Short side trip from Florence??
 

Hi, I'm looking for suggestions for a place to visit on my day tour with Luca from Hills and Roads. He has suggested Montefiorale or Castellina in Chianti. Any recommendations for either or somewhere else?
We can't go too far as we are being dropped off at the Castello di Montegufoni which is about 20-25 miles south of Florence, for our stay in Tuscany.
Thanks!

Type "day trips from florence" (without quotes) in the search field and you'll find many threads like this one....

http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34781120

Let Luca take you to Lucca. Beautiful walled city west of Florence. While there visit Fattoria Colle Verde, open Monday through Saturday from 10:30 to 1 p.m, and from 2:30 to 5 p.m. fattoria-colleverde.com You can drop in just for a complimentary glass of red or white wine, or ask for a more complete tour of the winery and the olive oil press. At the foothills of the Alps, WOW.

Sandi, thank you for your reply.
I've already been searching threads. I made this post more specific because we aren't able to travel that far. Most of the posts list destinations further away from Florence. I'd love to go to them but we have some restrictions.

We went with Luca last week to Montefiorale. It is incredibly beautiful and we were the only tourists there. There are no shops and nothing to "do", no tourist sights to check off your list. I think we only saw 2 other people (they lived there) for the hour or so that we were there. The views are amazing from the edges of town.

I would recommend Vinci which is only 30-40 minutes away. Great museum of Leonardo's inventions and a beautiful little town.

Doesn't sound like you even have a full day. What about Fiesole? It is really a suburb of Florence, but a love it there.

Hi there, thanks for the replies. No I don't have a "full" day, that's why I labeled the post short side trip from Florence.
We get picked up in Florence at 9:30 am and dropped of at the Castello at 4:00 pm We have a banquet dinner to attend that night otherwise we would extend the tour.

tledford thanks for the feedback on Montefiorale. What else did you do on your tour? We are going to a winery, having lunch and then on to a place like Montefiorale or Castellina in Chianti.

Sandi, Vinci sounds interesting. As it happens, they are having a special exhibit at the Uffizzi of some of Leonardo Da Vinci's works. We are scheduled to see it.

If you decide to check Vinci out, here's how the Vinci board of tourism told me to get there:

there are no direct buses from Florence to Vinci.
I recommend you to take a train from Florence to Empoli and then a bus from Empoli train station to Vinci.

There are buses that leave from Empoli to Vinci approximately every half an hour-45 minutes. The bus company is COPIT (Buses are less frequent at weekends!)

I'm planning a day trip to Greve in Chianti and Montefioralle on a Saturday, which is the day there's a market in Greve. After seeing photos of Montefiroalle, I decided I wanted to go there!

Monica ((F))

Both of Luca's choices are good ones. If you have time, you might want to ask him about lunch at LA BOTTEGA in or near Radda, although that would take up about two hours of your day. We still talk about our lunch there!

Have a great time with Luca. He's a wonderful guide for the area.