We are planing to hire a driver to take us from Rome to Florence. He suggested stopping in Siena, San Gimignano, Assisi, Cortona and Montepuciliano.
Is there anything really worth seeing in these places, or should we just get to Florence and spend more time there? We plan on staying in Florence 2 nights and taking the train to Venice to catch the ship.
Thanks for your help

Hi Cre,

>should we just get to Florence and spend more time there?<

In which case you would take the train.

I think that your driver has planned for you to see the highlights of Tuscany.

There are certainly many things "really worth seeing" in these places, but how many days is your driver suggesting you devote to this trip?

Siena is "worth" at least a day; San Gimignano half a day; Assisi at least a day; I don't know Cortona, so I cannot offer an opinion; Montepulciano is at the very least half a day.

Cortona and Assisi would both require considerable detours on the way from Rome to Florence; the other towns minor detours.

My suggestion would be to cancel the driver and take a Eurostar train to Florence (1.5 hours from Rome).

Florence deserves at least two or three days. But if you want to take a daytrip to Siena, you can easily do it by bus. If you want to combine San Gimignano and Siena, take an organized tour out of Florence.

Well, there are 6 of us, so we have 8 different opinions (One of the guys always changes his mind) We want to do this in one day. The driver said if we leave Rome at 9:00 we would get to Florence by 7:00
Should we skip the whole thing or see 1 or 2 places. I don't know exactly what's a MUST SEE

All right, let's try to look at this in detail.

How much more is your driver charging you for a trip that takes 10 hours compared to a trip straight from Rome to Florence that should take about two hours?

You should probably compare what he charges for the two hours with the cost of train fare for 6 people from Rome to Florence at

www.trenitalia.com

Assisi, Siena and San Gimignano are probably on the must-see list for most people. If you decide on Assisi, it will have to be (because it is out of your way) the only place. Or you can perhaps add Cortona, which, as I have mentioned before, I do not know.

Siena and San Gimignano are a good combination, particularly if you do Siena first and get to San Gimignano after the tour buses start leaving.

Check out "Destinations" here at fodors.com.

Assisi is in Umbria; all the other places are in Tuscany.

You guys are great!
The driver is charging 830 EURO. Is this OK? I just happened upon him from one of the sites. That's about 355.00 per couple.
Is this worth it???

Frankly, no!

The Eurostar train from Rome to Florence for six people would cost Euro 254.10 in first class.

Which leaves you with 575.90 Euro to do anything you want with. For that amount, you could have dinner in one of the most expensive restaurants in Florence.

A day trip to San Gimignano and Siena with CAF tours (offered every day) will cost 49 Euros per person. They also offer a day trip to Perugia and Assisi, but only on Wednesdays. Personally, I think you would be in the bus too long and see too little on that trip.

Or, if you only want to visit Siena, you can do it by SITA bus for a whole lot less than 49 Euros per person.

CreB:

Eloise knows her stuff. I would do exactly as she says and make much better use of those Euros!

Total scam. No-one can see those five places in 1 day, all en route from Rome to Florence. Well, in principle you could -- if you drove all day and never got out of the car. You know, like a car-rally.

Look at a map: With slight detours from the motorway -- or the via Cassia -- you could see Montepulciano and maybe Cortona.

Siena, Assisi and San Gimignano are substantial detours.

"Take the train" would be my advice.

Are you kidding---I am sure I can find a driver who would do it for 500E. However, do not try that in one day--that is a scavenger hunt. I too would train to Florence and then get a driver from there to do 2 days trips for you for the same cost. Do a search under IITT [Italy Independent Travel Team]. Tell Paolo I sent you.

Bob.
This is so spooky. The driver I contacted was named Paolo. Could this be the same one or are they all named Paolo???? The E-mail address I received was from [email protected].
Thank you all so much for your advice. I will take the train.

Hi cre,

RT fare on the SITA bus from Florence to Siena is 13E.

The bus station is on Via Santa Caterina de Siena, about 1 blk from the train station.

Schedules are at http://www.sita-on-line.it/

Thanks ira, but how do I get this in English?

It is always difficult for me to understand the attraction of hiring a driver, but I suppose that's fine for some people. But I cannot imagine doing what you're talking about. Take the train from Rome to Florence (it will be far more comfortable anyway). If you want, hire a driver in Florence to take you to San Gimangano and Siena one day, if you think a bus will be too complicated. You will be money ahead and much better off.

Just back from 12 days in Italy and we took the train from Rome to Florence, stopping for the day in Orvieto. It gave us a little taste of Umbria and we had a ball.

The Duomo there is beautiful and we toured the underground Etruscan ruins. The town is literaly on a cliff and there are beautiful parks all along the outskirts. Plus, we had lunch at Il Sette Consoli...one of the best meals of the trip. The train was a straight shot from Rome and then straight to Florence from Orvieto.

Just beware, you CANNOT store you luggage at the Orvieto train station. We paid the hotel across the street, Europa, the store our bags for the day.