Train/Car in Tuscany
 

Hello! My finance and I are traveling to Italy for a month on our honeymoon. We are flying into Milan and staying in the Lake District for four nights. Next we plan to head to Tuscany to stay for a week. We want to stay in a central location, a small town, Florence or Sienna and then take day trips to the surrounding areas. We are debating where to stay and how to get around. Neither one of us can drive a manual car, so the price of renting an automatic is somewhat spendy (we are medical students!), however, I have heard that public transportation in this region can be limiting. We are looking for a fairly affordable, romantic bed and breakfast that is located within walking distance of a town center.

Thank you so much for your help!!

kangahop - you http://www.residenzacasanuova.itcould easily stay in Florence for all of your week and take as many day-trips by public transport as you might wish - the bus to Siena and San Gimignano, the train to Pisa, Lucca, Bologna - for starters. you could also take the bus up to Fiesole for half a day/the evening.

if you wanted to see some of the countryside, a day's tour with a company like Hills and Roads might fit the bill :

With that and exploring Florence itself, you'd wish you had longer.

as for where to stay, I stayed here for only 3 nights, but i liked it a lot:

http://www.residenzacasanuova.it

the rooms are lovely, [some with terraces or there is a communal terrace which was very nice] in-room free minibars, elegant public rooms, and a reasonable breakfast. Though it's only about 10-15 mins walk to the Duomo, it is also in a most interesting area [near the Santa Croce market] full of locals going about their daily business.

The only drawback is that if you want to do lots of day trips, it's a bus ride or quite a hike to and from the station, so something closer might be more convenient.

oops - how did that happen? just ignore the first rogue link.

>>> Lake District for four nights<<<

What does this mean? What lake? If you went somewhere like Como, you would use the boats to travel around the lake area.

>>> We are looking for a fairly affordable<<

Affordable can mean anything. You need to state a budget. There's no point in someone suggesting something affordable to them if it's entirely different from your view of affordable.

annhig: You neglected to mention the most important bus trip of all: the excursion bus from Florence to the designer outlets at The Mall near Montevarchi -- source of many memorable purchases from Armani, Zegna and Gucci back when I was retired but doing consulting work and felt rich (even if I actually wasn't)

tedgale - THAT bus never even occurred to me. I'd have to be in Florence for a lounge time before i went there, but that may just be me.

I also have no idea what "affordable" means to you, but another suggestion for Florence is la Casa dei Tintori, a lovely B&B near Santa Croce in Florence (which is not a small town IMHO but a great base). It's on a street that used to be where the dyers were located, and the rooms of the B&B are romantic. The owners are delightful and helpful.

Yes, it would be nice to have a car to drive through Tuscany, but you can have a great, romantic time staying in places like Florence and Siena even if you do not take day trips.