All
Need your suggestions

My familys is making our first trip to italy. since my son is only a year old, whe have decided that we will stay in the tuscany area and drive around with a rental car. We are leaving anything with long lines and ticket issues as he tends to get impatient standing in a place for more than a few minutes!
I have booked my flight tickets May 2 arriving in FLR and Leaving FLR(Florence) on May 9th @7:15 in the morning.

We have 7 nights and the flight leaves really early in the morning so we have to be close to our airport by the 7th night.

We want to see the following places(if possible)
i) Pisa(just the tower only)
ii)Florence (if the museums does not allow booking tickets online we will skip it and just get a feel for florence)
ii)Chianti Area
iii) San Gimignano
iv) Voltera
v) Siena
vi) Pienza, Montepulciano and Montelcino
vii) i heard the sunset in cortona is pretty good. if it is really great then we will try to fit it in.

We will rent a car and a cell phone. Does the GPS system work well in Italy? if so, we will get that as well.

We are looking to get an aprtment with a kitchen so we can prepare my son's meals before we leave for the day. Budget is around 200E a day. Would be willing to spend just a little more if the place is special.

Now comes the hard part. Choosing a base.
Is it advisable based on the above places, to choose one base? if so which area would be suitable.

We have an option(availability) that is very close to florence (15KM) Relais Villa L'Olma which can be closer to Florence,Pisa,Chianti and San G areas but Montepulciano and Montelcina are like 2 hrs away.

We have option in Montepulciano as well, Now this becomes way too long for florence, pisa and May be chianti.

In this case would you split this in to two bases? If so how what is the general recommendation on splitting?

My main interest is photography. (ofcourse i want to taste the food and the wine as well). So would be interested in capturing the sunrises/sets/valleys/sun flower fields etc.

Looks like the more research i do, the more confused i become because of the many many options available.

I know you guys can help. Please do.

Hi,

You are absolutely right about picking a home base and doing day trips out from there. It will be much easier on your son if he has the same surroundings, the same bed and can have a routine. He won't remember the trip, but you will have the experience and can take him back when he's older. International travel changes a child and widens their horizons and perspectives. It makes them warriors and good travelers and makes a real difference in their life. It will serve him well for the rest of his life.

Stay in the Montepulciano and Montelcino areas - there are lots of lovely, small, family-run inns and they will give you lovely recommendations. You might want to check into staying in a farmhouse or agriturismo. You can make day trips from this area.

At the end of your trip, after 5 nights, head north in your car and stay for a night in Pisa. Then, head back to Florence for your flight and sightseeing. Pick an airport hotel and return your car on the previous night - take a taxi to the airport or take the hotel shuttle. Keep the driving parts of your trip short and make sure your little one can keep a regular schedule with naps, snacks, his favorite toys from home.

Do check that you have seat assignments before you head to the airport.

Have a great day!
Julia

For what you want to see it's best to split your stay in two/ Begin in southern Tuscany and finish in the north.
You are biting off quite a lot for 7 nights.
I'd skip Pisa. I realize that EVERONE wants to see it,but it's going to take up a half of one day for a photo-op.
Save it for when you return and your son is old enough to enjoy (take him Callodi that day as well).
If you rent a car from Florence. Drive to the Val D'Orcia area and stay there.
Lots of options.
I think staying in one of the towns would be ideal to maximize your evenings.
Stay there May 2-4.

May 5.Leave early and drive to Chianti and stay there. You could stop in Siena .


May 6: Florence-The only reason I choose this day for Florence is that it's a Sunday. I can't recall what Sunday is like in Florence for shops (I believe most are open in the afternoon),but this is a good day to see David and Uffizi. You can get reservations for both.

May 7 and 8: stay at the Relais Villa L'Olma.
We've stayed as far as Greve and had no problen getting to our 7:00am flight.

By the way, the best plan would be to turn the car in and atay in Florence your last free day .
If San Gim and Volterra ared "wide-open on Sundays,I'd amend my recommendation.
I also did not intend for you to stay in Florence in my last post.
I think you should stay in Chianti at least two nights. I probably would stay all four there (Greve) and get up early my last day.
You may feel more comfortable staying at Relais Villa L'Olma the last one or two nights (I hate staying less than two nights).
Realizing that you might want an "apartment"makes my plan more difficult,but it's still doable. I know a couple places in Chianti that are B&B's that have at least one apartment type accomodations. I believe there's one in Montalcino as well.

Given your list, I'd suggest a location near Siena as your 7 night stay. That'll bring you within easy range of everywhere except vi) and vii). Regarding the latter, I try not to drive after dark in Italy. (Pienza and Siena are about an hour apart.)

In my early days of planning i was hoping to stay in florence the last night which can still be an option if that will work out.


Reason for aprtment is we are 3 adults + 1 baby.
B&B if they could let us use the kitchen.


Is it safe to assume that staying at Relais villa l'olmo for all the trip might be difficult in visitn all the places mentioned?

We have an option south of siena, San Lorenzo Linari. I am not sure how this place is.

And Near San Gimignano, Podere Casanuova and Villa Borghi. Not sure how these places are.

Can i ask one more question on the places i am mentioning, Are these good ones?

I overlooked your need to depart early from Florence. Therefore I suggest looking for a single 7 night stay proximate to the airport. I'd drop Pienza, et al and Cortona. You could add Lucca. All the other locations are close and you'll have plenty of 'good ones' from there - no need to move to another spot.

I am thinking of spending the first 3 nights at the Lucignanello Bandini.

We will visit the Montalcino,Montepulciano,Pienza and cortona from here.

Has anyone stayed here or have inputs on this? Is this too remote to stay?
Any good restaurants?

Also, Does the CAR GPS work well in Italy?

Looks like a nice place. It's near Buonconvento which is good for Montalcino,Montepulciano and Pienza .It's a bit far (probably 1 hour 15 minutes or so)for Cortona,but doable.