Florence as a center for touring Tuscany
 

My wife and I are planning to spend 5 nights in Florence. We were hoping to use Florence as a central point to see other parts of Tuscany. In an AAA guide book it said, "..and don't plan to use Florence as a base for touring the rest of Tuscany". -- Does anyone have any idea why AAA would say this.

Maybe because it's expensive and hard to park so there's no point staying there overnight unless you plan to enjoy it during the day?

That's exactly right. Kinda like staying in NYC, when you really want to tour Long Island. You don't want to have a car in Florence. Just driving into and exiting this city is nerve racking, and overnight parking is expensive. Stay in Florence for about three nights without a car (I'm assuming you do want to see Florence?). Then pick-up a rental car and exit the city to a small town to use as your base for touring the countryside and smaller towns.

It wouldn't be so bad having a car in Florence if you stayed in a hotel on the outskirts of Florence. We stayed at a hotel in Fiesole and one near the Galluzzo district, both are about 10-15 minutes outside of Florence either by bus/taxi. You could park your car at the hotels without a problem and when you wanted to go into the city you could just use public transportation which was very convenient. I don't know if that negates the whole idea of having a car but it's just a suggestion. What is your hotel budget? I'd be happy to give you the info on the hotels we used, both were wonderful.

Hi Allen and Ellen <BR>My wife and I rented a car in France and drove around Provence before driving on to Italy just a few weeks ago and we loved driving in the countryside but everywhere but it was <BR>maddening, frustrating and crazymaking <BR>to drive in the cities - one way streets, difficulty with language, <BR>public parking does not exist (except on sidewalks) - we could give you chapter and verse. You will love the countryside but you will need a guide and maybe a guide dog for the old towns- of them all, Florence was the worst - even with two maps. We were told to park at the airport and taxi into Florence and wished we had done it. Tom

We were based in Florence for 6 nights in June. We spent 3 full days in Florence and 2 full days driving in the country. This worked out fine for us since we rented the car for only the 2 days, parking it overnight in a parking garage near our hotel for USD 17.00. We did this because we like to stay in one hotel. This does however add extra driving time (1- 1 1/2 hours each direction each day. I would definitely stay in one of the Tuscan towns if you have no plans to tour Florence (which I think is a mistake).

I would use Florence as a base if you don't intend to drive. I spent a week in Florence a few years ago and found it very easy to take day trips by bus. I visited Siena, Fiesole, and Greve in Chianti (where we rented bikes and visited a beautiful winery).