Recommendations for honeymoon in Tuscany region
 

My fiance and I are getting married in June and have half of our trip planned. We are a little late with hotels/B&B's as we were hoping on a time share coming through for us. Now we have to scramble to find something at this late date. We have planned a few days in Florence to start, then to Venice for 2 days and our last stop in the Tuscany/Umbria region. I have been researching where to go there (San Gim, Siena?....) and stay but am becoming overwhelmed and stressed with where we should base as we have never been to this region before. I have read some fodorite comments for ideas but I don't have hours of time to read as much as I would like with work and wedding planning. Can anyone recommend the best town to stay as a base in to do day trips from and where would you stay? We will have a car so any location would work. We would like to do a wine tasting, so any recommendations there would be great. Looking for accommodations up to $150 or less a night if that helps. Many thanks in advance.

I don't know how much additional time you have. You don't want to spread yourself too thin. We spent 3 weeks in Italy last year that included 2 weeks on a farm in Tuscany and 4 days in Florence. Several years ago we spent a week in Venice. I would go back to both Venice and Florence. I think you could spend longer in Venice and Florence and perhaps take some day trips from them - Florence especially. There are a lot of little towns in Tuscany that are very interesting, but you do spend a lot of time driving to them and finding parking places. Consider using the trains.

Thanks, unfortunately, we will only have 3-4 days in that region but we would like to spend some time there and at least get a flavor of the area for perhaps a more extended period on another trip. I wish we had more time. 3 weeks would be great.

With your interest in wine, I suggest staying in Montalcino or Montepulciano in southern Tuscany. They are both in good locations to use as a base for exploring beautiful countryside and towns. Both towns have places in town to taste very good wines, and there are wineries nearby that take reservations for tours and tastings.

In addition to your post responses, you can also try using the "search the forums" tool on this site, tripadvisor and google to find hotel recommendations and wineries in the two towns.

Enjoy your trip!

For your honeymoon, no question :

San Quirico D'Orica, doesn't get the mass crowds of other towns and still has a lazy local feel whilst being stunningly beautiful. Pienza is busier but June should be fine, it make perfect bases.

I understood you didn't have 3 weeks. My question was that if you were staying 2 days in Venice and a couple days in Florence how much time left for vacation do you have? If it is just a couple more days a trip to Montepulciano (where we were for 2 weeks) might be a lot more time just traveling to and getting settled than what you want to do. Your purposes might be best served by staying in either Venice or Florence longer if your time is short. Save the rest of Tuscany when you can come back for a longer visit. Montepulciano is a great little town, though, and I would recommend it if you want to go there.

I would stay here. Great value in a unique setting and good location to explore the best of Tuscany.
http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Rev...a_Tuscany.html

See Tuscany before Venice and fly home from there--or, start in Venice.

That's a shame Bob, the church had retained all it's eerie charm in an unrenovated state.

Really had a strange feeling when we last visited, as if the film crew had just moved out.

I agree, though, a beautiful setting.