janetamesse5369

Hi,

My boyfriend and I will be in Rome/Tuscany for 10-days in April. We’ll be visiting my college aged son who is studying in Rome for the semester. I have been to Rome/Florence a few times, but it will be my boyfriend’s first trip to Italy. Our plan is to spend a long weekend in Rome and then head to Tuscany for 5 nights, returning to Rome for a last night in order to catch our late morning flight home. When in Tuscany the plan is to do 1.5 days touring Florence and then head to a hill town for 2- 3 days of biking and a day of driving through small towns. My son will be able to join us for the last 2 nights in Tuscany. For the first time, I used ChatGPT looking for a recommendation of best hill town to stay in for biking. Radda in Chianti and Montepulciano were recommended. I would love a “human” recommendation on this. Also, on our itinerary in general. We are at the point in our lives where we can splurge a bit to make things more convenient and I’d be grateful for any helpful suggestion. We are looking for a tour guide for Tuscany and are open to doing a bike rides with a group or on our own. The plan is to rent a car either in Rome or when we are leaving Florence. Thanks! Janet


Day 1-3 - Sleep Rome
Day 4 - Sleep Florence (early am arrival)
Day 5-8 - Sleep Tuscany Hill Town (?)
Day 9 - Sleep Rome (PM arrival)
Day 10 – 11am flight

J62

As an avid, long distance bike rider at home in the US I've looked into bike riding in Tuscany and decided against it...

The combination of narrow roads, wide buses, lack of shoulders, and often poor look ahead sight lines for drivers point to too high a risk for my own risk tolerance. I am sure there are routes that are more bike friendly, but I don't know them. You may have a different risk tolerance than I do.

Another fodors poster has written about biking in Italy - maybe he'll chime in.. @bilboburgler

sandragoodlife

Maybe look at what the commercial bike tour companies offer - then do your own.

bilboburgler

I've ridden a bike over a lot of Europe but I tend to prefer riding on the flat rather than hills. To some people Tuscany is an area of hills to others it is an area of valley bottoms. Italian drivers are very good and sensible about bikes. My greatest fear is non-Italian drivers who think they are extras in Top Gear.

The zone from Colle di Val Este to Montepulciano is a pretty good example of the sort of place I would start, but you could start in Lucca, head east around the mountain and cut across to Montopoli and down if you want more distance.

Secondary roads are what you really need to look for and via bianca, both of which can be found from google or local tourist info. If you want a more planned safer bike route then my go to is https://italy-cycling-guide.info/tra...ree-cycleways/

If you want more advice come back

janetamesse5369

Bill thanks for your reply! Can you send your "go to" cycling link again. I tried the link and it doesn't connect to a site. I do think we may want more help with planning. Thanks! Janet

bilboburgler

https://italy-cycling-guide.info/
you may need to take out the s of https depending on your browser or indeed the final /

J62

The links work for me.

BritishCaicos

What are your cycling capabilities ? I can knock out 130 miles in a day on a road bike but am very more limited on a mountain bike. As ever with cycling issues on Fodors, I’d combine the advice from Bilbo and J62, I’d be careful of the route in terms of inclines and volume of traffic.

Chianti is very hilly not demandingly hilly but annoyingly hilly. Ie one short hill after another where you don’t seem to be achieving anything , I’ve experienced the same in the upper Dordogne and it’s really hard work.

The key two words I would use from Bilbo are Via Bianchi. There’s two main areas of Classic Tuscany - Chainti and the Val D‘Oricia. I’ve mountain biked for miles in high summer around the white back roads of the Val D’Orica south of Siena. Try to access the maps produced by Kompass which are 1:10,000 ie lots of detail. just pick out some routes and link them to smaller tarmac roads - don’t have too much of a plan and expect anything. I had so much fun meeting crazy characters, seeing the sights that most tourists never touch seeing rural Tuscany at more basic level. The scenes you will see are straight out of the films.

I love San Quirico as a small town base.

Just have a back up plan in case of mechanical failure and take plenty water.

StuDudley

""I love San Quirico as a small town base.''

Ditto. We've stayed there 8 times. We usually stay at least 2 weeks per visit. Twice in April - which is our favorite season. The hillsides are planted with winter rye, which are lush green in March & April & the hills look like a velvet blanket was thrown over them - with cypress trees, umbrella pines, and medieval villages sticking up here & there!!!.

Montepulciano is a very steep hill village. Can't imagine someone recommending it as a base. And it's a little too far east of the section of the Val d'Orcia which we prefer (around Pienza).

During one of our 2 April visits - it snowed. And there was rain at times. Bring rain gear. Many of the back roads are dirt.

Here is what the Val d'Orcia looks like in April. It is my wife's Shutterfly book
https://www.shutterfly.com/share-pro...HARPRDWEBMPREM
Click the image of the book, and then click "full screen" in the upper right on the next page. Tuscany starts on page 26.

Our closest friends had an apartment there - where we stayed the first 3-4 trips. They are avid bikers and biked the back roads in early summer and fall, but not in April - when they mainly stayed on the main road that runs from Montepulciano to Pienza to San Quirico. This road is stunningly beautiful.

Attached is my Italy itinerary, which details many scenic drives in the Val d'Orcia.

Stu Dudley

HappyTrvlr

We are not bikers but we really enjoyed staying in Radda in Chianti two times. Look for Rampini Ceramiche while there. We have bought some of their pottery.