We are spending 10 days in tuscany at the end of June. Seven of these days will be at a vineyard in chianti. We fly into and out of Pisa. We are planning the last two days in Lucca, as we both very much want to explore it and it is close to Pisa for our am departure. Any suggestions on where to dine and must sees in or near Lucca? <BR><BR>Also, we are arriving around 3:00 pm and need to stay at a hotel for the first night, any suggestions on a place that is within 15-20 minutes of the Pisa airport? We will have a car. I have checked the charming tuscany sight for smaller hotels, but was curious if anyone has a good recommendation, budget is not a big concern for this one. <BR><BR>We plan on making our way to Radda in Chianti by 4:00 pm the next day to get to our villa. I would love to hear about great restaurants, vineyards, shopping excursions any of you have had in the area. Thanks!

ttt

I stayed in a farmhouse near Gaoli in Chianti and I would recommend the restaurant at Bada a Coultibuno, the vineyard and olive grove owned by Lorenza de Medici. There is also a lovely restaurant for lunch in Monteriggioni. Other than Bada a Coultibuno,which I had read about in advance we just tended to just discover lovely little restaurants in different towns as we drove around the different towns. My travelling companion didn't want to have too much planned and it was fun to stumble upon lovely little places. We also did not dine out every night as I love to cook and I loved going to markets in different towns and buying fresh ingredients to make dinner. Nothing beats hand made fresh gnocchi from an Italian housewife. Yum.

Jad, the airport in Pisa is very close to the city centre. Since you'll be visiting the city anyway, you should consider staying there the first night. I'd recommend the Royal Victoria hotel, on the Arno. Of course, the car won't serve you there. A taxi to the hotel is very cheap, fast and convenient. Thus, if you haven't settled your car rental deal yet, ypu should pick it up downtown the next day. This way you'd save a day's worth of rental cost and the airport surchange over the whole rental deal, which by no means is cheap! Even if you've already settled the car rental, I'd still consider staying in Pisa the first night. In case, the Royal Victoria has a private garage but it'll cost you some (and driving through the narrow alleys to get to the garage entrance on the back of the hotel is pretty weird

Thanks for all the good. I'd be interested in hearing more about the Royal Victoria hotel, cost, cleanliness, hospitality, etc. It would be nice not to have to deal with a rental car right after 15 hours of travel!

I'd stay there again without a doubt. If it's hot when you get there, you'll like the windows open since there's no a/c (though the thick walls and high ceilings make the building very fresh). In this case you may consider taking a room in the back (even though in so doing you'd loose the river view). <BR><BR>Below are the URLs of some past threads on the subject:<BR><BR>http://www.fodors.com/forums/pgMessages.jsp?fid=2&tid=1302654<BR>http://www.fodors.com/forums/pgMessages.jsp?fid=2&tid=1366083<BR>http://www.fodors.com/forums/pgMessages.jsp?fid=2&tid=1345506<BR>http://www.fodors.com/forums/pgMessa...=2&tid=1322282

Oops ... The current rate for a double is approx. Euro 100 and reservations may be done on line<BR>http://www.royalvictoriahotel.it/index.html

No luck on the Royal Victoria, allbooked for that night. There is availability at the Grand Hotel Duomo, I am concerned because it is right in the city center and while I have stayed in the centro storico inFlorence, I have no idea what it is like in Pisa, nor this hotel. Is there anyone who has stayed there? I also did a search onthe charming tuscany site and there is availability at a couple places within 20 km from the airport - Calamidoro Hotel, Hotel CLub Pini has anyone ever been to either of these? Thank you!