mikesutton

My wife and I (both 50 years old, but young at heart) are first time travelers to Italy this coming April, 2008. Actually celebrating the Big 25th. Were traveling "just the two of us". When we visit the Tuscany region, which will be for 4 days, we want to pick out a town for our home base and, by car, travel the countryside and visit several towns and areas. We will be arriving in the Tuscany region by either train from the north or maybe a car if we decide to rent a car up north and drive south. Any suggestions for towns to call home (base) and any suggestions for less expensive hotel, B&B or even an agriturismo would be much appreciated.

Thanks

TuckH

For 4 days, there are two options, IMO...

1. Stay in an agriturismo just outside Siena and from there you can day trip to Siena, Monteriggioni, San Gimignano, Volterra, etc. Florence too if you'd like.

2. Stay in an agriturismo near Montalcino and tour the Val d'Orcia countryside and visit Montalcino, Pienza, San Quirico, Sant'Antimo, Bagno Vignoni, Monticchiello, Montepulciano, etc.

jamikins

When I was planning Tuscany trip this past year I spent a lot of time on www.slowtrav.com they have a tonne of info and reviews of places!

mikesutton

Wow..thanks for the quick response. What does IMO stand for? A agriturismo sounds like a good idea. any suggestions on locating a inexpenive one? Why do you say we only have two options? We start our trip visiting a friends in Geneva for couple of days and then after a 1 day stay in Stresa, we plan to either take a train or rent a car (any suggestions here?) and head south to Tuscany. Where would you pick up the rental car.

Thanks for your advise.

Mike

TuckH

IMO = In My Opinion

You can also use the "Search" box here for lots of info - just put in "Home Base Town in Tuscany".

> Why do you say we only have two options? <

Obviously there are more than those two - those are the two I suggest. (With only 4 days, you shouldn't try to cover too much, IMO.)

annhig

Hi Mike,

IMO - "in my opinion" - [web-speak]

here's mine!

we are 50 somethings too, and have recently started making trips senza bambini. one thing we really like to do is to wander around in the evening, go to a bar, soak up the atmposphere. Whilst agroturismos can be very nice, you usually have to drive to get to a town to wander about, and with drink driving laws, this can be a pain.

so I would suggest settling on a town as a base, and doing day trips from there. Siena is, IMO,

S;-

ideal for this.

it is big enough to allow for interesting wandering, but small enough for you to "get the hang of it" quickly. and the traffic in and out should not be too bad.

AND there are lovely shops for buying her that special 25 year anniversary gift. [I'm still waiting, and it's 30 this year - I can but hope!]

congrats and good luck,

regards, ann

maitaitom

Palazzo del Capitano in St. Quirico d'Orcia is a great place to stay. Below is a trip report link with pictures that will give you some info on surrounding towns. St. Quirico is a terrific base to see Pienza, Montalcino, Montepuciano, Radicofani, Pitigliano, Bagno Vignoni, Monticchiello and the surrounding countryside

http://travelswithmaitaitom.typepad.com/travels/

StuDudley

If you do a search on St Quirico, note that the correct spelling is San Quirico - not St.

That would be my choice as a 4 day base also. IMO, there's much more interesting stuff around San Quirico/Val d'Orcia than around Chianti. I just posted a driving itinerary for that region this week. Do a search on "Stu Dudley Quirico" to try to find it.

Stu Dudley

Midnightsun

Hello Mike: I think the idea of an agriturtsmo would be good, but when my wife and I have stayed in Tuscany (which we've done four times), we have most enjoyed the life of the small hill towns. Casole d'Elsa is our favorite. It is close to Siena, San Gmignano, and Volterra but much quieter than any of those. There is basically one main street through town and two smaller parallel streets. A wonderful restaurant in town, Cafe Casolani, serves a four course meal of "Tuscan peasant food" for about twenty euro, and is a lovely place from which to watch the townspeople amble by, besides having a meal that manages to be simple and elegant. There are a couple of other places to dine, a great gelateria, and a small Etruscan museum. When we have stayed in Casole we have rented houses (from www.invitationtotuscany.com), and they offer weekly rentals. However, you might be able to arrange a shorter rental in April. I believe there is a small hotel on the edge of town and an agriturismo nearby, but it's more fun to rent a place right in town if possible. You will need a car to visit places in the region, but that would be true no matter where you are unless you just want to stick with the larger towns and cities. However, the small towns are magical, and each has a story to tell.

vincenzod

Mike,
IMO to say "Tuscany" for only 4 days maybe cannot work at the best.
IMO you should decide which part of Tuscany you want to visit this time.
I give you two suggestions: Mugello or Maremma, therefore Borgo San Lorenzo or Pitigliano.
Borgo San Lorenzo enables you to visit Florence by train and to discover by car this part of Tuscany, named Mugello, not yet so well known
To go Florence by train from Borgo San Lorenzo is smart also because, as it is a local train, there are stops also in the not main station of Florence (Santa Maria Novella).
The accomodation could be very charming: HOTEL LOCANDA ARTISTI (www.locandaartisti.it). Only 7 rooms ! Reserve Glicine and ask for discount because your stay is longer than 3 nights.
In the evenig you can live the local life of the nice people of Mugello.
Otherwise, you can enjoy Maremma, that part of southern Tuscany close to Lazio and Umbria.
So, the accomodation could be a very cute agritourism: LOCANDA ILUNE (www.ilune.it) located close to Pitigliano, in an hamlet named Conatelle.
If this is your choice, you will visit very beautiful places and in the evening enjoy the quiet locanda.
Have a lovely trip.

