Hello,

I need to book these as soon as possible, but need help from the savvy fodorites! DH and I will be traveling to Florence, Tuscany & Venice for 14 days this summer. We’ve been to Florence & Venice, and just love them, but I’m somewhat overwhelmed by the number of places to see in Tuscany.

We want to take about 6 days for Tuscany, 3 for Florence and 5 for Venice. We’d kind of like to stay out in Tuscany to get the feel of a different area; however, we’d still like to have easy access to restaurants and be able to drive and park with a minimum of problems.

While we love the beauty and tranquility of the agriturismos, we have never stayed at one, and would love opinions on this.

Driving:
We have navigated through Ireland and the Yucatan peninsula, so we’re not afraid to drive, but really don’t want to spend our entire trip getting lost or looking for a parking place. We are “moderate” adventurous types, not thrill-seekers! So, should we rent a car for the independence it gives us, or should we just take the bus or train? Any and all opinions welcome…

Places we really want to see:
San Gimignano
Siena

I have read and read about all the areas, and it’s so difficult to choose one more, but if we have time, it might be nice to visit another. A couple of possibilities would be:
Montalcino to hear the Gregorian chanting monks (would love to hear people’s thoughts on this)
Val d’Orcia (if time this trip; otherwise save for next time)

Which town/lodging would you recommend from the following:
Siena area:
Agriturismo Le Fontanelle: this looks beautiful; my only concern is if it is too hard to find our way to and from it. Also, what we would do for dinner
Agriturismo Marciano: the website is very nice, but no one seems to have heard of it, which worries me!

Between Florence & Siena:
Borgo Poneta in Barberina Val d’Elsa
Villa La Barone in Panzano in Chianti (would rather not spend this much, though)

Further south:
San Quirico d’Orcia area:
Palazzo del Capitano
Stu Dudley recommended it and it looks wonderful, my only concern is that it’s too remote from the other areas, and we might do better to be more central. However, we do have 6 days, so maybe we can do it?
Locanda San Francesco: Montepulciano
This was recommended in another post. My concern is that it may be difficult to drive up the mountain. Is there any public transportation? Once we’re up there, would we want to stay put, or is it easy/safe to go down to the lower parts of town?

Pienza:
Agriturismo Cretaiole: Has anyone stayed in the L’Ovile room? My concern is that there are no meals, and we’d be too far from any restaurants. I do enough cooking at home, and I don’t want to cook on vacation—even in Italy!


Our choice of lodging will influence our itinerary, and we are waiting to book tickets. If we end up visiting the southern part of Tuscany, we’d probably want to fly into Rome and take the train to our first stop, renting a car there. Otherwise, we’d fly into Milan, Pisa or Venice and take the train.

Thanks so much for taking the time to help us with this!

Nice trip . I would split your 6 nites in Tuscany at 2 locations. My choices are:
Palazzo del Capitano in San Quirico
Fattoria Tregole near Castellinia or Hotel Pescille near San Gimignano

That will give you the geographic coverage you will need to see Tuscany well. Have fun !

Thanks Bob,

It's good to hear from someone else's perspective. I'll check out the two other hotels you mentioned.

Bob,
Thanks again for the suggestions. I just checked out their websites, and both places look wonderful. Hopefully, one of them has availability for our dates.

My sister & I spent went to Tuscany last November. We drove from Venice....I would hate to have to rely on public transportation. The driving was no problem....plus, it gave me the opportunity to take photos.
We took Stu Dudley's advice and drove the route that he mapped out....it was marvelous!!
Check out Montorio, it's located on a hilltop next to Montepulciano.
www.montorio.com
We rented the large 2 bedroom apartment, it was very reasonably priced and it was lovely.
I have tons of photos on my blog...November/December postings.
http://baileyzimmerman.blogspot.com

Have a wonderful trip!!!

You could split your time in the Montalcino area and see Montepulciano,
the Abby (hopefully timed so you hear the chants), Pienza & San Quirico and then concentrate on the Siena and San G area.

These two hotels are highly recommended in Pienza and easier with a car.

http://www.letraverse.it/ out of town
http://www.piccolohotellavalle.it/index_uk.htm in town so you could walk to restaurants

This hotel is highly recommended in San G, however you may want a different location with easier vehicle access.

http://www.hotelcisterna.it/inglese/frameset.html

Have a wonderful trip.

We stayed last summer at Le Traverse in Pienza. Yes, it is out of town, but we did have a car and found the driving to be very easy. The first night we drove to a very small town about 10 minutes away and parked outside the city walls. Then we were able to walk inside for dinner. The same thing when we went into Pienza for the day. There was a parking lot with easy access where we could put the car and then walk around the town.

We drove to San Giminano for lunch on our way to Lucca and again, though you are parking outside of the city, found this to be a very easy option. Siena as well - these are fairly small towns, not like driving into the center of Rome or anything so it is very easy to not actually stay there but to come and visit during the day or evening. I think being able to drive in Tuscany is wonderful.

And let me say again that Le Traverse in Pienza (or really, outside Pienze) is a great spot. It is picture perfect, wonderful pool that overlooks the countryside, wonderful hostess who was better than any guidebook - she made dinner reservations for us, suggested daily itineraries and helped us with our Italian.

Cyber:

I strongly second BobThe Navigator's choice of Hotel Pescille, just a few kms. outside of San Gimignano...it is a great place to headquarter for a few days, and it's pool will be a godsend for the hot days of summer. The views of San Gimmy from the Pescille are fantastic, and it's surrounded by its own vineyards...I've recommended the Pescille to several friends and family...all liked it.

On one of our visits, we did a wide swing of day trips from San G. (Volterra, Chianti area, etc.) then switched to Siena, a good base for Southern Tuscany day trips...worked out very well.

In Siena we favor The Hotel Santa Caterina, just outside the Porto Romano, ten minute walk to center of the city.

Whatever you choose, you will love Tuscany....enjoy!

Stu T.

I second bobthenavigator's suggestions for the two town bases for your six days. I like Chianti, but for spending the night, I prefer the locations further south (though they're all beautiful).

Contrary to others, we prefer to stay IN town, rather than outside. That way we can walk around in the evening and walk to and from dinner. And don't have to worry about driving on dark roads after (not) drinking. We have stayed at Hotel Pescille, and enjoyed it, but we also stayed at their sister hotel (Hotel Belsogiorno, I think it's called) IN San G. And Hotel Cisterna, which was also very nice.