If I rent a car in Lucca, how long will it take me to drive to Montepulciano? It looks like a relatively easy drive according to the map. Is it worth a day trip, or should we save it for another time? Thanks.

About 2 hours--mostly autostrada. There are other excellent day trips from Lucca much closer--why there?

"thenavigator" is right. Florence is about an hour via major highway. Garafagna is about an hour with pleasant stops along the way on two lane road. Pisa is about an hour.

My husband and I would like to celebrate our 10 year anniversary next spring with a relaxing, budget-wise, low-stress vacation to Italy (we'll be between jobs, moving cross-country, leaving the kids with family). We were there a couple years ago--4 days in Rome, 7 days in a Tuscan villa outside Montevarchi where we visited Florence, Siena, and Cinque Terre. For this trip (we'll be back in the future, no doubt) I've ruled out Venice and Amalfi because they seem more expensive. We're now gathering information about Lucca and Bologna, hoping to rent an apartment for a week in one of those cities, stroll around, enjoy the food and wine, and soak up the local culture. I'm making a list of possible day trips from each destination in case we get restless. I don't want to have a set intinerary, but have my ducks in a row just in case. I've heard so much about Montepulciano-just wondering if it was reasonable. Other places we were thinking of from Lucca were Pisa, Viareggio, Florence of course, and Fattoria Colle Verde just outside Lucca for wine and olive oil tasting (anyone been there?). What's to do/see in Garafagna? From Bologna I know there are countless day trips--on our list would be Parma, Modena, Farrara, and Ravenna. I've talked to some local Italians here in San Diego and they aren't much help as they don't seem to understand the concept of "down time."

Last time I was in Lucca, I took the suggestion of a very friendly local and took a ride to Matraia which is within an hour Northeast of the city. It is very beautiful there in the hills and you'll find some of the absolute best olive oil and local wines at some of the small producers. You'll be sure to be enchanted!

My top five within an hour of Lucca:
Portovenere
Volterra
San Gimignano
Barga/Castelnuovo
Pisa

Good luck--hard to go wrong.

In Lucca, we got a lot of helpful information from the lady at the bookstore next to the tourist information bureau. She has brochures on various nearby places to visit, including some wonderful villas.
The lady in the tourist information bureau itself wasn't at all helpful but the woman (Swedish) in the bookstore was super.

P.S.
It's more like a gift shop than a bookstore and is a part of the tourist info bureau.
Sorry I didn't save any of the brochures so I can't pass on the info.

Wow, I think we're going to do Lucca. I was leaning that way, but these hidden treasures are exactly what we want to experience. I found some of the older threads about Lucca and Garfagna and I want to go NOW. There are some great-looking apartments in Lucca on knowital.com--do any of you have personal experiences to share?

My husband and I are renting an apartment in Lucca and it looks very nice for a reasonable price. We are going in February. Everyone is right, Lucca is enchanting. Walking the walls around the city is a daily event you will not forget,

Oh, great. Since we had already been to Tuscany I changed my mind and made reservations in Verona instead...now all the talk about Lucca again...how in the world do you decide where to go???

You decide by planning 3 trips at the first because you will return. Plan a northern itinerary, a centro one, and one south. It takes 6 weeks to scratch the surface of Italia--plan geographically and stay big picture.

I guess I'm on the right track with Verona, then. I'll start planning the southern trip next. The problem is, wherever I go I want to return--I'm not alone in this, I'm sure.

My personal opinion is that one should not make any "reservations" at all when traveling to Italy. The prices you receive when you book in advance are often double what they are if you just go in spur of the moment. My husband and I went to Italy for a month touring all over and we never made one reservation before leaving the states. It was more fun that way and much more exciting. Not to mention CHEAP! We got some rooms that were listed for $150 a night for $40 just because we came in at the last minute. We are going back in February for the fourth time in 3 years...no reservations is the ONLY way to go!

yviebee,

Wow! You sure do have an adventurous spirit. My husband and I are both meticulous planners, though...I think it would drive us crazy to not have a designated place to stay, especially since we'll be in one spot for 8 nights. We also know exactly what we want (non-smoking room, kitchen, etc) and I'm afraid we'd be trapsing all over the place with our luggage trying to find something to meet our specifications. Not ideal after an 18 hour flight. We're staying at Residence Verona House, which has gotten rave reviews on this board and seems to be exactly what we want. Maybe someday when we feel more comfortable traveling in Europe we'll try the spontaneous route, but we're not there yet! Hey, we're staying one night in Milan; maybe we'll give it a test run there. If May off-season enough for that to work?

To the list of towns around Lucca that Bobthenavigator has provided you, I would add Montecatini Terme. If you've never been to a spa town, this is the one to see. Go to the Tetuccio (sp?) spa and just walk around the grounds and the building. It's absolutely fabulous in a turn of the last century kind of way. Elegance to the max. A nice contrast to the more rustic towns one typically associates with Tuscany.

Agree with previous poster on Montecatini Terme. Wonderful 19th century architecture. Take care: 'Terme' in the sense of drinking water with all different kinds of minerals. They also have very often open air opera singing on sunday mornings.

As for your general question... When on holiday, I accept day trips within 80 km of where we are, which means roughly 60 to 90 minutes one way. Take a card from Tuscany and draw a circle and see what you can do.

There are lots of little towns to visit in the area: don't forget Montecatini Alto, while in Montecatini Terme.
Castelnuovo di Garfagnano with Pistoia and Collodi, the town of Pinocchio, a nice daytrip in beautiful scenery.
Vinci with Leonardo's museum.
Viareggio, for a walk along the sea or for biking.
Portovenere with maybe a stop in La Spezia.