I am looking for advise on a home base while I am in Tuscany for 4-5 days this summer. My preference are to visit Florence, Siena and I would like to join some tours of wine country. I would like to stay in a town some where in-between my preferences that has restaurants, shops etc. within walking distance of my accommodations.

Can you suggest a town along with accomadations in the center of town, we will have a car.

Thanks!

Lucca is a nice town with walls around it that is not too big, and easy to walk in.

It's easy to get to Florence from there by train. Don't drive there because you can't drive into the city center without a permir and parking is hard to find.

It's a little further to get to Siena, etc. though. Does someone else have better ideas here?

I would recommend heading to www.sowtrav.com as they have a tonne of recommendations for Tuscany...its a great resource!

Sorry, thats www.slowtrav.com

I would stay in one of the Chiantishire towns. You will be between Florence and Siena, with bus service to each and close to many vineyards that offer tours. Greve has many restaurants, Castellina is very nice also.

Kat,

Are you going to rent a car? I sounds like you don't want one. If that is the case, I would stay in Siena. Travel is easy by bus to Florence. You could also easily join a wine tasting tour to Chianti from Siena too.

Large enough town to provide lots of strolling, restaurants and shops plus its own sights.

If you are willing to rent a car, I would stay in Chianti - its pretty central to places and activities you want.

One of the rightly popular areas of Tuscany is the Chianti Classico wine zone between Florence and Siena. If you will have a car, are you sure you want to stay in the centre of town? Parking and limited traffic zones are a problem but more positively why stay in town when you could be up in the hills at an agriturismo with your own pool? In any case, Greve in Chianti http://www.greve-in-chianti.com offers places to stay in town and out, and is right in the centre of wine country. You wouldn't even need to join a tour - just walk into any of the many wineries that offer tastings. Or stay at a winery!

Hi

My wife and I stayed near Castellina in Chianti. You can read more about our stay in my trip report http://gardkarlsen.com/tuscany_italy_travelogue.htm

Regards
Gard
http://gardkarlsen.com - trip reports and pictures