How to see Tuscany?
 

Is there any other way other than hiring a car to see Tuscany??

There are busses and trains. They bring you the most generally important places, which doesn't mean these generally important places are touristically important interesting. The time schedules are acceptable.
Tuscany is not only 'towns', 'culture'. It is also 'landscapes', 'nature'.

It would ask for some organisation. I would first organise the 'car free part of the trip' and then the 'car part of the trip'.

Depends on what exactly you mean by Tuscany. I was just in Florence, Siena, Pisa and Lucca - all of which are in Tuscany, and I did it by public transportation. Bus Florence to Siena, Train for the others. It was cheap, easy and I would do it again. On the other hand, to see many smaller Tuscan towns, and to really enjoy the countryside, a car would be better. A couple of years ago I visited places like San Gimignano, Montelpuchiano, Pienza, etc. Those towns would be much harder to do by public transportation.

The larger towns have several buses or trains in and out each day, especially from Florence. The smaller towns may have only one or two - meaning you really have to schedule yourself, also their train station may be more than walking distance from the center of town. And you may have to change trains or buses to get from one to another.

I did the towns I visited from Florence as day trips - thus no luggage to deal with. On the other hand, spending the night can be wonderful (e.g. San Gimi is totally different after the tour groups depart each evening) but if you have to take your luggage with you each day it's more of a hassel unless you have a car.

When I had a car I would stop and enjoy and photograph sunflower fields, sweeping vistas, etc. On the bus we wizzed by the sunflower fields at 60 miles an hour. I would have been very disappointed not to see them upclose if I hadn't already done so on the previous trip.

Final thought, how many people traveling. One person definitly cheaper by public transportation (not to mention you'd have no one to navigate for you), two people it about breaks even, three or four definitly cheaper by car.

Hi loula,

What is your draft itinerary?

Great answer Isabel !
Take the time to photograph the sunflowers.

Thanks guys! Ira, here is my draft itinary for me and my husband:

At this stage,
1. Fly to Pisa - pick up hire car
2. Drive to Castellina in Chianti to our hotel (we have no idea how long that will take us.)
3. Stay 3 nights
4. Day four, bring car back to Pisa airport and catch the train from Pisa to Naples arriving late arvo.
5. Transfer from train station to Hotel in Baia (for 35 euro, sound about right?)
6. Stay 3 nights
7. Day seven, catch train from Naples to Rome and fly back to London.

Do you think this is long enough? or should we just limit the 7 days to Tuscany or Naples?

P.S. we going in mid January. what is the weather like? i know it will be cold but will it be rainy?

Here's what I just posted earlier today on a similar thread:

Message: At the risk of repeating what I said a few days ago on another thread, I'll comment.
We have been to Tuscany a few times and always rented a car as we often do for smaller towns in Europe. But this year we had a very bad wreck in Wales just before going to Italy, so we called up and cancelled the car for our week in Montepulciano. It ended up being a blessing. Instead of our usual driving around all day exploring towns and whizzing through the countryside, we took busses to nearby towns, explored them more in depth, and walked from village to village through the countryside. I feel we experienced Tuscany far more than ever before. Where there are no trains, there is usually good bus service, and walking is great. The busses are on time, clean, air conditioned, comfortable, and have huge windows so even the person normally driving can see what you're passing.
If your goal is to quickly get from place to place, then YES you need a car. If you can relax and take it as it comes, you may really enjoy not having one.

Advice from one traveler to another - stay in Tuscany for a week. If you think you'll come back to Europe again (and most Fodorites do, time and time again), then take your time and see one area. There are so many wonderful towns in Tuscany and Umbria. Take your time - have a leisurely breakfast in your 'home' town, drive to another for shopping, lunch, return to enjoy dinner back home. Our favorite memories of Tuscany were walking about in San Gimignano well before the tourist buses came, and enjoying a wonderful Vernaccia in a cafe after the buses left. Same with Venice.

Why are you returning the car to Pisa?
Why not drop at Siena and train from there--or Orvieto.

just a guess, but maybe because they have a better deal returning it to Pisa where they picked it up?