We will be in Florence in March for 3 days & we would like to do some wine tasting in the Tuscan countryside. I am having a problem figuring out how to do this though. I have found plenty of wineries but how do we get there? We won't have a car. The tours I have looked into are more than we wanted to spend & looking @ the Florence bus schedules (via the website) is like trying to read Latin! I assume that taking a cab would be pretty expensive too?

Is there any way to do this? Is there a bus route that go to/by/close to any wineries?

Thanks for any help!

Hi!

We hired Luca Garrapa of Hillsandroads.com to take us back and forth to some winetastings while we were in Chianti. He is a lot cheaper than most of the other tour guides, and was very charming and lots of fun. He is based in Siena, but also drove us from Chianti to Florence, so I don't think there'd be a problem to pick you up at your Florence hotel for the day. We were charged $35/hour for the four of us, but half-day tours may be somewhat cheaper? Anyway, I highly recommend him! If you have trouble getting to his website, just post again, and I'll search my files for his information.

So you don't have a car and want a cheap way to wander the Tuscan countryside, stopping in little wineries along the way. That sounds pretty tough. Antinori has a great place in downtown Florence, or you could hop on a bus for Greve or another of the larger Tuscan towns. But wandering the countryside without a car? Hiring a guide to arrange reservations (this isn't like Napa) and drive you would be the only choice. If that's too expensive, you're probably stuck rolling down your window on a bus trip.

I just got a quote from a driver recommended on this website several times. Quote waws 170 Euro for the day of touring Tuscany. His email address, if you'd like it, is [email protected]. I might mention that this quote is also during peak season, so perhaps March may be a little less expensive. I hope this helps! Have fun!

I just wanted to mention that I was also in touch with Alex Cammilli when we were first looking for private tours of Chianti. He was unavailable, but from his e-mails sounded like a very nice (and reasonable) tour guide.

Good luck, and have a great time!

Hi all!

Thanks for the great ideas.

bobludlow, is there a bus that goes to Greve? That would be perfect because I know of a winery there. I just can't make heads or tails of the Florence transportation website. I hope I don't seem daft %)

Weadles & nbbrown, these are great deals & the added touch of a private driver that is familar with the area & it's history would be well worth the price. All the wine tours I had been looking @ wanted around 120E per person so this really does seem reasonable.

I was able to find Hillsandroads.com no problem, thank you Weadles.

One more ? Anyone know what a r/t bus ticket to Siena from Florence costs?

Thanks all!

LL - The tour company CAF Tours has a Chianti tour for € 39 pp.

http://www.caftours.com/en/regtoursac.htm

Hope this helps ...

Steve

P.S Here's the link for the Sita bus timetable to Greve from Florence:

http://www.sita-on-line.it/SITA-Tosc.../Vpesa/345.pdf

Hope this helps ...

Steve

Hi Lisa,

>... looking @ the Florence bus schedules (via the website) is like trying to read Latin! <

Actually, it is Italian if you are at http://www.sita-on-line.it/

To navigate, click "entra" (enter)
Click Toscana (Tuscany)
Click Orari (schedule)
Click the first Zone - CHIANTI E VAL DI PESA
Look for the town you want. If it is not there, go back and click the next Zone.

Route 345 takes you to Greve
Route 350 takes you to Siena

It costs 13E RT Florence/Siena.
I guess that RT Florence/Greve would be about 10E.

A very good map, bus routes and schedules for the city of Florence and vicinity is at http://www.ataf.net/Default_EN.asp

Enjoy your visit.

Spectacular advice, Steve and Ira! I never thought Italy would be posting bus schedules online. I usually waste my first morning in Italy checking local travel schedules. Thanks for the time-saver!

We were in Florence last March and did a day long winery tour with "Tuscan Trails". Great time! The tour picks you up in the city, we visited 3 wineries and had a fabulous lunch in the countryside.

http://www.tuscantrails.com/

LisaLou632,

For the sake of comparison, I thought you should know that the price of the winetastings is not included in the prices quoted by local drivers. My husband and I paid between $30-50 for several winetastings in Chianti.

