Tuscany in May for 6 adults
 

We are planning a week long trip to Italy in May and want to stay in the Tuscany area. Does anyone have a recommendation for a place to stay that would house the 6 of us? We are looking to rent a place. We would love to know what you think are the best ways to spend our week mixing tourism and relaxation.

There are dozens of good reviews on slowtrav.com, but first I would get a good guide book on Tuscany---and a good map---and decide where you want to locate Tuscany is quite large 2 hour drives to places of interest are not uncommon. You will thank me later if you end up at your desired location.

Look for apartments and villas at sleepinitaly.com, VRBO.com, or rentvillas.com. The last one is an American agency that has lots of larger, more upscale accommodations. VRBO means vacation rental by owner, so you don't deal with an agency. But all three sources are excellent.

Arezzo is a wonderful small city for a week, far less touristy than most Tuscan cities like Florence or Cortona, and full of lovely old architecture. It's also the home of some famous Piero della Francesca frescoes. You can base yourselves there and then get an easy train to Florence (45mins) or a bus to Siena (90mins) if you want to get out of town for a while, or hire a car and explore the dozens of charming little towns nearby eg Cortona, Poppi, Anghiari. Try www.arezzotuscanapartments.com/ for information on where to stay - if you contact them they will help you find somewhere suitable either in or out of the city. Their website has some lovely photos of the city to give you an idea of what it looks like.

Thanks for your tips and web sites. The trip has 8 people now going and we think we would like to rent a villa in Florence close to rail transportation. Can you give me any additional information for a nice place to rent in Florence.

If you're looking for a guide for day trips in Tuscan, check with Luca at hillsandroads.com. We've used him, and others on this forum have, too. Excellent guide, very friendly and reliable, speaks excellent English. He lives in Siena and knows that city, as well.

We (there were 7 of us)stayed between Panzano and Greve and found it to be an ideal base for visiting Florence, Siena, San Gimignano and other towns in the area. We were close to lots of good restaurants and not far at all from several vinneyards where we took tours. We rented a wonderful farmhouse but there are numerous inns and apartments in the area. You can find lots of ideas on this forum.

I've recommended them several times here: florencevillas.com

These are nice people that I used to do some independent writing for several years ago. They have a good selection of properties, are based locally, and very helpful. A locally based company can be great, because when something goes wrong in a rental, it is great to have someone nearby to take your call.

They also do a great cooking class called Good Tastes of Tuscany.

Try Tuscanynow.com. We stayed at La Casa Rossa two years ago in Sept and it was magnificent. From the back yard overlooking the pool, you could see the outline of the towers of San Gim in the distance. We were party of 5 and had a couple of bedrooms to spare. All the furnishings were great and made us feel at home. There was daily cleaning and the ladies would cook dinner for you if desired which of course we had to try out one night - what a meal! The villa was only a couple of miles from the train station so we could take the train for day trips or take the car where the train didn't go. Hope your stay is as good as ours was.

We used www.villavacations.com We found them to be very professional. Even if you don't use them, on their site under useful links, is a lot of good information. I think www.parkervillas.com is another respected company.