We are going to be in Siena for three Days in October...Does anyone have a hotel recommendation? Thanks!Maggie

Dear Maggie! You'vwe made a good choice! Sienna is beautiful! One of the best places in Italy. I know the Hotel Casa del Pellegrino. Rooms with a fiew. But I was there 8 years ago. Get in touch with the Tourist information in Siena! <BR>Best regards from Vienna <BR>Silvia

Will you be travelling by bus/train or will you have a car, Maggie? How much are you willing to spend? <BR>Paulo <BR> <BR>

We stayed at Hotel Athena within the walls of the old city. We were going to stay at a few more expensive hotels that were outside the walls, but were told the walk would be too far. That was correct. You absolutely must stay within the walls. Everything is convenient to walking. We had an absolutely spectacular view of the Tuscan countryside from our 8th floor window. Ask for a view room. The rooms were old, but nice and included a nice breakfast. DONT miss the restaurant Cane e Gato (dog and cat). Fairly expensive, but dfinitely the best meal we have ever had anywhere. There is no menu, the owner is the waiter and cook with his wife. The restaurant is small and elegant. You feel like a friend or part of the family. I highly recommend it.

Hello everyone! <BR>It's me again...Thank you for the info...I should have added that we will have a car. So, inaddition to hotels(hopefully for about 240.000lit) does anyone have any good ideas for a day trip from Siena..I want to take time exploring Siena,but I would like to see some of the countryside also...Suggestions???Maggie

Like Paul, we also like to stay within the old city walls. If I'm not wrong, the hotel referred to by him is the only 4-star in the old town, in the south-west corner close to the walls, Porta Laterina and Porta San Marco. The hotel has a big parking lot. The published rate for a double in October is Lit 280,000 (including breakfast and parking). Should you be interested, reservations may be done on line at <BR>http://www.venere.it/siena/athena/ <BR> <BR>Once the Athena is somewhat over our budget, and after experimenting the Duomo once, we changed to the 3-star Chiusarelli the following time and have settled with it since. The hotel is housed in an old villa with a nice small internal garden and fully renovated rooms with all the ammenities. The location is as convenient as the Athena, just a 6/7min stroll to the piazza del Campo, through Siena's main shopping street. The Chiusarelli is specially indicated for visitors that plan to tour some of Tuscany by bus. The bus station (at San Domenico church) is less than 100mts away. Though its parking facility is very small, we never had any problems with it. Should it be full, Siena's two main parking lots (Stadium and Fortezza Medicea) are just steps away. The published rate for a double with breakfast is Lit 185,000, which you may lower to about Lit 160,000 if you exclude breakfast (we always do). The hotel also has a good restaurant, should it be pouring and you don't feel like going out for dinner (though at times it's filled with tour groups). On the minus side, it doesn't offer rooms with a view to the Tuscan hills (you may get a room overlooking the garden). Though the staff is very professional and helpfull, I wouldn't say that it has a family atmosphere and its charm is quite limited. In short, the hotel practices a no-nonsense type of policy and lowest rates possible (therefore it's always full) in place of personalized treatment and charm ... Reservations may be done on line at <BR>http://web.tin.it/chiusarelli/ <BR> <BR>As stated above, one of the reasons that made us elect the Chiusarelli as our choice hotel in Siena is thefact that breakfast may be excluded and the discount on the full rates enables one to spend it having breakfast elsewhere, in a nicer setting when compared to a hotel breakfast room. We love having it at a balcony of a caffe overlooking the Piazza del Campo, early in the morning. The empty piazza emanates power and the view is breathtaking. <BR> <BR>I consider Siena the best city as a base four touring southern (Montepulciano, Monte Oliveto, Montalcino, PIenza, etc) and central Tuscany (San G., Colle di Val d'Elsa, Volterra and the Gallo Nero Chianti district), not to mention Arezzo and Cortona. <BR> <BR>In principle, if you're staying 3 nights in Siena you may reserve the mornings to visit the city and afternoons for daytrips: <BR>a) Colle di Val d'Elsa, Volterra and San G. <BR>b) Chianti tour (Castelnouovo Berardegna, Castello di Brolio, Radda and Castelina) <BR>c) Monte Oliveto, Asciano, Montepulciano, Pienza and Montalcino <BR>d) Arezzo and Cortona and Lago Trasimeno <BR> <BR>Take your picks ... and have fun <BR> <BR>Paulo <BR> <BR>

Paulo: Do we have to have a car to visit the towns you suggested? Can we take the train to the towns near Siena, or must we use the bus? We will have a car, but want to stay in Siena when we leave Venice and look at the area around.

We think that the best way to visit hill towns in Tuscany out of Siena is by car. So, if one has a car, there's no reason whatsoever not using it <BR>If one doesn't have a car available, I would recommend using the bus in most situations, because: a) more than half the small hill towns in Tuscany are not served by trains and; b) the train station location in Siena is kind of awkward, outside the city walls (since I wouldn't like to stroll the distance maybe more than once a taxi would be called for going back and forth). The intercity bus station is within the city walls, at the San Domenico church. For instance, among the towns I mentioned above, the following may eventually be reached by train (in some cases the train station may be far from town center and a taxi may be called for): Montepulciano (1 hour), Arezzo (2 hours with a change), Cortona (2 hours with a change), Castelnuovo Berardegna (15min), Asciano (30min), Monte Oliveto (25min) and Castelina/Monteriggioni (20min). <BR> <BR>I've used the train out of Siena only once, when I was a student, to visit Asciano and Montepulciano. Were I to repeat this trip without a car, I would certainly opt for the bus. I would consider the train only for visiting cities farther away ... For instance, Orvieto may be reached in 2 hours with a train change in Chiusi (the bus would take considerably more). Pisa may be also be reached in 1 1/2 to 2 hours, with a change in Empoli. On the other hand, if one desires to reach Assisi the bus would be a much better option (only 1:45 hours - by train one would need at least 3 1/2 hours). <BR> <BR>Paulo <BR> <BR>

Paulo: Duh! We will NOT have a car; my mistake. None of the 4 of us wants the responsibility of a car. Would we better off to stay in Florence, instead of Siena, if we are not going to use a car to travel about?

