Tuscany day trips
 

We will be at the Florence Hilton for six nights in October, and would like to plan to see the city as well as the countryside.
Does anyone have any ideas (time-wise) on how to see what Florence has to offer, and maybe take a day trip or two, including dinner in a local town? We would be taking trains.

Hi Suzanne - Florence is a very walkable city if you want to plan your own sightseeing with a guidebook.

If you prefer organised excursions, CAF Tours and SITA offer guided tours of the city - as well as excursions, e.g to Siena/ S. Gimignano, Pisa, Lucca, Chiantishire, Assisi ... etc

http://www.caftours.com/index.htm

http://www.sita-on-line.it/CentralSI...IT.htm#offerte

Otherwise all these places can be reached by bus or train.
www.trenitalia.com

Hope this helps ...

Steve

We found this company (and it has also been recommended on this site a couple of times) and we're planning a at least one day trip with them for our trip in October.

www.accidentaltourist.com

Pisa is a very easy day trip with lots of direct trains. Sienna is also pretty easy by train but involves switching trains.
Fiesole is basically a suburb of Florence and can be reached by bus.

You will find many other threads with ideas on how to structure sight-seeing in Florence. Fortunately as others have mentioned it is a relatively small and walkable city. I would say climbing the dome of the cathedral is a must and would highly recommend reading Brunelleschi's Dome by Ross King

Siena is easier by bus. The Florence bus terminal is across the street from the main train station, and the bus drops you off in the middle of Siena -- unlike the train which leaves you outside the walls, needing a taxi.

Another nice town for a day-trip is Lucca. You can walk around the walls or rent a bike.

But to really see the Tuscan countryside, basing yourself outside Florence with a car works best.

Thanks for all your great posts. So with six nights, how best to divide up our visit? For example, how many days best spent walking around Florence? How many day trips?

Dividing your time depends on your personal interests. You could easily spend all six days seeing the sights of Florence. There's that much to see.

I would definitely plan one day-trip and have plans in mind for a second day-trip. You may fall in love with Florence and not want to leave for the second trip or the weather may not cooperate.

Steve James has provided some valuable links for your planning.

I highly recommend Siena and San Gim which can be seen in one day by organized tour, but the timing of the tour means you'd be back in Florence for dinner. (You could separate from the group after the walking tour of Siena, have dinner and then travel from Siena to Florence on your own by bus. Just make sure you tell the tour guide so that he/she won't wait/look for you.)

You can briefly visit Lucca and Pisa in a long day by train, but this would not be fun in the rain. If you want to climb the Leaning Tower, you should make reservations in advance and would lose your money if you didn't go. Not a lot of money, so you might want to gamble on good weather.

Some people love Lucca, but we've been there twice and it just didn't click with us. My choice would be Pisa in the morning and lunch, return to Florence and bus to Fiesole for the afternoon and dinner.

Check out viator.com.

I took their Pisa and San Gimignano/Siena day tours.

The second was a pretty good deal.

Liked Pisa, esp. the cathedral but going all the way out there, it would have been nice to combine with a stop in Lucca.

Thanks, Jean. Also Scrb: I think the San Gimignano/Siena day tour looks great. Might do that.
Thanks to all! You guys/girls are great!

Also let the weather guide your plans. If it's rainy (god forbid), do museums; if it's sunny, take a daytrip out of the city.

Personally I'd spend 3 days in Florence; then move somewhere in the Tuscan countryside (Siena?) and rent a car for 3 days.

Mimar: Good plan, but unfortunately, not an option. We paid for the hotel with frequent stay (Hilton) points. So we're kind of limited to day trips.