who speaks great English. He will make recommendations for day trips or go wherever you want to. We used him for 1.5 days. On the first day, he picked us up in Rome promptly at 9 am and drove us to Siena via various hill towns and a winery. We spent half the next day doing more of the same, ending up in Florence. If you do a search here for him or his business, you will see that he is very highly recommended. He is a certified guide as well as a driver. Many companies have 2 people for their tours, one to drive and one to guide. Luca does both and he is excellent. I found his rates to very reasonable and I think they are on his website. If not, send him an email for his current fees. You may want to email several of the folks recommended here to see who is available. Good luck! Dave

Thanks for the help will check all the ideas out

There are a bunch of Tuscan towns you can get to easily by train or bus (check the trenitalia site).

Although - we did it by car and found it incredibly easy - and it allowed us to set out own schedule, change towns, order as we wanted. (Serendipity is a beautiful thing!)

Is he a timid driver? (If so, why don;t you just do the driving?) Or have you just been scared by some of the evil stories posted here?

We took two CAF Tours, the all day trip to San Gim. and Siena, and the half day Chianti wine tasting tour. Really enjoyed them both. Siena is worth far more than a day but if it's all the time you have, be sure to go.

what are CAF tours?

Not sure how long you'll be there, but you can easily take a bus or train to parts of Tuscany to spend an overnight. My husband and I spent 4 days in Florence, and then took a train/bus combo to Montepulciano (under 3 hours) for our week-long stay.

Another option, if you will not be there long, is to spend a little time in Fiesole. It's only a 20-minute bus ride from Florence, but a very different atmosphere! It's a lovely little hilltown with beautiful views over the city, and a great change of pace from the crowds in Florence.

Enjoy!

www.caftours.com