aussiesue2001

We're in the very preliminary stages of planning a 5 week trip to Europe in March/April.
We want to see as much as possible (of course) but without too much moving our accommodation. I find by the time you pack up & check out & get to the new accomm the day is almost lost.
Having said that we really want to go to CT & I was thinking about staying in Pisa for a few nights. From there we could see Pisa, go to CT, go to Florence , maybe Sienna.
Is it feasible to use Pisa as a base for the area or does anyone have any better suggestions?
Are there any other good things to see or do in the area that we should not miss?
Thanks

kwren

We just stayed in Lucca, which is north of Pisa by 1/2 hour, for two nights and drove to Pisa from there. You could stay there which would also put you in range of the other towns (I'm sure someone will let you know if they think Sienna is too far for a day trip from either Lucca or Pisa), but even if not, consider spending a day there and renting bikes to ride on top of the walls.

qwovadis

Tuscany too far for day trips to cinqueterre.com

It is remotely doable from www.lucca.info not Pisa

via La Spezia into Manarola via regional train but better

Prettier area Portofino www.metropole.it spend several

nights touring right at the ferry dock to all the cute towns

1 block from the train station on the sea.

Bottom line make more time for the CT it is AWESOME!

www.torrettas.com

qwovadis

For me except for the tower which is quite touristic

Pisa is one of the flattest ugliest river towns in Tuscany

More of a waystation than a base...

mamcalice

Despite my usual agreement with your wish not to change bases too often, I would spend 2 days in CT and then find a base for Tuscany.

I'd choose Florence because it has the best options for travel to all of the other sights you want to visit. And Florence has more to see and do than any place in Italy IMHO. Pisa is not a very good base. I wouldn't want to be stuck there at dinner time for a lot of evenings - I find it pretty charmless.

It might help to know the rest of your itinerary and how long you plan to spend in the area.

iris1745

I fyou can fly open jaw, fly into

iris1745

If you can fly open jaw, fly into Milan and consider staying in Camogli, a small 1000 year old fishing village. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camogli From there you can visit Portofino by car and the CT by train. Then head south to Lucca, Florence, Tuscany, plus Umbria. Fly out of Rome

cruiseluv

I think March/ April are iffy months for CT. Having said that, i recommend Luccafor basing yourxelf and doing a day trip to CT. i did it that way and it takes about 1.5 hrs by train. From Floren e it would be too far.

bellini

This is our one week schedule from May 2006.
Flew from UK to Pisa.
Unlike the posts above, we like Pisa. The Piazza dei Miracoli is simply breathtaking at night when all the day trippers have left and the tower and duomo are flood-lit. Great art gallery and wonderful architecture in some parts of town.
Tues.
One night at Hotel Bologna Via Mazzini 57 Pisa
Tel. +39 050 502120


Wed. train to Lucca
2 nights at Hotel Romantica Via N. Barbantini
Tel. +39 0583 496872
e-mail [email protected]


Fri. to Cinque Terre
4 nights at Ca’D’Andrean, Manarola
Tel. 0187 920040
Website www.cadandrean.it

Tues 16 May train to Genoa
2 nights Hotel Best Western Metropoli, Piazza Fontane, Genova
Tel. +39 010 2468888

Back to Pisa by train to take flight home.
May was hot and sunny in CT- some days almost too hot for walking up & down steep trails. Not sure what the weather is like in Mar/April. Check whether the boats that ply the coast run at that time of the year as a boat trip makes a welcome change from trekking.

CaliNurse

"by the time you pack up & check out & get to the new accomm the day is almost lost."

True...but sometimes you feel that way after three hour total driving time round trips , driving from the "home base" to and from the "day trip" destination.

I've been a "home base" person for cities, but found it worked less well in the countryside b/c of long round trip drives. Next time, i'm going to spread out the accommodations a bit!

kwren

We just stayed 2 nights in Lucca, 3 nights in a farmhouse outside of Pienza and a night in Montepulciano and we wouldn't have had it any other way. If that's the way you like to travel, go for it! We didn't want all those round trips either and it worked out perfectly.

Gal_in_EdmondsWA

I agree! For the last 2 trips to Italy we've based ourselves in an agriturismo (Cretaiole, outside of Pienza) or in an apartment in Castelmuzio (Il Cielo) and did lots of day trips. But we felt that we only saw towns/villages/cities along with all of the daytrippers and didn't get to experience any dinners in restaurants or the nightlife. This time we'll be spending 2 nights in Siena, 2 nights in LaSpezia (to take the train or ferry to Cinque Terre), 2 nights in Camogli, 3 nights in Florence, 3 nights in Montalcino and 2 nights in Rome. Lots of driving, yes, but not anymore than we would do for daytrips. We're good packers, so not worried about the check-in/check-out of hotels.

emerald125

I really think you should try to stay in CT itself if you can. We were there last March and the weather was cool but it did not diminish from just how beautiful it is. We stayed 3 nights in Florence - 1 day was a day trip to Sienna and another 2 days in CT based in Vernazza.

We loved Vernazza but given that it is the off season only 1 restaurant opened each night in the early part of the week. This was not ideal and I think if i visited again I would stay in Monterosso at this time of year - in the old part - there was much more life here.
you can see my web album pics here - http://tiny.cc/gztnt

and my trip report here http://www.squidoo.com/italy-itinerary.

We used the train but perhaps with a car you would be better based outside CT.

aussiesue2001

Thanks for all the advice. I'm taking it all on board but haven't made any final decisions yet
All the replies, links & photos are not making my planning any easier because I keep finding more & more places that I really want to go to. Trying to squeeze all the places I want to see into 5 weeks is not easy