I understand that SITA buses run from Florence to Panzano and vice versa. Tried to find the website for SITA as I would like to see the schedule that exists from Panzano to Florence. Will need to get to the airport in Florence from Panzano. Not traveling with a car. I think this is feasible but I can't find the SITA website for information, at least whenever I go to sita-on-line.it, I can't get it to open. Is this the wrong address? Does someone have information on SITA, specifically the Panzano- Florence connection. How long will it take? Do you need to buy the tickets ahead of time or do you just buy before you go? Any helpful information about this bus trip would be appreciated. Planning this trip mid May. Thanks

The Chianti bus line operates between Panzano and Florence.

http://www.acvbus.it/index.php?SEZ=9 [scroll down to #365]

TTT

Thank you. I see three times for buses leaving Panzano: 5:32, 6:17 (these on one page) and 6:42 (way over on another page). How do I know if that's AM or PM? And why is the last time on a different page? Is there any way to get an English translation of this website. Thanks again. Seems that you don't book this in advance. How reliable are these buses?

Thank you.

All those buses are AM. The schedule uses a 24-hour clock, sometimes called military time--no AMs or PMs. 5:32PM would be written 17:32.

Italian timetables use the 24 hours system, so 5.32 is 5.32AM - 5.32PM would be written 17.32.

Let us begin to read this timetable. There are two stops, Panzano Ferruzzi and Panzano (I do not know which one is closer to your plale). The first bus leaves at 5.30 AM from Panzano Ferruzzi, two minutes later from Panzano, but runs only from Monday to Saturday (this is the meaning of "LUN-SAB"). It will arrive in Firenze - I believe at the bus station in via S. Caterina da Siena at 6.40AM.

The second run, Monday to Saturday, leaves at 6.15AM. The third run at 6.40AM, but only Monday to Friday (LUN-VEN). Another, Monday to Saturday, comes from Lucarelli and is in Panzano at 6.42AM-6.50AM (I do not know why double time is marked). Another one at 7.00AM and 7.02AM, only Monday to Friday - but read note no.28, it runs only from Septembr 11th to June 8th (the school period). On Sunday and festivities (but not on Saturdays) there is another run at 7.00AM. And so on...

Buses are fairly reliable as those are the buses used by school pupils and commuters going to Florence.

If you take the school run, you will likely be standing. I would wait until after the work/school rush unless you need to be in Florence by a certain time.

You should be able to buy tickets at a little store (tabbachi or other) somewhere in Panzano.

How are you getting to Panzano?

Thank you very much for explaining how to read the schedule. Of course, the 24 hour clock is something I should have known. I didn't even realize there was more than one page!

We will be staying a few days in Siena and I'm hoping there is a bus that can take us to Panzano. We haven't booked the Siena or Panzano part of our vacation yet. But I started worrying that I will need to get to Florence from Panzano to get to the airport (which I still have to book) and was getting concerned about whether I could get there in time. Whether the whole thing was feasible. All things considered, it could work. I just have to make sure my flight is late enough so we can get the bus from Panzano to Florence in time. As far as Siena do you know of a bus from there to Panzano? maybe we will wind up taking a cab? hiring a driver? or depending on the kindness of strangers.

Thanks again for your help.

>>>I just have to make sure my flight is late enough so we can get the bus<<<

If you are talking about a flight from Florence to the US, there won't be late flights. Florence doesn't have any non-stop flights to the US so you have to change somewhere in Europe. All the flights will be early (probably not later than 7:30).

If you are scheduled an early departure, you should sleep the last night in Florence. Most flights leave between 7.00am and 8.00am, the small airport gets easily crowded at that time and you should be there at least one hour in advance. Even the first bus is too late and Panzano is too distant. If you manage to leave in the afternoon the thing could be feasible.

Panzano has a website with information about transportation.
www.panzano.com

From Sienna, it may be easier to take a bus or train to Florence and then the bus to Panzano, as the bus from Sienna asses through Panzano and only runs 2 days a week, and only in summer.

A rental car would be so much easier, however, it can be done by bus. I know you can fly from Florence to Zurich or Paris, connect to flights home.

I would stay in Panzano first, then Siena. (Where will you be before this part of your itinerary?) Getting to the airport from Siena is easier as there are direct trains to Florence nearly every hour starting at about 5:45 a.m. Duration of the ride varies by train, but a few options take just over an hour.

http://www.fsitaliane.com/homepage_en.html

Unless you plan to take a taxi from the Florence station to the airport, you should also research the bus schedule. I think there are departures every 30 minutes and the journey takes about 30 minutes, but I'm not sure.

