After reading the review of Lucca in this week's travel section, we have decided to try for this destination this summer.Most likely mid-may for 7 day stay. would like to also do day trips to other near by cities, preferably on the coast or cinque terre. No desire to have a car, but love to do train travel. We have been in Rome and Florence. What is the best city in the area to use as a base? What towns are good for day travel-walking ok but not intense hiking? What is the closest city to fly into?

Hi M,

Are you planning to stay in Lucca or just visit it?

If the latter, especially without a car, I think Florence is the best place - about 3 hr to the CT, 1:30 hr to Lucca.

You can also take the bus to Siena, San Gimignano and other towns in the region.

Ira-thanks, that is part of my question, would it be better to stay in Lucca and do day trips, or stay elsewhere and make Lucca a day trip? I would rather not stay in Florence, since I have already been there.

I think Lucca is a great base in which to stay. From there you could venture to the coast as well as to the towns of the Apuan Alps. For the latter, however, a car would be best. You can also check out flying to Pisa instead of Florence.

I agree---use Lucca as your base. A smaller and very friendly city that is well located. Fly into Pisa if you can--it gets as many flights as does Florence.

Several months ago the NYTimes had another article "Exploring Tuscany's Lost Corner" that had suggestions for Lucca and the near by area. We are actually going to Italy next week and will spend several days in Lucca. We have one day trip planned to Cinque Terre and then maybe one day we will head up into the mountains - I have checked into train connections but I'm not sure how it is going to work out - it seems the trains do not run frequently - hopefully we will get better info or suggestions from the hotel. It does seem to me that if you plan to stay a week in Lucca it would be better to have a car. We are just staying three nites. I was excited to see the article on where to dine - Lucca is out "time out" from the tourist hoardes of Venice and Rome where we will be starting and ending our trip - our travel friends are going to Florence but we wanted to go somewhere off the main tourist map!

The author missed the best ristorante in town---Buca di Sant Antonio--one of the best in Tuscany.

He mentioned Buca in the article. I lunched at Giglio and really liked it.

You can do Cinqueterre by train from Lucca ( I did it this summer). It takes approx 1.5 hrs.

Lucca is a lovely town, small but with a lot going on. I stayed 12 days while attending Italian lessons and never got bored.

wow, i'd say the 'lost corner of tuscany' is going a little far (there are definitely more tourists in Lucca than in the Maremma area, but still...), but Lucca is lovely. I think it would make a great base, especially if one didn't want to stay in Florence. I've never been to nearby Pistoia, but I hear it is nice as well.

The 'lost corner of Tuscany" article focuses not on Lucca but on the Apuan Alps.

I LOVE Lucca, it has long been a favorite Tuscan town of mine and I try to visit there go every year while in Italia when I am in the north. I think that Lucca provides a good base. You can take trains to Florence, Pisa, the Cinque Terre, busses to Siena, Collodi, etc. It is convenient because centrally located to everything, including the coastal towns. Buon viaggio!

Thank you all for the input, this is exactly the information I was looking for to narrow down the possibilities. Suec1, I will look forward to your post on your return!