We're already planning on visiting Siena, San Gimignano, Lucca and probably Volterra. (By train or bus--we won't have a car). The last day we're trying to choose between Cortona, Assisi, Arezzo, Orvieto, Pienza, Montalcino, Montepulciano and Fiesole! Too many good choices. What would you recommend for sheer beauty & charm? Or a different experience from the others. Thanks.

Susan

What day of the week and what time of year?

Hi Susan --

Several of these spots are quite far from Florence, so you might want to try to choose closer destinations to pick from. Out of your current options, Fiesole would be a good choice b/c it's very accessible from Florence.

Additionally, you might have a hard time getting to some of those spots by bus/train. Montalcino, for instance, doesn't have a train station and a bus trip might take the better part of a day.

Good luck!

How many days do you have in Florence? (my initial thought is that you may want to consider spending more time in the city, instead of taking too many daytrips)

Ditto Apres_Londee.

We have 6 days but have been there before so will mostly be using it as a base this time. San Gimignano and Siena can be done together in one day.

We will be doing these day trips on weekdays in March.

Sue

Hi Sue,
Not on your list but we recently took a day trip from Florence to Modena. We went on a tour of a balsamic house and it was fascinating and fabulous! So glad we did that as it was a highlight for us. The tour is free, we followed that with lunch in Modena at a special place, then stopped in Bologna for a couple of hours on the way back to Florence. We had just spent several days in Bologna but we had to immediately go there again.

On your list I've only been to Orvieto and Assisi and I think Assisi is a beautiful, magical, quiet place with incredible art, history and overall aesthetics. Sure, it's 2+ hours by train but it's a lovely train ride.

On the other hand, I would go to Orvieto, not Assisi. I love going up in the funicluar to the town, then looking down into the deep, deep well nearby with the double-helix staircase inside. (Or if you have good knees, you can go down into it.)

There are great restaurants up in town, and the Duomo is spectacular. The hill is honeycombed with caves, and some of the restaurants are inside them. You can also take a tour.

It's an hour from Florence by train (or is it 1 1/2?) The view from the town is gorgeous.

Hi S,

Fiesole is an easy bus ride (no. 7 from SMN train station 0:22 hr 1E). I would include it as part of my Florence visit.

Go in the afternoon, visit the Etruscan ruins, watch the sun set from the terrace of the Bar Blu and have dinner in town.

We very much enjoyed Orvieto.

One of the best restos in Italy is
I Sette Consoli
Pzza Sant’Angelo 1A
phone/fax 011 39 0763 343911

Lunch in the garden is worth every penny.

bookmark

Hi SJ,

You can easily incorporate Fiesole into your Florence stay by taking the #7 bus from the SMN train station up to the town - 0:20 hr 1E.

Watch the sun set from the terrace of the Bar Blu.

We very much liked Orvieto.