Please advise as to good side trips from Florence for summer travel. We enjoy wine country, ocean visits, countryside, romantic places. Hotel recommendations also appreciated.<BR><BR>SD

Siena! I would recommend spending a few nights there.

Hi Sonja<BR><BR>I was in Florence in June and found a good day trip to be Pisa. All the sights are in a very small area so it is easy to see it all, and you can even climb to the top of the leaning tower now, it feels very strange!<BR><BR>From Florence, the main rail station is Santa Maria Novella. It is just an hour to Pisa, and it's about 9 Euros. the trains run very frequently.<BR><BR>Look up trenitalia.com for the timetables and prices.<BR><BR>Enjoy the trip!<BR><BR>Sonia

Try Lucca as well as Pisa in one day.<BR>Fiesole is an Etruscan town just outside Florence. You can reach it by bus.

A nice romantic trip from Firenze might be taking a train to Pistoia (which is a lovely medieval but non touristy city) and from psitoia a train to Porretta terme and, finally, from porretta another train to Bologna. Porretta is a small village up on the Appennini mountains. The railway lines between Pistoia and Porretta and Porretta and Bologna is one of the most scenic of the whole Italy, with some very dramatic sights. The standard trins are small and usually not very cfascinating, but sometimes you can find touristic trains making special trips on this line. Check out if there is any planned at the Firenze railway station. These trips are made with XIX century train coaches and usually also offer a few snacks or even full meals of traditional foods.

A second for Lucca. The Villa la Principessa is a very romantic hotel, but I would prefer to stay within the city walls. As others have suggested, train to Lucca and then to Pisa for the day. You might also want to check for summer festivals. The city of Pisa has two in June - Battle of the Bridge and Festival of San Ranieri and Lucca has a summer music festival. Or you might want to escape the hot sidewalks and buzzing Vespas in Florence and head south to the Chianti region. Pick up a rental car in Florence - just a short jaunt to the famous wine roads and great restaurants.

Take Rt. 222 (Chianti Way)from Florence to Siena. Buy some bread, cheese, wine and almonds before heading out. Stay in Siena or head to Montipulciano (I recommend the latter).

100% with jj, though i prefer montalcino or pienza to montepulciano. S222 is a total delight; get some wine and bruschetta at the corner enoteca in Panzano if you want to sit down and eat. picnic in montefiorale is a dream or movie come true

Get a guidebook and read about Volterra, San Gimignano, Chianti country, Montalcino, Pienza, Cinque Terra, Orvieto, Montepulciano, Bagno Vignoni,...it's endless...Enjoy!