Distances between towns in Tuscany
 

We will be staying in Greve for 5 nights in Sept and 3 nights near Cortona. I'm looking for resources where it could tell me the distances between the towns. Anyone know of any? Based on reading information at this forum, Montalcino/Pienza/Val D'Orcia is a must. Would the home bases be good for travel to these areas and spend quality time there? I realize that the journey to a destination is part of the experience.
Thank you.

I'm a fan of Google Earth. You have to download and install it, so you need a fast internet connection (don't recommend it over dial up), but it gives you great aerial views of the places you visit and decent driving directions/distances, etc

Viamichelin.com and mappy.com are great resources also.

I never understand why people book at one location so they can travel to what they really want to see. Neither of yours are conveninet to the Val d' Orcia. Why not stay there.

Maps are pretty useful for giving distances.

I find I prefer maps.google.com. They have a new feature where you can drag the route they give you to any other point and it'll recalculate the new route. Handy if you want to take a particular road, or stop by different towns along the way.

>>Would the home bases be good for travel to these areas and spend quality time there?<<

For Greve, No - 2 hours away. For Cortona, sort of. Although it's not too far from the Val d'Orcia, Cortona is not the best because there are no other towns of interest close by.

>>I realize that the journey to a destination is part of the experience.<<

Don't forget, you have to return each evening and it's my hard-and-fast rule to avoid driving after dark on these kind of roads.

I agree---Google maps is very good. I think I have become a convert.

My husband and I are planning a road trip in Italy in Oct and have found google map very helpful. Also another usful site is http://www.viamichelin.com/viamichel...MaHomePage.htm. Via michelin will also give tolls, time, petrol usage and lots of other options. debs