Ciao.

Vincenzo

mike1728

Mike,

A great base for your needs is Siena..great town in itself with lots to do...also close for day trips to San Gimignano, Greve in Chianti, Montalcino, and Pienza...although you will need a car..it is very pleasant to drive this area...good luck!
Mikek

Mimar

In southern Tuscany, I like either Pienza or San Quirco d'Orcia for a base. They are easy towns to drive in and out of -- as opposed to little hill towns with narrow, crowded streets. And they have several restaurants. I agree with being in or on the edge of a town, to be able to walk in after a long day of sightseeing and have wine with your well-earned dinner.

sheri_lp

Hi Mike

Stayed near Monticchiello in October in an apartment at Tere di Nano http://www.terredinano.com/. I also used Stu Dudley's Val D'Orcia driving tour, and we saw some lovely countryside. But there are so many beautiful websites, and photos online, you'll know when you see it!

AtlTravelr

Mike-we stayed outside Pienza this past summer for 2 nights in an agriturismo called Le Traverse. We loved seeing the Val d'Orcia - it was incredibly beautiful countryside. Also very much enjoyed the small towns that were nearby. Pienza was a perfect small town with nice restaurants. Had dinner in San Quirco (mentioned in post above). The thing we did like about our B&B was the size (4 rooms), the easy drive to different places, the owner Pinuccia who was better than any guidebook about places to visit and restaurant recommendations, the food & wine of the region - including the 40 bottles of olive oil we shipped back from Le Traverse!

heidikay

bookmark

roussillon

We just got back from a lovely week in Tuscany and I can share a few recommendations...

-Stu Dudley's detailed itineraries and recommendations are really useful. He recently sent them to me, so I believe he is still happy to disseminate them.

-we found an absolutely great agriturismo to stay in which I can highly recommend (found it here on Fodors)
www.tenutalacipresseta.com

The owner Rosita was extremely warm and friendly, and loaded us up with pecorino, bresaola, olive oil, homemade tomato sauce, pasta and olives and parmiggiano when we arrived too late to hit the local restaurant. A lovely person.

The 2BR apartments were spotless, very pleasantly decorated, and included a full kitchen, with dishwasher, fridge, freezer, toaster and outdoor grill (we did a delicious bistecca alla fiorentina on the last night, superb!). Also has Italian and satellite tv so almost any language is available.

Situated just off the Chianti highway that goes from Florence to Greve and south. Easy access via Poggibonsi north exit.

Anyway, I may try to do a trip report if I get time, but this was a real find.

I also called the terredinano option, which also looked beautiful. Their prices were a lot higher, and in the end Rosita did us a lovely deal at about half the cost, but with all the comforts except WiFI.

So you can't really go wrong here. We ate big meals at noon during the hill town visits, and came home with gnocchi, pesto, cinghiale sausage(boar), tortellini, rebollita etc etc and had a great evening meal that we cooked up and washed down with tubs of chiantis and montepulcianos and brunello di montalcinos...and then did not have to drive anywhere.

Perfect silence in the area with great views,and a lovely large pool for later in the season. I was told by Rosita that in the summer months it is mostly families with small children and it was "un casino" (madhouse) but apart from July/Aug, it was an ideal place to stay. Cio e buona fortuna Roussi

Dotty6

Your trip sounded great roussilon. What was the weather like while you were there? We leave on Saturday for a week and am not sure what to expect.

The forecast is not too good for later in the week but I hope this will not detract from us enjoying our holiday.

roussillon

The week before we left, the long range forecast was for rain, rain, rain. We arrived in light showers, and the first day was in the low 50's with rain showers, and we thought "Peccato, mala fortuna".

It cleared the following morning, and from day 2-6 we had sunny skies, temps 58-65 and perfect touring weather. (Any more and you get too fatigued). The last day around Lucca and Pisa we had the a/c on in the car!

So I guess the key here is be prepared for the occasional bad day, and have rainwear. When it clears it heats up pretty fast. If your shoes get wet etc. you best have an alternate, as you don't want to be squishing in Siena!

Have a great trip and viva la bella Italia! (PS today it is sunny and in the low 70's here in southern France and the wisteria is in bloom. Neighbors just came back from spain and said it was 86 in Madrid yesterday!) Rouss

Dotty6

Thanks rouss, we are ready for an early start tomorrow (up at 4 am!). Have packed reasonably lightly (for me!!) and hopefully to cover all eventualities weather wise!

Very excited now and can't wait to get on with the sightseeing.

Will report on our return.

kwren

ttt for so much great info!