Marty, it's not clear at all what the plans are after you've visited Venice. How many days total you have to spend in Tuscany? Which cities do you plan to visit? How many of the available days will you spend visiting Florence? <BR> <BR>For visiting Pisa and Lucca, the most convenient would be the train out of Florence. Though San G. is better visited out of Siena by bus, you may visit it also quite easily from Florence (by bus). To visit just about all other hill cities, it would be more convenient to do it by bus out of Siena (more frequent buses, shorter distances, and less time lost getting in/out of city). <BR> <BR>If you plan to visit Florence during more than a single day, by all means, stay there. To me it doesn't make sense doing 2 or more bus trips to Florence out of Siena (even though the trip takes only 1:15 hours). I also don't like the idea of visiting Siena out of Florence more than once ... Ideally, therefore, you could divide your stay in two: part in Florence to visit Florence (and eventually Pisa/Lucca) and part in Siena, for Siena and some of the hill towns. <BR> <BR>Paulo <BR> <BR>

Paolo, i wish to thank you for your Italy insights, you were a great source of info. We just went back yesterday from a beautiful Italy trip, it was perfect, as planned and as expected except the Hotel Chiusarelli fiasco. I know you are a big fan but........things have changed there I think. First of all, they now require you to take breakfast there and I guess depends on the receptionist on duty, you either get an helpful or a rude one. Please refer to my site titled Hotel Chiusarelli-Siena, I thought I should warn my fellow Fodorites!

maggie, we just got back from Italy and stayed at the Athena while in Siena. It is more of a business hotel than a tourist hotel. It is pricy for what you may want (although its breakfast was one of the better ones we had). We had no other choice within the wall on Easter weekend and took it. It was clean and comfortable. We passed by other hotels and were not too impressed with any we saw. We stayed two nights in Florence, two nights in Lucca and two nights in Siena. We had a car for Lucca and Siena, and driving these roads was enjoyable and gave us the freedom to visit towns we wanted on our schedule. Florence is worth two days and would be very difficult to do in a single day. Have a great trip! It is a beautiful country.

Will try this again. Two other hotels in central Siena to check are the Santa Caterina and the Antica Torre. Or, would you consider staying outside Siena in the Chianti area and daytriping to Siena? There's public parking over by the San Domenico church. You could stay near Gaiole at Castell di Spaltenna or at the little Borgo Argenino B&B---both within about 20 miles of Siena. Much as I love Siena, the countryside has a lot to offer as well.

Hi Maggie, WE also stayed at the Athenea Hotel , and we liked it very much. <BR>At first sight I thought I was not going to like it, "too big" I thought, "too touristic",...but it turned out that we as Paul were also placed at the 8 th floor, ( may be that floor is reserved for the independent travelers) the view over the Tuscany country side was beautiful, <BR>and it was a very pleasant hotel all togehter. It has free parking too. <BR>Because we didn t like to have breakfast with groups, the front desk clerc directed us each day to a different breakfast rooms ( they have more than one) before the groups arrived. This way we enjoyed both the excellent breakfast buffet and the breakfast room all for our selves and it was both peaceful and delicious. <BR>I know Paolo Ricci 's advise is always excellent but I thought you might like to know that we also would like to return to the Athenea Hotel in Siena. <BR>If it is not too far for you do not miss Volterra this is a fantastic town not to far from Siena. <BR>

My family of 4 stayed at the Alma Domus in June 2000. Very clean, spartan, cheap. Rooms with a view of the Duomo (which is great) have a downside of street noise. There is a restaraunt/bar on a nearby street which stays open late. Very safe, 150,000 lira for quad.

Hi Maggie, <BR>for the day trip I'd definitely choose toursaroundtuscany.com. <BR>Tell them that you have your own car, they can make a discount on the full rate. <BR>I was there in April, and I took the Red Tour. It was just me, my husband and the guide, and we really had good time. <BR>For the hotels, we loved hotel S.Caterina, which is out of Porta Romana and not far from the main square. <BR> <BR>Tina

We stayed at a lovely hotel "Palazzo Ravizza" with lovely grounds and overlooking the hills of Tuscany wothin the town walls which included either breakfst or dinner-we opted for dinner and it was quite good and the better deal. I agree-it is lovely to sit in a restaurant in the early AM for breakfast on the campo-that day it was pouring rain but didn't impede the view or feeling. Siena is wonderful as is San Gimignano-a car is really the best way to see the Tuscany countryside and is no more fearful that renting in North America

In '96 I stayed at a pension, Casa Colibri, that was on one floor of a palazzo on one of the side streets leading up to the Campo, a two minute walk away. The cab ride from the station is reasonably short and therefore inexpensive. Very accommodating hosts and lovely rooms.

Everyone! Thank You! <BR> All of the information has been most helpful...In Siena we will stay at Albergo Bernini(found it in the Rick Steves book). We have booked the Tours around Tuscany Red Tour for one day...Thank you again you are great!Thank you!Maggie

We are planning a trip to Siena next October and would like to stay inside the walls of Siena near the historical section. Would also like to keep the price under $100. Any suggestions?