We are thinking of booking a hotel in one city in Tuscany for 4-5 nights to enable us to see the Tuscany region and Cinque Terra without having to move hotels every night. Any suggestions on what city/town to plant ourselves in?

Also, what Tuscan cities are a must see? Thanks.

Hi janstan, what are your interest and what do you and your family enjoy while travelling? Assume you will have a rental car or will you be travelling basically by train?

Actually, we are renting a car. We would like to see some of the smaller Tuscan towns, but also Florence and Siena.

The heart of Tuscany would be the Val d'Orcia, which is about an hour south of Siena. Some of the gems there are Montalcino, Pienza and Montepulciano (amongst others).

Pick that region - or Siena itself - for your base. You can easily reach Florence, but the Cinque Terre is too far from anywhere in Tuscany (except Lucca) for a daytrip.

I agree with Tuck--you cannot do it all from one location. Given 6 nites you could do most of Tuscany from 2 locations.

Don't miss San Giamagno- another beautiful walled city not far from Siena

We just stayed in a wonderful castle outside of Pienza that I read about on this forum, and my whole family agrees they would like to go back there and use it as a base for exploring Tuscany. It's Agriturismo Castello La Grancia
Phone 39 0578 748158 Fax 39 0578 748158 Mobile 39 328 4163045 Email: <[email protected]>
www.agriturismocastellolagrancia.com
It wasn't expensive, but it was charming and comfortable with a great breakfast. They only speak Italian but were very friendly and easy to communicate with using gestures. We loved it there!

We stayed in Montepulciano this past April at a resort called Sant Antonio. The villa was in such a beautiful setting and the owner, Nico, was great. We had a 2-bedroom with a kitchen, dining room, fire place, etc. From there, we made day trips to Orvieto, Pienza, San Gimi, Siena, etc. Really liked Pienza. HTH