New revised trip, need insight for details-Florence/CT/Siena/Rome
 

My wife and I have made some tweaks to our itinerary for our trip to Italy.
Fly into Florence from the states. Next day after seeing the Accademia, we leave to Cinque Terra. What is the best way to make that trip? We planned on rail.
We stay in CT for 3 nights and then go to Siena. Travel suggestions? Again, we planned on rail. we stay in Siena for 3 nights again. We plan on rail travel to Rome for 4 nights.

CT is for relaxing. Siena offers relaxing and day trips to Sam G., Volterra, Chianti Tour and of course Siena. Rome, the obvious.

Florence offers too much to see and Venice does not offer the same day trips for us and our interests.

We have an idea of where we want to stay, but are open to input here too.

Thanks in advance.

Florence to the CT: I guess rail to La Spezia where you will change to the local CT train.

Maybe take a car from the CT (you can surely rent in La Spezia ) for the drive into Tuscany. Stay someplace in Siena that has parking and use the car for daytrips.

Siena to Rome has a good bus route, or can be done by train, or even my car. Many folks here (me too) will suggest dumping the car on the way to Rome.

Is that the kind of help you are looking for?

We were thinking that we would rely on a guide for our time in the Siena area, this would essentially reduce the need for a car, right?

Also, bus or rail to CT. Is the transfer easy, or should we take a bus from Florence to CT.

Another thing, on a trip through Greece, we discovered there were 2 types of buses, ones with a/c and ones w/o a/c. Is there a similar disparity b/t bus travel in Italy?

Train is better from Florence to CT. Tuscan gave you directions . . . from Florence by train to La Spezia. At La Spezia you connect to the local CT train, a separate train line from the Trenitalia system.

A bus will have AC or it won't. You don't have a choice of one over the other. Most will have it. Whether or not the driver turns it on is another thing.

rev579- We read such great reviews about this guide. Alas, he was all booked up (7 months in advance) for the time period we were going to be there. But he still gets excellent reviews. Luca Garrapa at "Hills and Roads". Here is his website:
www.hillsandroads.com

Good Luck and have fun!

Hi Rev,

Would it not be easier to fly into Milan, train to the CT, visit Florence for a day on your way to Siena (leave luggage at the SMN station), and then head for Rome?

((I))

I don't think you need a car at all for this trip, especially with a guide. If you want to use a car to explore Tuscany, stay on the outskirts of Siena for easy parking and easy in- and out.

Trains work great in all sections. A lot of people suggest using the bus into Siena because the trains stop way down the hill. We found the buses to be cleaner than the trains but they weren't bad. I also found the 2nd class trains were very hot and the 1st class weren't cold but much cooler. The price isn't all that much different. (I'm speaking of the short hop trains you'll be taking--not the nicer, longer distance trains)

If you do take the bus to Siena, make SURE they let you off at the bus stop way up the hill, not at the stop at the bottom of the hill. We asked if we were at the Gramsci bus stop and he said yes. We were not and had to take a taxi up the hill. That defeated the whole reason we took the bus in the first place. The correct bus stop will be in a more built up area, up the hill and across the street from a park.

On your way to CT, it's easy to stop in Pisa, drop your luggage and go see the tower. It will take you a couple of hours to get there, see it, get back to the station, and stand in line to get your luggage back.

The Uffizzi Gallery in Florence didn't impress me all that much but we loved David at the Accademia.

You can rent a car in Siena at Avis.

just took a very similar trip in september. train from rome to CT (La Spezia) then rented a car in La Spezia to Siena and Tuscany and back to Rome in car. If you don't plan to travel around Tuscany than you may not need to rent a car. BTW - a fabulous restaurant in Siena - http://www.osteriailcampaccio.it/
We stayed 3 nights in CT and 3 nights in Siena.