Ahh, so much good information that my mind is swimming in it right now

This is what I think I have decided to do. Let me know what you think.

We had wanted to try & do a day trip to Siena from Florence as well so Hillsandroads.com fits perfectly into my plan.

Trenitalia has 5,50E tickets to Siena. This way we can kill two birds with one stone.

We would take an 8:00 train to Siena & meet up w/ Luca (or another driver) around 10:00. I figure we could probably get in 2-3 wineries in about 4 hrs? After he brings us back, we have until 9:00 to explore Siena & catch the last train back to Florence.

I figured this would cost:

11E r/t train ticket
approx 120E + tip 5E for Driver
another 20E pp for wine tasting & whatever we spend for dinner in Siena

So, being there are 3 of us I'd guess it's about a 100E for each of us and that is not bad at all for some much fun in one day.

What do y'all think?

Lisa~

It's a bit inconvenient from Florence, but you could take the train to Chiusi and then a bus to Montepulciano (total travel time about 2 hours each way) if you want to tour the wineries that make Vino Nobile. You could probably do the same for Montalcino and the Brunello wineries. In MP, for instance, you can go into many of the wineries' wine cellars, and there are many scattered around town. Cantina Gattavecchi, in the south end of town, literally underneath the Santa Maria dei Servi church, was my favorite. Going to the wineries in MP or MC, you won't see the vines and are unlikely to see the processing, but you will probably see the cellars, the tasting room, and the gift shop (ahem).

Also, I recently read a book by Dario Castagno, called "Too Much Tuscan Sun" (the title is obviously a parody of Frances Mayes' book "Under The Tuscan Sun&quot. Dario is a tourguide in the Chianti area, and his company is called Chianti Rooster Tours. The premise of the book is just recalling some of his memorable and less-than-memorable clients, but it's great advertising for his tour company too. I think the book was published in early 2004 and was available at Barnes & Noble.

I think your plan sounds like a good one. If you decide to use Luca, please say hello from Wendy and Ken.

We really enjoyed our time with him, and found him to be a very intelligent and personable guide.

Just so you know, I did check into some of the other tour companies mentioned, but they were more money than we wanted to spend.

Good luck, and have a wonderful time!

Something else to keep in mind-- winetasting reservations typically have to be made in advance. And most of the winetastings that we attended didn't start until at least 11AM.

Thanks again to all who helped me out! Weadles, we did call Luca & have scheduled a half day trip with him. We are going to take the train to Siena & he will meet us at the station. I'll be sure to remember to tell him hello from you

We told him to go ahead & pick some wineries for us since I haven't had the time to look into too many of them & I trust his judgement. I think because he will be choosing & may have a rapport with the winery, he told us the wine tasteing fees were inclusive!

So this turned out to be a very affordable, convenient way to do this & I thank you again Weadles. I'll be sure to report back about our wine tasting experience.

Steve & ira, thanks for all the links. And ira, the Sita site was very helpful. The other link you gave me for bus shedules, maps etc in Florence WAS the one I couldn't make sense of. Go figure

Lisa~

Lisalou632,

Please report back on how it goes! I'd love to hear about the wineries you visited. Have a great time!

Lisalou-

We will be in Florence in May 2005 and just decided today to book a full day tour with Luca and hillandroads.com (at the suggestions of this site)
He sounds very informative and affordable. He also included the winetasting in our price. Please post about your experiences when you get back.

Thanks,
Kleinjk

We hired a private driver to take us to the Chianti region. Rebecca showed us the whole region with its towns and countryside and she also took us to 3 wineries, 2 of which she knew had free wine tastings. Her fee was very reasonable (25E an hour) and all in all we only had expenses for lunch - and a couple of bottles of wine to take home! So, very recommendable experience. If anyone is interested, her email is [email protected].