HELP! I am stuck and need some advice..
 

Hi,

I am traveling to Italy in October with two friends. We have 5 days to explore (we're in cooking school for a week in Poppi). My original thought was to spend a night in each of the following towns:

Arezzo
Cortona
Montepulicano
Siena

We fly out of Florence so we'll need to be back there on the 5th night.

Are these towns too close together? We do NOT want to spend all day in the car but want to see Tuscany!

Please share your wisdom with us!

Thanks!

You're doing a cooking class in Poppi? Wow, I thought no one had ever heard of it! Ten years ago I spent two weeks there in a little apartment built into the town walls. We were the only tourists around. What is the school, if you don't mind my asking?

I don't think you need to move around so much. Pick one or two and then do day trips from there. Should be easy enough if you have a car. We did day trips to all those places from Poppi. Don't underestimate the time it takes to find parking, get lost, etc. Add to that changing hotels and you loose a lot of time.
You might try plugging your trips into a mapping software like ViaMichelin.com or even Google Maps. That should give you an approx. idea of time and distance.

I'd also suggest staying in one place and then day tripping to your other spots. I think you will enjoy it more. Any of the four spots you've listed would work. Lots of folks have said that they enjoyed being based in Cortona.

Yes, one location is all you need. If you have car then Montepulciano would be my choice---if not, then Siena.

Hi,

Thank you so much for your advice! I cannot believe how hard this whole planning process has been. EVERYTHING looks beautiful in Tuscany...

The cooking school is somewhere close to Poppi. You can see the location on their website: www.italiancookerycourse.com

Thanks again.... and keep the info coming. This is awesome!

jen

> and keep the info coming <

- You can easily day trip to Arezzo and Cortona from Poppi if you'd like.
- There are many more towns and places in Tuscany to visit than the ones you've mentioned. If, as Bob suggests, you set up in Montepulciano, there's also Monticchiello, Pienza, Montalcino, San Quirico, Bagno Vignoni and Sant'Antimo nearby. Closer to Siena is Monteriggioni, San Gimignano and Volterra.