If we are to stay for 3-4 days in Tuscany and to visit cute towns around ( including the base town) what would be your recommendation?

In addition to a base town, can you, please, recommend the accommodation there as well (or good web pages)?

We have found this web site very informative.

http://www.nautilus-mp.com/tuscany/indexing.html

The choice is huge! I just spent a month there reviewing hotels for a guide, and came back with a hundred and one recommendations...

In southern Tuscany my favourite would be Podere Dionora, a simply beautiful guesthouse outside the lovely lively hilltown of Montepulciano. A cheaper option is Villa i Bossi outside Arezzo, a semi-aristocratic manor but with very friendly owners offering B&B.

If you want to be in a town (though assuming you have a hirecar I would always go for country living!) then try the Palazzo Alexander in Lucca.

You can read my reviews of all these places on

http://www.i-escape.com/country_summ...?country=Italy

Hope this helps.
Michael

We like Southern Tuscany best and have stayed twice in the Pienza area which provides lots of opportunity for day-tripping. Stayed right in town at Il Chiostro and more recently outside of town in the lovely La Saracina--see my recent post entitled something like "For those who can't get enough of Italy" this place was fabulous.

Erik, you say we. How many is we? I prefer renting apartments in Tuscany so that we can settle in and feel like we are at home. I highly recommend Sant' Antonio, outside of Montepulciano. Lovely grounds, pool, in the midst of vineyards, historical buidlings (8th century monastery), charming host, etc. If you go to my webpage and navigate to Italy 2001 and 2003 you will find information and pictures. As far as where to visit hill towns, there are so many and they all offer something special. You need to select one part of Tuscany--southern, the Chianti, etc and then select some towns around there. You can only see a small part in 3-4 days. If you base in Montepulciano (my favorite base), you can visit Montalcino, Pienza, Orvieto, Cortono,Arezzo and many more. You would just need to read and decide ahead of time which ones. If you base in the Chianti, then Castellini is a great base. There I recommend Colle Lungo. You could go to many charming, delightful villages from there--Radda, Greve, etc. Sienna is an easy day trip from there. Your choices are endless. You need to get a book about Tuscany and then start narrowing down the area. My website has restaurant recommendations in both years. Hope it helps. http://www.janeandken.com

I'd like to thank everyone for their kind responses. I will check all the web-sites and accommodations you have suggested.

Jane: I have truly enjoyed your website. Specially the section about traveling with kids. We will be traveling as 2 adults + 4.5 year-old + grandma (60+). Indeed, we will be looking into apartments - just in case we have a bad weather problem, little one would have more space to roam around. We are looking into spending a week in Sardinia after Tuscany. A bit of relaxation before Florence-Rome sightseeing. It seems most people were fond of southern Tuscany. With only few days in mind, I guess, we will stay south then.

I just need to find out if I can get the rented car on a ferry to Sardinia and where does the ferry depart from.