Day tours from Florence
 

Thanks to everyone for all your help planning our trip. Only one thing left to do...find a tour from Florence to Sienna and San Gimignano, or Chianti area.....or both! We would like a small tour group rather than a "herd", but private tours are too expensive. If you have any ideas, please advise. Which area would you choose if you only had one day? Thanks Maye

Are you not comfortable going on your own? It is easy to get there and they are great wandering towns. If you feel like you really want a tour I am sure your hotel can recommend something when you arrive in Florence.

We did a day trip from Florence to S.G. and Siena through American Express (office near Duomo). Booked it two days in advance, and cost was about $50 per person. Day tours to other cities/areas were available. <BR><BR>Our busload might have qualified as a "herd," but we quickly dispersed upon arrival in each town. In Siena a fantastic local guide was available for a 3-hour walking tour. We know we probably would have seen more of Siena if we'd been on our own (which we could have done), but we learned much more from the guide. We especially enjoyed talking with her about her family, the Palio and her son's obsession with the event, etc.<BR><BR>As Deb said, you can definitely do this day on your own, but I have to say the organized tour we did was informative and very, very easy (no dealing with different buses and schedules).

Caftours does an excursion to Siena and San Gimignano for 46 Euros. I am signed up to do this in September.

I am also booked through Caftours in September. You have to show up at their main office the day before to confirm.

Pisa

Maye, We did the CAF Tours to both Siena/San G and the Chianti wine tasting tour. Neither were big herds and we had lots of time away from the group. I really enjoyed both of them. The wine tasting one was particularly fun.

Obviously your choice if you prefer a tour situation. I like to explore on my own. It is very easy to do day trips from Florence to Siena and Lucca via SITA bus (preferable to train as it takes you closer to the city centers), and Orvieto via train (lovely scenery, especially from the station-to-city tram!) SG and the Chianti area would be more difficult to access via public transport, so perhaps tours to them would make the best sense if you are without a car.

Might actually be the Lazzi bus that takes you to Lucca, now that I think about it. (I'm usually able to get very good, specific info re use of public transporation from Frommer's.)

I must add my 2 cents. I did a series of tours in Italy this past May. Caftours rings a bell. I found the tours crowded, the tour guides obnoxious, the buses uncomfortable and some of the passengers less than polite. Thank goodness I took these tours because they taught me many things: if there's a way to get there by car, train, ferry, horseback, do it yourself. You will not be pushed around like cattle, you can tour at your own pace, but you will have to do your homework. <BR>On the positive side, I met many delightful people, found myself useful as a French translator, and laughed much more (usually at the absurdity of our plight) than I would have otherwise.

More opinions?<BR><BR>

I've heard good things about the I Bike Italy tours which do day long trips out of Florence up to Fiesole and the Chianti region for wine tasting. They are about $50 US and are easy biking. We're planning on doing the day trip in October.<BR><BR>Happy travels and good luck!<BR><BR>Louisa

Sounds like caftours! We are not able to bike, and I don't think we want to drive. Thanks for the help, Maye

I have often seen people raving about day tours from Florence conducted by Dario , try and see if you can find the various threads on this site

Look at a thread titled "Great advice for private tours in Italy" found at<BR><BR>http://www.fodors.com/forums/pgMessages.jsp?fid=2&tid=1396129&numresponses=9&st art=0&searchText=dario<BR><BR>