I will be Florence mid October and would like to spend a day or two visiting Tuscany. Help needed with were to go and if public transportation works. If PT doesnt work well can I pick up daily tours. My husband doesnt want to rent a car. Thanks for the advice

Hi rn,

Siena is 1:30 hr by bus.

You can get to Orvieto or Pisa and Lucca in about the same time by train.

Bologna is an hr by train.

Montepulciano and Orvieto are about 2:30 hr.

OOOPS,

That should be

Montepulciano is about 2:30 hr.

Thanks but some towns any favorites? Should I think of hiring a private car and driver?

You can take the bus to Siena. (Bus is better because it stops in the middle of Siena, unlike the train. In Florence the bus leaves from a station close to the Santa Maria Novella train station.)

And you can take the train to Lucca and Pisa.

But the glory of Tuscany is the countryside and that is best seen from a car. I'm sure you could piece together a bus trip, but that requires more local expertise than is easily available, especially in English.

I fell in love with Tuscany when we took a bus from Chiusi to Siena. It was like a magic carpet ride up and around hills, past cute hilltop villages and country farms along roads punctuated with tall dark cypresses.

So, yes, hiring a private car and driver would be best if you can afford it.

There are trains and buses from Florence to several towns in Tuscany. Ira has listed some of the obvious choices.

You can also go on organized day tours in large groups (by bus) or small groups (by minivan). The American Express office near the Duomo is a source for many organized tours. You can also hire a driver for a day and tell him what you'd like to see. (Do a search here for several mentions of different drivers/services in Tuscany.)

For example, you can see San Gimignano and Siena by bus (with guides) on a day tour for about 70 euros per person. Or you can use public trans and see both (without guides) for less than half the price. Taking a tour eliminates any stress of negotiating public trans, but you have no control over how much time you spend anywhere. Hiring a driver would obviously be the most expensive way, but it would be completely stress free and you would see exactly what you want to see at your own pace.

Florence is IN Tuscany. Where else in Tuscany would you like to go? Some places are best reached by bus and some by train, so it helps to have some preferences in mind so you can then figure out the best options for getting there.

I can highly recommend a private driver named Luca Garapa of www.hillsandroads.com. We used him for 2 separate touring days a few months ago and it was fantastic. He is a young, highly intelligent man. He is an excellent and safe driver on those winding Tuscan country roads!! His price was about 30 Euros per hour for the three of us and worth every cent. This included everything, plus his lunch, which we insisted on buying anyway on the second day since we just enjoyed being with him so much. He speaks several languages aside from English and Italian (French, Spanish). He will custom make any tour you like. If you know where you want to go and what you want to see, tell him. If not (as I sense you are and we were as well), he will give you suggestions and ideas depending on the info you send him, like what are your likes, dislikes and what your party are capable of doing or not. I can hardly wait for our next visit in several months to meet with him again. Enjoy.

There is plenty to see in Tuscany, you can take train or bus, towns are well connected.
You can visit town as Siena, Voltera, Pisa, Lucca, Cortona, Arezzo, San Gimignano ect.
Here is links of some towns in region:
Lucca - http://www.tuscanweb.com/news/?ID=189
Livorno - http://www.tuscanweb.com/news/?ID=179
Siena - http://www.tuscanweb.com/news/?ID=121
Pisa - http://www.tuscanweb.com/news/?ID=115
Arezzo - http://www.tuscanweb.com/news/?ID=107
Volterra - http://www.tuscanweb.com/news/?ID=100

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