My husband and I along with another couple are planning a trip to Tuscany in May, 2012. We went to several towns/cities in Tuscany on day trips from Florence a few years ago (Florence was our base). This time we are looking to stay in the "definitive" Tuscan area for about 8 to 9 days and do day trips. Our friends have not been to Tuscany and we would certainly like to go back to some of the beautiful places we've been, i.e., Siena, Lucca, Cinque Terre, San Gimignano, etc. though we'd like to check out other towns as well. Of course, we will have a car.

We would rent a villa (just for the 4 of us) or stay in a comfortable hotel where we could sit and relax in a shared space. We are looking for more upscale accommodations.

Any suggestions for town/city, villa or hotel???

Thanks.

If you want to go somewhere away from the tourists and very "Tuscan", you should try Orvieto. Just check out google images of it, that will do better than any explanation i could give

Look at the options at www.lafoce.com We stayed there with a group and loved it.

I rented a villa using the services of Letizia Abruzini from Vilas and Apartments Abroad ([email protected], 212-213-6435). She was great and knew every single property.

Get a good guide book on Tuscany and decide what you most want to see and base your location on that. Tuscany is quite large and you cannot see it all from one location. I prefer the region of Siena Province. Buy TOP 10 TUSCANY for a start.

Ditto bobthenavigator's comments.

And I don't mean to be nit-picky, but Orvieto is technically in Umbria. It's a great town, but, if you meant to drive to Lucca and the CT, you'd be hours away in Orvieto.

We like Chianti because of its central location. We have stayed in two different villas - one between Greve and Panzano and one near San Gimignano. Both afforded easy access to the towns you mentioned. And both are near enough that a day trip to Florence is easy, too.

I agree with the www.lafoce.com suggestion made by Judy, it is one of the most beautiful spots in Tuscany, in fact it is the Val d'Orcia. You can rent comfortable two bedroomed apartments, and they prepare dinner on 3 nights a week.
If you want to be in the Chianti area, so further north, I recommend http://www.trustandtravel.com/en/tus...etrafitta.html.
Good for you planning so far ahead!

brbarlow145 - you are aware the Orvieto is in Umbria, not Tuscany?