Florence or Siena as home base--We will have no car
 

We are going to be including Florence in our honeymoon plans. Neither of us are big art and museum people so I was wondering if we should stay in Florence or outside of Florence (possibly Siena?) We will be there 3-4 days. We do enjoy going to wineries so I was thinking that staying in Tuscany may be neat BUT we will not have a rental car (I don't think we would be married very long after a car trip in Italy Is having a car in Tuscany a must and should we stay in Florence instead?
Thanks (once again!)

I would stay in Florence. More things to do and connections to other places in Tuscany are easier than in Siena.

Hi amrach

For 3-4 days I would stay in Florence.

You might find my trip report helpful.

http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34451044

Stay in the centre of Florence (check out hotel Antica Torre Tornabuoni, Room 503 has a terrace from which you can see the Duomo and it is terrific - www.tornabuoni1.com - we stayed there in August). It is close to the Arno and Ponte Vecchio and within easy walking distance of everything. If you wish you may then take a day trip to Siena, though I think 3 or 4 days is just about right for exploring Florence and you will probably not want to leave!

as much as I love Siena, Florence does have many more connection options if you have no car.

Stay in Florence because it's larger than Siena; I'm sure there must be daytrips to Siena from Florence.

I agree, stay in Florence. You can easily take a train or bus to surrounding areas for day trips. You must go to Il Latini (Off Via della Vigna Nuova, Near Piazza Santa Maria Novella & train station) - little to no English spoken, but its easy to communicate. Be prepared for 3+ hours of eating and drinking!

Here's a surprise -- I don't even really like Florence, but I agree -- best place for you to stay from what you've said.

Oh, get a car! I did not like Florence and absolutely loved the smaller hill towns. OK, I liked Florence but it's a big city with lots of art. And you don't sound into that. Driving was fine, do get an automatic. STay in a agritourismo outside of Siena. So worth it. If you refuse to get a car, then stay in FLorence. Sigh.

If you're not renting a car, then Florence is the place to base. You can easily do a daytrip to Siena via SITA bus (or train, but bus option is preferable).

However, I'm a believer in pointing out what folks are saying .... and you've already told us that "neither of us are big art and museum people". Well, Florence is great for those who are art aficionados, so I'd suggest you may want to reconsider your honeymoon plans. Rent a car, base yourself in Siena (or another hill town) and explore the lovely and charming towns in the Tuscany region.

I agree with E roz, get a car, we found it very easy and base yourself in Siena.

I stayed in Siena for 4 days, visited San Gimigiano (sp) by bus and could have easily visited more smaller towns by bus. I also stayed in Florence, which was not my favorite and I thought one full day there would have been enough. I thought, next time, I will stay in Siena and just do a day trip to Florence by bus. So, if you aren't into art or museums, Siena is great!

P.S. not that Siena doesn't have great art and museums too. Also some really good restaurants.

Stay in Florence...use the trains for daytrips to places like Siena, Lucca, Pisa, Arezzo...etc.

If you're really not into art and museums, skip Florence entirely. Go to Venice or Rome or Sorrento. I know that a lot of people will disagree with me, but Florence doesn't have much to offer other than art and museums.

Thank you so much for all of your suggestions! I think we will probably just do Florence as a day trip and cut down our time in Tuscany to just a few days. I have to cut one of our places days down in order to do Venice so I think this would be a good option.

Cutting time in FLorence shld not apply to cutting time in Tuscany. The smaller hilltowns are wonderful. THough I think "amazing" is a better term than "neat".