Excellent post, Raymond. We should welcome ALL viewpoints and input, but too often the emphasis is on what the responding poster likes rather than focusing on what the OP might like. Comments like “hurried blur”, “jogging through cities”, “you will only see things through a train window”, and “it’s okay if you like to skim things” should not be the “Fodorite Way.” We have proven time and again that the myths, for example, that you can never include the arrival day (even in the morning) as part of your travel or that you need to deduct a full day each time you move to another base are not the cases for everyone. Some people move slowly, and that is obviously okay. Others can see, do and absorb more in a shorter time frame than others. Some of us include train travel, even short hop airplane travel, and interaction with people and facilities as a positive part of the travel process. Travel styles do vary, and I think more energy should be focused on the OP's style than what we what think they should do. Although there are many wonderful and helpful posters here, these are some of the reasons we stopped asking for input on our planned itineraries many years ago.

All well and good, but so far we know more about the preferred travel styles of RaymondLuxuryYacht and whitehall and really nothing about the OP's. I think willit's comments are as valid as anyone else's.

And, yes Jean's preferred travel style. I think the OP has been given a number of good ideas and hopefully some of it will help them have a fulfilling trip.

Reading over this thread, all the harsh and sarcastic criticism comes from Whitehall and Raymond. I said, "If I were taking a day trip" I would go to places that are hard to reach without a car. That's clearly marked as my personal preference, not a prescription. Someone else pointed out that it would be five hours of driving. These are just warnings, bringing up things that people planning a tour might not have considered.

Whitehall himself warned, referring to an overnight trip to the Cinque Terre, "The train journey between Florence and the CT is 2.5 to 3 hours depending on where you go, which is a lot of time to 'lose' in a short trip."

Then when someone else points out that an even shorter trip involves five hours of driving, Whitehall jumps all over him.

I'll just add, for the benefit of those who don't know the area, that a lot of that driving would be on limited access highway, like the Fi-Pi-Li highway, without much scenery. For scenery, a wine tour or gastronomy tour, as suggested by others (including me) would be more rewarding.

Time was this site had an invisible IMHO at the start of every input.

I suggest we might aim to argue about facts and leave all our opinions standing.

My agreement with Raymond's post made reference mostly to my general concern about what I see as sarcastic comments often made on Fodor’s threads to anyone with ambitious travel plans. Raymond described his already planned tour, which was alternatively characterized as “jogging through cities” and a “hurried blur.” Beyond that, I said “I think the OP has been given a number of good ideas" and believe all else by everyone here was fair comment.

Familytravellers, I know that you are thinking of spending a night in CT and that would be great if you can but I thought I would let you know that last May I did CT as a day trip from Florence which was with City Wonders. https://citywonders.com/florence-tours I hesitated for quite some time over whether to do it as it is a not what I would normally do (I usually like to take things more slowly and do them on my own). However, with my time constraints and the possability it was my only chance I decided to do so. It was a long day but I was glad that that I did so. We bused from Florence to La Spezia, then took a boat which went past all 5 towns dropping us off at the final one. Seeing all the towns from the water was a highlight for me. We then trained hopped back to the bus over the course of the afternoon. This gave us the opportunity to see three of the towns. It was then a bus ride back to Florence. I do have to say even though it was May it was very crowded, goodness knows what it is like later in the year. Of course, doing it this way means you don't get a chance to see/stay in one of the towns after all the day trippers have gone. As I mentioned, it was a long day but I did feel that I had seen quite a lot and that it was not overly rushed. I had a very leisurely lunch in one town, some of the younger ones went swiming, and at the last town a number of us spent a nice half hour having a wine at a bar overlooking the water before after our wander around. Admitttedly at the last stop I think we only had about an hour to look around but by then we felt we weren't interested in the quaint shops as they seemed to basically be selling the same things as we had seen at the previous two towns. I should mention that it wasn't cheap but I couldn't have covered this much ground in one day doing it on my own. This may or may not interest you but I thought I would throw it in for what it's worth.

Agreed, and that's what I thought I was doing by suggesting the day trip that we found to be quite interesting (in answer to the OP's original request, "Would like ideas for day trips from Florence."). I didn't expect my choice to be picked apart (though, with my many years of visiting this forum, I suppose not totally unexpected), since it was just a suggestion to the OP.

In any case, apologies to the OP for the digression. There are countless opportunities for day trips from Florence, and I'm sure you'll end up doing something delightful.

Shandy that is a nice review you gave and one that interests me. I wanted to go to CT but it was end of November so scratched it. I also didn't have much time to allocate towards it so your review would have helped someone like me.

Perception is, it seems, critical here.
It might serve everyone well if we would all try to assume that we are all trying to help, rather than assuming sarcasm. JMO.

To get back to the original question, I'll second (third?) Pistoia as a nice day trip, easily combined with another town. Be sure to take the underground tour beneath one of the churches (can't remember what it's called right now). Under an hour train ride from Florence; beautiful centro area.

Raymond, I was under the impression that you hadn't taken this tour yet, which is why I posted my warnings about the type of tour.

It is half way between Florence and Lucca. There are frequent trains in the morning and evening, many fewer in the middle of the day. Anyone wishing to visit both places on the same day should check on train and bus schedules and plan accordingly.

Good advice, IMO.

You sound like people who won’t let weather, crowds or some rail travel slow you down. You have a lot of suggestions for things to do and places to see. I say “go for it” and enjoy.

Cinque Terre is amazing and great as a side trip to Florence. I do recommend staying at least 1-2 nights to enjoy the villages more. Portofino is also another beautiful spot you could easily go on a day trip to, as well as La Spezia. I have written more about the five villages here in this Cinque Terre Guide

If you go by car, I suggest driving through Val d'Orcia. It's a fabulous place for beautiful scenery and a photographer's heaven. San Gimignano and Pienza are two towns that are very picturesque and charming too, Also, Pisa is very doable for a day trip, and it has more to offer than just the leaning tower. If you like history and architecture, there's plenty to admire in Pisa.

A picture is worth a thousand words. Here's the kind of crowds you could possibly run into in the Cinque Terre:

https://genova.repubblica.it/cronaca...ti_-123899365/

The video appears to no longer work, but that was even more insane.

Of course, it's not always like this, and the Cinque Terre towns are discussing strategies to avoid this kind of insane crowding. This is one of the reasons I discourage day trips to the Cinque Terre, as most of these crowds are day trippers, many from cruise ships berthed at Livorno. (You could check the cruise ship schedules to get an idea.) If you stay at least one night, you would see the town after the day trippers leave and before they arrive the next morning. If you stay two nights, you can spend an entire day on one of the high trails and not see the day trippers at all that day. Remember to bring good sturdy shoes to hike the high trails.

Having been to Florence twice, the last being last September, I would not want to base there for 8 nights. There are so many people to contend with. If you take a bus trip from there to San Gimignano, again you are dealing with tons of people and I don't think you get the true flavor of Tuscany. Could you spend a few nights in the countryside in a smaller town? It is an easy drive to Pienza from Florence. If you stayed there you could explore some of the smaller hill towns. San Quirico, Montelpulciano, Bagno Vignoni etc. In a day you can see quite a few of the smaller towns and you are not contending with so many people everywhere. Just an idea but you really need a car to do it justice (the driving in that area is very easy).