Wow. You all are very experienced travelers and the information is so solid. I had a thought we might need to stay overnight in Florence to be able to catch the flight to US but I didn't know for sure that it only left early in the morning. I had a sense that was true. As far as the whole trip, here are the details. Five couples are attending a wedding in Florence in May. Two couples (my husband and I included) will be going to Cinque Terre first. So it's 3 nights in CT, 4 nights in Florence, then we all move on to Lucca for three nights. After Lucca, two couples (my husband and I included) thought we would go to Siena for three nights and try to make some day trips to hill towns. My husband had a bad driving experience in Sicily so that is why we are researching the trains and buses. I haven't gotten a commitment from the couple about the last leg of our trip. I would really like to see the hill towns (SG, Volterra, Montalcino, Montalpulciano--I know they are hard to get to) and hope we might make day trips from the above mentioned cities. Sienna and Greve/Panzano were places added in the hope we could see as many beautiful Italian villages and hill towns as we could on this trip. If the couple doesn't join us, I could switch the two cities. If the couple joins, they want Siena, and though we spent a day there years ago, I would go back, enjoy the city and try to take those other trips out. If we can't get to Chianti this time, that will be part of a future trip. So many beautiful places to see in Italy. Thanks again for your smart ideas.

Not sure if it meets your budget, but you might consider a private driver to get you from Panzano to Florence airport. You might hire a private driver in any case to get to all those hill towns you hope to visit. A private driver/guide could help you cover more towns in one day. We loved our day with Luca of hillsandroads.com, as have many people on Fodors.

Lucca is an easy day trip from Florence. Is there a reason you are staying there 3 nights? I don't see the point in staying there if you don't have a car to visit other places although there are a few towns you could visit by bus or train.

I would pick Siena as the base over Lucca, but I don't care for Lucca at all. Montalcino is easy to take a day trip from Siena by bus.

With four days in Florence, you can easily book a day tour from Florence to Chianti or San G/Volterra. CAF tours offers quite a few day trips that covers the places you want to see.
http://www.caftours.com/excursion-to...andscapes.html

You can also visit Greve and a few other towns on your own by bus from Florence for a day trip. It's just not easy to go on to Siena from much of Chianti.

If you stay in Siena, you might consider booking a day with Luca of Hills and Roads (lots of positive reviews on this board). You could design your own day. He charges more to pick up in Lucca or Florence. If you went to Panzano from Florence for a night or two, you could probably have him pick you up there for a day to Montepulciano/Pienza/Montalcino and have him drop you in Siena (his home base).
http://www.hillsandroads.com/

There are also lots of tours you can book out of Siena to the wine areas (Montepulciano/Montalcino) or in the other directions to San G./Volterra or Chianti).

There's not much to Panzano, and I definitely wouldn't stay there without a car. Considering all of the other, more interesting places you're trying to see using only public trans, I wouldn't go to Panzano at all. Just my opinion.

And another personal opinion: We found Castellina in Chianti more charming than Greve.

Not much to do in Greve either (unless it during the Chianti festival).

OK, I thought staying in that area for a few days and not doing much but enjoying the beautiful scenery and eating great food (my husband loves to cook, thought about renting an apartment with a kitchen) would be a nice way to end a hectic trip. I hear clearly what you are saying but I'm upset my trip will end after 13 days in Siena. I wanted a bit more and I know the problem is on my end with my husband not willing to drive. Maybe I will. But compromise has to be the name of the game. This will be a great trip, wherever we wind up at the end.

The other point is that I went to ITA Software and there are flights out of Florence that leave later in the day. Of course, they make one stop (or more) and there may be long layovers, but I did see a few in the late afternoon that weren't too bad. The airfares are over a thousand dollars. Do you have any great ideas as to where or how to get anything cheaper?

But I have to think this all through again, especially, about not staying there at all because there isn't much to do. I thought you could walk to the town square, to the shops and to restaurants (I did read that about Panzano, and Greve, too, I thought) and ride your bike (if you could rent one) just locally. Not strenuously up and down hills. Castellina in Chianti?

>>>there are flights out of Florence that leave later in the day. Of course, they make one stop (or more) and there may be long layovers, but I did see a few in the late afternoon that weren't too bad.<<<

Any airfare leaving Florence in the afternoon will mean spending the night in a transit city in Europe which either adds a day to your trip or means you depart a day earlier. The latest flight I saw (at least to my area) that would get you back on the same day left about 7:30 am which would mean you need to be at the airport by 6 am. I wouldn't even attempt that by car from the countryside.

It's not that you can't pick a town somewhere in the country to stay, it's that you picked one particularly hard to reach by public transport. These towns are small so there is typically not much to do. Many you can walk side-to-side in 5 minutes. Most people choose to stay in the countryside (for views of vineyards), but you really need a car to stay in the countryside.

There are a few nice towns on the train line or on better public transport where you could stay or you could go in another direction where there is better transport (towards Rome?).

I met a lady in Orvieto one time that had a flight out of Rome. She was taking an early train (4:30 or so) to Rome (wouldn't arrive until around 6) and taxi to the airport. She had to arrange a taxi to take her from Orvieto down to the train station because the funicular doesn't run that early. There are quite a few flights from Rome that depart around 10 am.

Your other option is to hire a driver to pick you up early and drive you to the airport.