PattieMelt

We are having a hard time choosing where to spend our week in Tuscany... (first time in the region)

What are the pluses and minuses of these three places?

Any thoughts/opinions/recommendations will be greatly appreciated!!

Huitres

They are all very different places....Lucca is most central in Toscana, close to Pisa. San Gimignano is a bit off the beaten path, yet accessible by train from Florence, then bus to the town gates. Cortona is in the far eastern reaches of Toscana, on the Umbrian border. Perhaps centralizing yourself in Lucca, then taking day trips to these places via train would work fine. (For Cortona, I based myself in Perugia, in Umbria, because only 40 mins away by train). Of these 3 places, I think San Gimignano is the most touristy, and therefore might have higher priced lodging, etc. Lucca is unique in that it has those wonderful walls that surround the city that you can take daily promenades on. Cortona is a hill town (like San Gim) and you have to take a bus up the hill from the train station to the entrance. It is a charming place as well. My fav of the 3 is Lucca because (IMO) it is larger and has more to offer in terms of churches, duomo, restaurants, Puccini's home, etc and things to see.

bobthenavigator

Lucca and Cortona are not good centro locations to see Tuscany. I would stay close to Siena, but not in the heart of Chianti.I assume you will have a car

eroz

I wasn't impressed with Cortona, bz I saw it after seeing Montepulicano and Montalcino! I'd pick San Gimig from your list, its lovely in teh evening after the tourist buses leave! From there you can explore Lucca, Siena and the Chianti region.

Mamma_Love

I did not visit Lucca or Cortona on our last trip. We did, however, go to San Gimignano. We did not spend much time there at all, it was too touristy. I was disappointed. Best seen from afar, the towers that ring the town are dramatic.

We stayed in Siena, good central location and has managed to retain it's charm and character.

fforte

Don't want to confuse you but we did a lovely morning bus to Fiesole from Florence and had a wonderful lunch there. Can't remember the name but just passed by a trattoria and went in. Then we went back to Florence, took a train to spend the afternoon/ early evening in Lucca. Beautiful!!! Sat in the tiny park(near the train station) and several locals stopped to chat with us and recomended "Leo's" (??)for dinner. We had a wonderful full day.

Then the next day we took a Montacino vineyard tour with
http://www.vinaio.com - which we loved!

I agree w/Huitres, all are so different. But I would see Lucca over S.G. / but don't miss Sienna!

KayF

We've been to the first two places but not Cortona. If you have a week, why not split it into 4 nights in one place and 3 in another. San Gimignano is much much smaller than Lucca. San G is lovely though very touristy with some great shops (selling touristy stuff) and the streets get clogged with daytrippers. It's true that at night when it's quiet it has a different feel. We had 3 nights in San G and that was enough. A great place to stay, very central with friendly owners, is http://www.sangiroom.it/indexe.htm

Lucca is a fairly large town, no cars allowed so lots of bicycles about, with lots more to see and do. If I had to choose only one I'd choose San G for the atmosphere of the place but it is a little harder to get to, train to Poggibonsi then a 20 min bus ride. If you have a car there are car parks outside the town walls.
Kay

jdraper

We just got back from Italy and we stopped in Lucca for an afternoon and still regret that we did not plan more time there. It was a charming place and was very beautiful. I had never considered Lucca but my son heard about it from some Italians that were visiting the US and asked to stop. We arrived in time for lunch and then the "kids" rented bycicles and spent the afternoon riding the city walls while me and hubby walked around some of the beautiful parks and enjoyed the scenery. Our next trip we plan to spend at least two overnights in Lucca to really explore this beatiful place.