I'm trying to convince my dh to rent a car for our Tuscan village touring, but he is hesitant. If we don't rent a car, how hard is it to take a train to Orvieto, Siena, and possibly Chianti from Florence? We are also going to Rome, so we might hit Orvieto from there. Are any of the aforementioned more worthwhile than others as far as being quintessentially Tuscan?

To Siena you would want to take a bus because it drops you in the city center. The train station is at the edge of town and requires a bus to get to the center. The bus to Siena runs hourly (less on Sunday) and the rapid bus takes about an hour.

You can easily train to Orvieto.

Chianti would also require a bus (or day tour).

Hi L,

If you are just interested in visiting the towns, you don't need a car for Tuscany.

As noted, bus to Siena. Train to Orvieto from either Rome or Florence.
http://www.trenitalia.com/cms/v/inde...0080a3e90aRCRD for train schedules, prices, etc.

Also Florence makes a poor base for daytripping in Tuscany by car. If you stay in the historic center (as I strongly recommend), driving is very strictly limited. There are threads about travelers getting traffic tickets months later. If you stay on the outskirts of Florence, you're not seeing the best of that city.

Yes, to see the Tuscan countryside well, you need a car and you need to stay in the countryside, in or near a small town.

But you can see quite a lot from buses and trains. We took a bus from Chiusi to Siena and were enraptured by the countryside. Florence to Siena is not so scenic. But Siena is. So, definitely Siena by bus as kybourbon says, Orvieto by train. I'm not familiar with transportation into Chianti. Other daytrips you can do from Florence are the short bus trip up to Fiesole and train trips to Lucca and Pisa. (Maybe both in one day!)

After our enrapturing trip from Chiusi, we returned a couple years later for a driving tour of south Tuscany.

To me, quintessentially Tuscan, as in Tuscany in the photos and films, means the southern region around Val D'Orcia. You should have a car for this area. Pienza, Montepulciano, Montalcino, etc.

Orvieto is an attractive hill town, but it is not in Tuscany. But you probably know that already.

Hi there, okay, firstly, Orvieto is easily reached by train from Rome. It is a lovely day trip taking only 1 hour on the train. Orvieto is in Umbria. Make sure you discover the underground of Orvieto.

If you are considering tasting the lovely wines of the region I would highly recommend NOT driving!

Siena can be easily reached by SITA bus from Florence, the journey taking around 1 hour.

If you would like to tour the Chianti I would recommend engaging the services of a tour guide/driver.

We stayed in a villa in Panzano-in-Chianti last July and booked a very reasonably priced guide to take my son and I on a tour of the Chianti.

The guide we used was Nathalie Panozzo who I found on Tripadvisor. Her email is [email protected]

After 18 months of researching tour prices I decided to go with Nathalie and we are so glad we did.

We visited Greve, Montefioralle, Castellina-in-Chianti, San Gimignano, Siena, Monteriggioni, Fattoria Montagliari (a family farm), Vicchiomaggio (a castle) and we got to taste many wines, balsamics, olive oil, cheeses, salamis etc.

The tour was about 8 hrs and it was the highlight of our trip to Italy.

Cars can be a nuisance in the city centre of Florence, and, it may not be until you return home that your hire car company passes on any fines you may have got.

My son and I stayed 3 nights Florence and 5 nights in Panzano-in-Chianti and found we got around easy enough in the Chianti using buses. We had a fantastic lunch at Castello di Verrazzano in Greti near to Greve. We took the bus from Panzano to Greti and the shuttle bus from the winery picked us up.

Have a super time.

Melissa

My wife and I are planning in staying in Siena ina couple of weeks to drive around Tuscany. Is that a good base to explore some of the towns mentioned above? Also, is it convenient to catch buses from Siena or is car more suitable? Thanks!