wellison

Hi All;

My wife and I are planning our first trip to Tuscany for the fall of 2008, late Sept early Oct. We are seasoned travelers in our late 50's.

I am looking for "big picture" comments at this time.

General plan:
3 nights Florence, 2 nights Cinque terre, 7 nights central Tuscany in a farmhouse, 3 nights Rome.

Transportation: Fly into Florence, train to C.T. Via Pisa (reasonable?), train back to Pisa, rent car for time in central Tuscany, train from southern Tuscany to Rome, fly out of Rome.

Specific questions: Schedule about right?, Where to stay in central Tuscany, are the trains I want available and reasonably convienent?. I am thinking of the Siena area for the week stay.

I have not yet planned the details of the week in Tuscany, but generally plan on following Fodor's "Great Itenerary". Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks much
Wayne

Betsy

Looks good! A variation might be to take the train from CT back through Florence to Chiusi and pick up your car there. Spend a delightful week in southern Tuscany, drop off your car in Orvieto and spend a couple of nights there, then train on into Rome.

meo

We picked up our rental car in Florence and essentially drove the same itinerary you are proposing. It worked out great - we also stopped in Lucca for the better part of the day on our way to C.T. and absolutley loved it - I would recommend adding it to your itinerary. I don't know about the trains other than when we did the hike in C.T., we took the train back to Monterossa al Mare when we were done. One recomendation I would make is that for whatever towns you go to, get a map in advance, especailly if you are driving. We relied on some hand-drawn maps in a travel book and couldn't get our bearings in places like Siena. If you like ceramics, be sure to stop for an hour or two in Deruta on your way to Rome...unbelievable handpainted pieces. It's fun to see the artists painting the pieces in their shops.

Sounds like a great trip!

Henry

wellison,
Your plan looks good. See http://www.trenitalia.com/en/index.html to check your train connections. If you e-mail me I will send you ideas for Tuscany. It is too long to post.

Henry

Marko

Totally concur with the map suggestion, Siena in particular is easy to drive into and find where you are going..BUT.. getting out is a real pain, the signs are dreadfull ! Regarding the CT, where do you intend to stay ? May I suggest Portovenere.

zooey1118

i am heading out this friday for my second trip to italy. spending 7 nights at a villa near san gimignano & siena.

http://www.initaly.com/agri2/borghetto/borghetto.htm

i'll be sure and post a trip report when i get back.

wellison

Thank you all for your responses.

The reason for taking the train to C.T. via Pisa, is to (hopefully) store luggage in a locker at the airport, then rent a car for use in Tuscany on our return. Dropping the car off in Orvieto (thanks Betsy)looks workable.

Anybody used lockers at Pisa airport? Are they accessable without an airline ticket for Pisa? An alternative would be lockers at La Spezia.

Wayne

Dayle

Hi Wayne,

I think your itinerary looks pretty good, but my main question is: Is this your first trip to all of Italy? Have you been to any of these destinations before?

If not, I would consider skipping the Cinque Terre this time around and adding those 2 days to Rome. 3 days is a good start, but not nearly enough! Also, I liked the Ligurian Coast enough that our 3 days there was not enough. Would have loved at least 1 more day!

If you are training through Pisa (the city, not the airport stop), there is a left luggage office at the train station. We left our luggage for a 3 hour stop over on the way to CT in order to see the Tower and Duomo. Time frame was just about right.

Hard to choose a location in Tuscany. It's all wonderful! Once we stayed in Chianti and loved it, but found the driving back and forth from day trips to be a little time consuming on the windy roads.

Just my 2 cents. Buon viaggio!

bobthenavigator

Good start !
Look at flying direct to Pisa on Delta 4 days per week. Do CT and Tuscany first--drop car and do Florence and Rome last. There are more flights into Pisa then Florence, but most connet via a Euro gateway city.

wellison

Thanks "bobthenavagator", Doing C.T. and Tuscany by flying into Pisa, makes good sense. I can take the hidh speed train from Florence to Rome at the end!

Thanks for the suggestion.

Wayne