BowenLinda

The earlier message of whether to stay in Castellina or San Gimignano as a Tuscan base meshes with my question: in late Sept. a friend and I are travelling to Paris for six nights, flying Paris to Milan to pick up a car and tour Tuscany for six nights, and then driving to Venice to enjoy five nights there. It is her first trip to Italy and my second, but I have not visited the Tuscan countryside. With our trusty web maps and guide books in hand, and reading messages posted on this site, these towns initially jump out at us: Siena, San Gimignano, Voltera; Massa Marittima, Roccastrada and Grosseto; Montepulciano, Montalcino and Pienza; across the "border" to Orvieto. We understand this is a lot for under a week, and we will be reducing our wish list. Now, as Sherpa Moms with kids ranging from toddlers to teens, we are very easily pleased, but with the info above, especially picking up the car in Milan and dropping it off in Venice, what are the one or two base towns you'd recommend and what suggestions might you have about our choices of towns? (We're giving Florence a miss this trip.) Any comments you offer are much appreciated. Cheers, Linda

BowenLinda

Would love to hear from anyone...

Parker

I think your trip sounds great! Are you planning on staying in town or in a villa nearby? My favorite town is Siena (along with a large % of the population). I also loved Cortona, Radda in Chianti, San Gimi, Montipulciano, and Assisi (Umbria). Didn't get to Orvieto but have heard great things about it.

I have consistantly used Rick Steves' books to help me get a good feeling for the area. He's very easy to read and very funny. I then do research in other publications if I want more info.

If you are ariving early in Milan, go see the Duomo and The Last Supper (you can make reservations ahead of time). Then head down to the town where you're staying.

My main advice: go into this trip knowing you'll go back to Italy. What you miss this trip, you can get excited about seeing next trip!

BowenLinda

Thanks for your thoughts, Parker. I think the plan is to stay inside "cities". Do you have any recommendations for particular ones as bases to do day trips?

swalter518

Sounds like a great trip. My Tuscan favorites are, in this order, Siena, Montelpulciano, Montelcino, San G. May want to stay in or near Siena as it is central with Montelpulciano, Pienza and Montelcino being east and the others west. There is also more going on at night in Siena with it being a bigger town/city than the others.

bobthenavigator

Hello Linda, How can I resist such an articulate plea. So many good options !
The real question is 2 locations or one--I think we will opt for 2. First, let's go to south Tuscany for 4 nites.
Look at my trip report on slowtrav.com for 2 other good options in that region, and then look at this one that is well located: www.palazzodelcapitano.com That will give you a good base for most of your hit list--you can figure out day trips from there. I would forget Grosetto. OK--now let's go to Umbria.
With 6 days I would include the heart of Umbria, and then let you drive north to Venice via north Umbria and Ravenna. I would stay in Assisi at the Hotel Umbra--charming small place in the heart of town. Or, look at Palazzo Bocci in Spello just south of there. I feel 2 nites in adequate here. You can read and figure it out, but you girls are not allowed to shop for ceramics in Deruta. From near Perugia look at the big road north[E45] that takes you to Ravenna. You can be there before lunch, see the fabulous mosaics, and be in Venice an hour later.
The drive to south Tuscany will be 5 hours from Malpensa or Linate. See if you can fly into either Pisa or Florence to save you driving time.

Hope this helps !

BowenLinda

Great information, everyone, thanks very much. Bob, yes, flying into Pisa or Florence would be preferable but I can't find a discount airline that flies from Paris to either.. I'll keep searching. Thanks again. Cheers, Linda

Parker

If I were going to stay in one town, I'd stay in Siena. If I were going to stay in two, I'd pick Radda and Siena. They are not physically too far apart, but the terrain is very different. In Radda, I'd recommend Hotel Palazzo Leopoldo. I haven't stayed in Siena nor have I scoped out hotels there but there seem to be several nice ones.

We stayed twice near Siena for a week each time (another trip to Lucca but with no car). Every day, we'd head out to a different town, sometimes hitting two in one day. Every one of the towns have their own ambiance, such as different color stones for the buildings.

This past trip, our third to Tuscany, we went to Cortona for the first time. When we got there, we wondered "why haven't we been here before?" It was wonderful. But the next town we went to, Montepulciano, we exclaimed the same thing! You really can't go wrong going to any of the towns if your goal is to see something new, explore, and marvel in the wonders of Tuscany!!

BowenLinda

Parker, great suggestions that I'll suss out. However I think you're right that no matter which town we pick from everyone's list, we will be happy. Thanks again, Linda

jgita

Sounds like fun!
Going along with Bob's idea, you could drive from Umbria to Venice via Ferrara or Modena... Just a little different experience, a little more from the foodie perspective. I have heard that Ravenna is quite crowded. On some sites the hotel remind me of Daytona Beach @ spring break. Anyway, keep up the good work and you'll end up in Italy which is wonderful just about anywhere.
j

Sally

We went to Ravenna in September, and it was anything but crowded. It is much less of a tourist spot than th e other places on your list. The mosaics were spectacular- four or five churches.

Looking at Rick Steves's Italy would be very helpful for you.

I would not use Siena as a base because it is full of traffic and easy to get lost in. Any of the small towns would probably work better for a base because you could quickly drive in and out of them.

Assisi can be very crowded, and it might be wise to check their website to make sure you don't go there on a holiday. We have been there a couple of times when it was so crowded that we could not find a parking place .

BowenLinda

Great info, thanks everyone, I've got more research to do! Linda

JBX

Happened upon a website which may assist you in your trip to Tuscan region --- http://www.tuscanydirect.it

JBX

Here's that link to other thread of several weeks ago asking about whether to base in San Gimignano or Castellina ... http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34471671