Tuscany without a car?
 

Can anyone give me any hints/suggestions on how to get around Tuscany without a car? Is it even feasible?

The train service is excellent between the towns and most also have bus service so you should have no problem getting around. If you look the websites up for the towns you can usually look at their bus schedule. The train schedule is on www.fs-on-line.com. Marilyn

I do not agree. The trains are fine for the major cities such as Siena,Lucca, or Pisa but the majority of my favorite hill towns have no train service. I strongly suggest a car to visit the best villages such as Volterra, San Gimignano, Montalcino, Pienza etc. There is local bus service to all of these, but you are captive to the bus schedule. Drivng is easy and the best way to see Tuscany.

BOB; driving is NOT easier for everyone. Many people prefer working around train and bus schedules and dealing with those hassles rather than dealing with the hassles of driving, navigating, parking, and renting a car.<BR>Public transport is certainly doable in this area and actually more enjoyable for some of us. There are VERY few places you cannot get to by bus and you meet the locals too.

Tuscany without a car is only possible when you stay in one of the bigger towns and you want to visit other bigger towns. And bus service is often not available on Sundays! <BR>If you want to see the small towns you will need a car. Driving is no big deal in Tuscany and there's more than enough parking possibility outside the city walls. With a car you're free to stop whenever you want, wherever you want to fully enjoy the beautiful landscapes underway. For me personally a car is an absolute MUST.

It is feasible, if not ideal. Let's face it - some folks are just not going to rent a car. Now maybe somebody can suggest a good line up of towns to see via public transportation

Yes it is possible, I did it in 2001. Yes, it is nice to have a car, but some us do not feel comfortable driving. Besides a bus ride in the country is quite enjoyable, you get to ride with the locals, see everything without having to worry if you are on the right road or not and it's very relaxing. I visited Civita from Orvieta and San Gimignano from Siena. Could have seen more, but unfortunately ran out of time. Get a good bus schedule and you will do just fine.

You can get by without a car if that is your preference. Try to track down as many bus schedules on the internet as you can (it helps to know the name of the bus company). While bus service is often reduced on Sundays, you can always reserve Sundays for the larger cities such as Florence, Siena, Lucca and Arezzo. A car is certaintly helpful in the Chianti Region, and some smaller villages and castles are not reachable by public transportation; nevertheless, you can see quite a bit by relying on trains and buses.

The point is that Tuscany is a large area with very little populations and many centers of great interest. It is certainsly possibile to visit _some_ of these by train or bus, but still you will end up losing at least half of what there is to see. Many villages have no bus service, if there is any it will take you hours to get there because the service is not planned so that timetables work together, for instance in order to get to Casole d'Elsa you may have to take a bus to Poggibonsi, stay in poggibonsi for one hour or so, than take another bus to Casole d'Elsa. Travelling by bus ou can't plan to spend the night in ONE location and daytrip, you will have to find new accomodations often in order to use to the best advantage the bus services. On the whole Tuscany is hardly doable by public transportation, much better to rent a car. Besides, the &quot;hassles&quot; Ginger talks aboput are mainly present in the major cities and towns and inexistant in most villages (except for the few tourist traps such as San Gimignano).

Suggest we move on - the poster doesn't plan to rent a car and needs help to plan a trip around public transportation. I expect there are many other folks out there faced with the same situation. Instead of saying, it can't be done - let's see some suggested combination of towns to maximize the experience given the situation.

How can we move on? The poster doesn't even mention where she'll be based!<BR>

Hello Anne,<BR><BR>It's probably best if you tell us which towns you'd like to visit, then we can suggest your options by bus/train.<BR><BR>If you plan on staying in Siena, for example, the following site gives you bus routes from there:<BR>www.turismoverde.com<BR><BR>Bus company sites like Lazzi and Sita list their routes:<BR>www.lazzi.it/autolinee/index.htm<BR>www.sita-on-line.it<BR><BR>I have others for various towns. Where do you plan to visit?<BR><BR>Steve

Driving in Tuscany is not to bad I would drive around Tuscany again.Very pretty there and you are not limited on where to go.Also I would skip Pisa not much there and dirty.Forget driving in the city.

topping to see how we're doing on this topic.

It would be very nice to drive in Tuscany or Umbria and everyone say not to drive in Florence and Rome but where do you pick up a car then? <BR><BR>Is there someplace on the outskirts of town so you don't have to battle the horrendous traffic?