Montalcino or Castellina in Chianti
 

We will be in Tuscany for 4 days, 3 nights and I cannot decide where to stay, Montalcino or Castellina in Chianti. We want to visit San Gimignano, Siena, Chianti region, and Montalcino. Can you offer any advice? Hotel recommendations? Thanks

Oh and we want to stay somewhere near enough to the town that we can have dinners out and return.

Castellina in Chianti is better located for visiting San Gimignano and Siena. From Castellina you could spend a day visiting Montalcino and Pienza. We stayed in Castellina last June for 5 nights and found it well located for visiting San Gimignano, Siena, Greve, Radda, Gaiole and we drove to Pienza one day.

We stayed at Fattoria Tregole and really enjoyed our stay there. (www.fattoria-tregole.com)

ttt

As I've stated many times here, I think the Val d'Orcia (Montalcino, San Quirico, Pienza, Montepulciano) is much more interesting & scenic than Chianti.

Stu Dudley

We just returned from Tuscany where we stayed for 7 days (in a cottage near Ambra). Listen to Stu Dudley...he knows his stuff. He has a drive posted on this site which gives you an indepth tour of the area.

Val D'Orcia is the Tuscany you see plastered all over books, posters, etc. I can't begin to describe it's beauty and we didn't even explore it to it's fullest.

We had Chianti on our list, but once we drove to Pienza, we were hooked. We made the hour long drive the next day down to Montalcino. A couple days later we did the hour long drive down to Montepulciano. This region will definitely be the area we will stay in on future trips.

We visited Siena which was beautiful, but very busy and crowded (even for late October). It took us nearly an hour to find a parking spot as they were all full. Siena's historical center is perched high on the hill smack dab in a commercialized town. It was daunting to get around the first time...and not the Tuscany we imagined it to be. We'll know next time who to navigate it better.

If you home base in Val D'Orcia you'll have your choice of lovely towns nearby at your disposal to dine at. I think you'll be very pleased if you make this choice.

We didn't stay in this area, but I had these places bookmarked in which looks heavenly.
Villa Ciccolina in Montepulciano http://www.villacicolina.it/
and Stu always recommends La Saracina in Pienza http://www.lasaracina.it/home.en.php

Happy Travels!

Try the Brunello working farm in Montalcino to base and visit the butcher shop in Panzano in Chianti sunday 12-2pm market day

adventureseeker

If you thought the Val d'Orica was fantastic in October - you should see it in early April when the hills are covered with a lush green velvet blanket of winter wheat, with cypress trees, umbrella pines, and medieval villages everywhere.

In addition to being pictured in the books, postcards, and calendars - most of the countryside scenes you saw in the movie Under the Tuscan Sun were filmed in the Val d'Orcia - not near Cortona.

Stu Dudley

We've stayed in both as bases for exploring Tuscany and have found them both to be beautiful, have good restaurants, and very nice places to stay.
I too fin Montalcino more enchanting with the views off the mountain, and the area around it is also very interesting.
Check out Palazzo Cesira in Montalcino. We stayed there in October and it was fantastic.
http://www.montalcinoitaly.com/eng/home_cesira.htm

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Tuscany in April? ...very tempting indeed.

Tuscany had a cold snap during our stay (Oct. 20-27) and it was "Under the Tuscan Clouds" for us, but we enjoyed her while bundled up. The last couple days we saw her in full Autumn glory as the leaves changed colors and the air was all crisp. That coupled with wood burning fireplaces and a glass of good Brunello...

I can only imagine "Val" in the Spring...I better get planning!

Thanks Stu, you're really a guru on this board and I (for one) appreciate all your insight.

Such a tough decision LOL

We stayed at Palazzina Cesira last Oct for our honeymoon.

We are truly torn because we feel that Castellina may just be a better location for the day trips we have planned this time around.

We will day trip Montalcino if we do decide to stay in Castellina.

Hi Crooks,

Places I've stayed and very much enjoyed:

Hotel Residence San Sano **** off the Chianti Hwy, 20 min drive north of Siena

Il Giglio, Montalcino*** in town

Loved both. Found daytripping from Chianti got a little old with the back and forth driving over 4 days. Visited San Gimignano, Volterra, Siena, Castellina, Greve, La Badia di Coltibuono for lunch. Slow going on the narrow windy roads for that much driving. I would go again though, enjoyed Chianti as an area.

Loved southern Tuscany. Stayed in Montalcino as I was solo and wanted to easily walk to dinner and enjoy lots of Brunello! (Which I certainly did.)

If I went back again, would probably rent a farmhouse for at least a week and relax more (now that I'm happy with much of what I've seen of the popular sites).

Also loved the tiny town of Spello in Umbria, but that's another topic!

Buon viaggio!

I love Castellina. It's a charming small town, and the location is very good for exploring the Chianti region.

We recently stayed at Relais Borgo Pietrafitta -
www.borgopietrafitta.com/en/index.htm. Very nice accomodations with beautiful views. I'd highly recommend it. Sunrise and sunsets were spectacular.

We had a wonderful dinner at Ristorante Albergaccio in Castellina, and some of the best gelato of our trip nearby. There's also a restaurant at the bottom of the hill from the hotel which we were able to walk to.

Castellina is not far from Panzanno and Greve. I wish I would have seen Anthony Bourdain's show on Tuscany prior to our visit. Would definitely have visited the macelleria in Panzanno. Greve has a fabulous butcher shop also. We spent an evening shopping for meat, cheese, and wonderful foccacia at different shops in Greve, took it back to our lovely apartment to watch a gorgeous sunset. Doesn't get much better. I only wish I would have tried the lardo.

About the discussion of Val D'Orcia vs Chianti region. We stayed in both on this trip, and I loved them both very much. Each is has its unique wonderful qualities, and I can't say that I enjoyed Val D'Orcia any more than Chianti.