San Gimignano
 

Is it worth $60 for an all day tour with our group out of Florence? What is there to see and do in San G? Our group plans to go to the Chianti winery. Is the Tuscan countryside worth the drive there. I am also planning to take an all day tour to Siena so wonder if I should do San G as well.

Why not wonder if it's worth going to Italy in the first place?

It depends on what you like and how much time you have in Florence. San Gimignano is a nice scenic hilltown. Good for walking around and wine tasting. I can't comment on the route from Florence as I did a daytrip from Siena. I don't know that it requires a tour to see San G as there's not much sightseeing to do there.<BR><BR>As an alternative, you can take a bus to Fiesole about 20 minutes from Florence, also very pretty and scenic.

I love San Gimignano and as I have often said, when I stayed there I never it new it was tourity -- as we were gone during the day when all the tour groups came into town. The evenings and nights are wonderful there.<BR>I'm not a big fan of the organized day trip because I've found that most of them are geared to stopping at some remote place where you are forced to spend your time watching a glass blowing or pottery painting exhibition and given lots of time for shopping. I'd rather do it on my own. If you don't have a car, I'd be more inclined to go by bus on my own -- unless you like those organized "shopping" trips.

Dear Chuck,<BR><BR>I did the San G and Siena day tour last month. You can read my comments on the pros and cons that I posted in my travelogue. Just type in "kiki" in the search box and it will appear. Have a great time!<BR><BR>Kiki

Chuck --<BR><BR>My wife and I were in both San G & Siena last week. We went to both via SITA buses out of their location a block from the main station in Florence.<BR><BR>We enjoyed both San G & Siena but would spend more time in Siena. Just to sit in Il Campo for awhile is a treat. And you must climb the Tower. The view from up above is awesome!<BR><BR>You can do both towns in a day but, again, I would allocate more time to Siena. It only cost us about $21/pp doing it on our own. I think using a tour is about $40/pp. But they are good.<BR><BR>While on our own, our bus hit much traffic and we were late making a connecting bus in Poggibonsi to get to San G - so this slowed us down a bit in San G. You probably wouldn't have this problem via a tour bus.<BR><BR>Hope this helps. Have fun.<BR><BR>Bob