Florence
 

I am going to Florence for 6 days. I would like to see Lucca, Sienna, Pisa and a day or two in Florence. I have not been to any of these places. Should I do day trips from Florence or stay in any of the other cities? Any other places I should see?

Are "you" solo? (sound like it) or with only one other person? Thi is one of the few times I would recommend "winging it". I would stay nights one, two and three in Florence. I would day trip to Pisa on day two or three. I would try to feel out the proprietor at your hotel in Florence if you can kind of leave it open-ended for nights four, five and si (if there is a sixth night). I would rent a car, either late afternoon on day 3 or early morning day 4, and head to Lucca (or some other daytrip destination, having all your stuff with you as you leave) - - and then decide while you are there - - is this a place we woud like well enough to talk to some hotels about availability, and pick out a place for dinner?

This is quite the opposite of my usual advice; this meas that for a certain part of your day, your tourism is your "live" ad hoc planning for that night - - as opposed to attractions. I think that in Lucca, in Siena this really CAN fit in with imply walking arond, enjoying the ambience of the place. I would be very careful about caling your proprietor back in Florence, and advising - - prefrably by 3 or 4 pm, if you are coming back or not. If you do not come back on night 4, you might try the same idea with the place you DO stay on night 4.

I think this is fairly different from "driving around", figuring on making a decision where to stay that night on the fly - - because that eans making a decision late in the day, when you do not readily have a plan B up your sleeve.

Two last points: if you are indeed solo, a car rental plan like this will cost you more than bus or train.

And I will still research the places you feel like checking out (as lodging) in those "day trip towns" as much as possible. Why do real basic fact fiding there which could be done here on the internet? This is not to say that you won't choose some place you simply stmble upon, nor that you have to approach it with "tenttive reservations" at one particular place.

Best wishes,

Rex

Hi scuzz,

Siena and Lucca are easy daytrips from Florence, although many people recommend an overnight. Pisa is definitely a daytrip.

You might find this links helpful:

Ira?s Trip Report
http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34451044

Helpful Information: Italy http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34443340

This is an interesting question. If you day trip, you spend more time travelling since you have to go back and forth and you see the same place every night. If stay over night, you have to drag your luggage around, pack-unpack, check-in and check-out more.

No one can tell you what you tolerance is for these various options. But I'd probably stay overnight in Siena for sure since it is a bigger place and worth more time. Also, it has handy bus connections to smaller southern Tuscany towns like Piena and Montalcino.

The other place to go is San Gimignano. It is a common daytrip, but it's reputation is better as an overnighter.

a day trip to siena can get tricky due to train schedules and cab and bus availabilty to get within the walls. i think many posters will recommend you go either by bus or plan an overnight.