Will be in Florence in April and planning on taking one day to visit some other sites.

Def. want to visit Chianti but am torn between San G. and Sienna.

Also read a lot about Orvieto.... is it best to travel there from Rome or Florence? (not sure of the exact location)

Any suggestions?

S Gimi and Sienna are both an easy trip from Florence. SG is good for a few hours to a half day and Sienna could take one or more days. If you have a car, and don't mind driving back to Florence in the dark, I would do both. Start at S Gimi then head to Sienna for the rest of the day. You could do a roadside picnic lunch and then dinner in Sienna. SG will give you more the flavor of a true Tuscan hill town where as Sienna is larger scale with a lot more sites, shops, people, restaurants, etc.

We drove from Tuscany to Rome and stopped in Orvieto. Having done it that way I can't say if it's better to come from Rome or not. It was pretty easy.

I have done this trip several times in both April and May. Weather can be spotty but once the warm up starts, everything is in full bloom and gorgeous! There are so many beautiful Tuscan hill towns to see and you can see about two in one day depending on your own travel style. If you're going to Orvieto, I would plan a stop at one or two others along the way.

Pisa is only an hour away by train. Obviously there is the leaning tower, much the whole town is pretty with lots of old buildings, churches etc.

Sienna is an hour by bus - no car necessary.

Hi there,
I didn't do what you are asking however I did use an excellent company called Benvenuto Limos and I just checked the website and they do have a day tour that covers San G & Sienna. They also have tours for Chianti and Orvieto. I would shoot them an email with your questions and get a professional answer on what you can really do in a day. Email [email protected] Good luck.

We did a day tour out of Florence with the "Walking Tours Of Florence" tour company one day (we were only there for four), which turned out to be the most fun day of our trip...even though we're not "tour people". We went to San G. in the AM for about three hours, then stopped at a small Tuscan winery and inn for a short tour and lovely lunch (with vino), and then drove to Sienna where we had about 3.5 hours to spend. After that, we drove back to Florence through the beautiful Tuscan countryside. We went in a small van with 3 other couples, and had an amazing English-speaking driver/guide. Lots of fun and we crammed a lot in for around $100 each.

I would definitely recommend a day trip to Siena. You can catch the bus from beside the main train station in Florence (about E13 return). Catch the bus early - it takes you right to the center of town - and catch a late bus back after dinner. There is tons to see, small winding streets, climb the tower, shop, shop, shop!