Road Trip in Tuscany - advice please
 

Hi,

My mum and dad are flying into Pisa airport at the end of September, and are then hoping to spend 10 days traveling around by car.

The flight lands around 9pm, so they have chosen to stay in Pisa on the first night. From then, they don't know where to start really!

Some ideas of places they would like to see are Lucca, Cinque Terra, Florence, and then further down the south coast heading towards Grosseto / Orbetello?

Would people advise they choose a couple of "bases", spending 4/5 nights at each and doing day trips? Or moving to new places every couple of nights?

They will then be returning to England from Pisa airport, so will need to end up here again!

Any advice will be appreciated :-)

tinks2111,

It's great that your parents are doing this trip. It would help us also if we knew a bit more information. That way we can give much better advice. Here are some questions that could guide your input to us:

-- Activities: what do your parents like to do when traveling? Do they like hiking, seeing museums, being in natural surroundings, architecture, food, wine/wineries, photography, nightlife, opera, etc.?
-- Accommodations: do they like the 5-star hotel experience, smaller b&b's, boutique hotels?
-- Experience: what is their travel experience in general? In Italy? What type of trip do they most like, or have they most liked in the past? What delights them?
-- Driving: Do they like to drive all day and sightsee along the way? Do they like to drive maximum of 3 hours between locations, and then do 1-hour max. day trips? Have they driven in Italy before? Have they driven in Italian cities before?
-- City vs. rural: Do they like being located in and/or seeing mostly cities or rural environments?
-- Pace: Do they like go, go, go all day? Do they like getting up leisurely in the AM, having coffee, rolling out at around Noon? Is their aim to see as much as possible in a "taste of Tuscany" or do they want to immerse themselves?

As you can see, the answers to these would make for very different vacations and recommendations! And all are valid ways of traveling. In the absence of more info., I would just be making recommendations based on what I like, and that may be the opposite of what would make them happy.

Thanks for any more clarity you can provide. I know you want your parents to have a great vacation.

LisaG

HI there, My suggestion is the program below:

pisa- viareggio(base)-cinque terre
livorno-bolgheri(ornellaia's wine area- and base to baratti -populonia
Grossetto-san galagano-Siena (two days)
Florence ( two days) than pisa to go back in England
hope to be helpful...
Zoe

Hi

Thanks for your replies!

Lisa G, I will answer your questions below:

-- Activities: The enjoy good food, leisurely walks (not really hiking, seeing historic sites, shopping, wine,


-- Accommodations: They are happy in nice B&Bs, and hotels.

-- Experience: They have driven around Italy around 30 years ago, so it has been a while since they have visited! They usually go to America, other parts of Europe. They enjoy being relaxed, having things to see and nice places to go for a meal.

-- Driving: My Dad will be the only driver. I know he would be happy to do a longer stint (eg 3 hours) but not everyday. I think an hour either way each day would be plenty?

-- City vs. rural: I think they would like a mixture of the two

-- Pace: They would get up early if they had a longer trip, however I think they would like a more leisurely holiday. I don't think they want to be 'go go' all the time?

Thank for all your help!!

That should read:
-- Activities: The enjoy good food, leisurely walks (not really hiking) seeing historic sites, shopping, wine,

Hi,

Remember that if your parents don't like to get up early, that a lot of places in Tuscany start to close around 12.30pm-1pm, and stay closed until nearly 4pm.

I don't like to get up early either, so when I do a driving trip in Italy, I like to work my trip so that when I get up in the morning, I have breakfast and then I walk around the town I am in. Then I usually stay for lunch. Then I drive to the next place I am staying, arriving for cocktails, then dinner, then the next morning I have breakfast and then tour town before lunch .... etc. Of course, if a town is fairly large, like Lucca, I stay for more than one night. But I don't use "bases" because it is too much driving back and forth and too many things closed in town in the middle of the day.

Someone mentioned Via Reggio, I went there and spent a day taking the train from Florence which also passes through Lucca. Via Reggio was very nice, on the coast with a small town but not touristy. They had a good market there on the saturday. Do they like opera, Puccini's house in Lucca is well worth a visit, it is now a small museum but has many interesting details of his life? I think two nights for each stop is a good idea, they could do a circle from Pisa and the coast into Lucca, then Florence and on down towards Siena as the last stop and then head straight up to Pisa to fly out. I did this route the last time I was there.

For online research purposes, note that Viareggio one word, not two.

The area around there is quite pretty, so it's a nice place to go.

tinks2111,

Thanks for your additional input to my questions. Given that, I would recommend staying in 3 places and day-tripping from there.

An itinerary that could work is (I've also included some recommendations for places to stay and towns to visit):

Day 1: Arrive Pisa; stay the night
Day 2: Drive to Lucca 1/2 hour after exploring the city of Pisa (stay either in town within the walls, or a nice agriturismo outside of Lucca)
Day 3: Explore Lucca
Day 4: Day trip from Lucca by car (to Viareggio, Forte de Marmi, or the like)
Day 5: Drive to Reggello 1 hr. 15 mins. (stay at Agriturismo Savernano)
Day 6: Train to Florence (easy 25 mins. train and sightsee for the day)
Day 7: Day trip from Reggello by car (to Sienna, Montepulciano, the Chianti towns,
Day 8: Day trip from Reggello (either Florence again or another hill town)
Day 9: Drive to Volterra 1 hr. 40 mins. (stay at an Agriturismo in the area) explore Volterra
Day 10: leave from Pisa (drive from Volterra is 1 hr.) depending on time of flight, could sightsee

This itinerary mixes city and country, has many options for 1-2 hour drives to great towns, and the drives themselves are scenic (if you take the scenic route). There is good shopping in Florence and at The Mall near Reggello. When staying in the countryside, they also have the option of doing a morning walk in the country and still have time for a day-trip. These locations also have great food and wine options.

I hope this helps and gives you a good start!

LisaG

Thanks for all your advice, it is really helpful!!

Could you recommend a good coastal town to be based in, maybe around Piombimo and Populonia? Will restaurants etc be open in the last week of September in these smaller places?

Thanks again