kleinjk

Will be 3 days in Florence in May 05...My husband and I want to do a day trip. I have been doing some research and we are considering San Gimignano and Siena...OR a visit to some wineries on the Chianti Road.
What does everyone think?
Would love your thoughts and recommendations.
Thanks.

PS...Considered renting a car..but now think we will do a bus trip.

Paci

We just got back from Florence (Rome & Venice, too). Spent a total of 4 full days in Florence with a side trip to San Gimignano, Siena and a drive through the Chianti region with a stop at the Rocca delle Macie winery in Castellina. We did hire a private guide and driver to do this so as to maximize our time and be able to stop and do what we wanted. It was wonderful but I will tell you that I would have liked more time in each place. We left at 9:30 a.m. and returned to Florence around 6:30 p.m. with a short stop at Piazzale Michaelangelo on the way home. San Gimignano can be seen in a fairly short period of time. It is a little touristy but we still found it charming. Siena is much larger and you may want to spend more time there depending on your interests (1/2 day). They are all close to each other and it is definately possible to see all three places. We took the major freeway there (to San Gimignano first) and took a scenic drive home through the Chianti region. I know this is a rather decadent way of doing things but it was a very special occasion for us and it was well worth the expense. We used Vatican Tours out of Rome to book this tour but I know that there are many reliable tour companies available. I know many others have taken a bus to Siena but I do not know how easy a bus would be if you want to visit other places as well. Enjoy your trip and definitely try to see the Tuscan countryside. It is so beautiful!

ira

Hi K,

Siena makes a very good daytrip by bus. The Enoteca is a good way to sample wines of the region. See
http://www.emmeti.it/Arte/Toscana/Pr...edicea.uk.html

It will be hard to visit wineries without a car.

kleinjk

Paci,
We are thinking about hiring a private driver for our tour into Tuscany. What company did you use and how did you find him?
Thanks.

mgfit

We just took day trips by train to San Giminagno and Lucca from Florence. I have posted a trip review...do a seach with wedding/honeymoon trip review and it should come up.

I would do it on your own by train. It was easy to do. Take the train to Poggiobonsi and hop the bus there for San G. We preferred San G to Lucca. I would not recommend getting a car for this...driving in Florence was crazy. We only did that once on our first trip to Italy and we WON'T do that again!

Paci

kleinjk: Sorry for not responding sooner. We used Vatican Tours through our travel agent in Chicago. The name of the man in charge is Peter Zalewski and their number in Italy is 39-06-636984. Their fax number is 39-06-6896519 and their e-mail is vaticantoursinc.com. We used this company for a full tour in Rome, a half day tour in Florence, a full day in Tuscany and a half day in Venice. With the exception of our guide, Johnny, (for Tuscany) who I would not recommend, every other tour was wonderful. (All were private) All the other guides were incredibly knowledgeable, funny and interesting. However, our driver for Tuscany, whose name was Alberto, was fantastic. He was responsible for most of what we saw and knew the region quite well. We opted for a driver so we could stop and do whatever, whenever, and not be tied to a bus schedule. We were really happy that we did this and have friends who are now in Italy who have opted to do exactly the same thing. It is difficult to see the Chianti region without a car and we are very much into wine so that was a priority. Hope this helps.

iamq

In a previous post there was mention of Accidental Tourist who run day trips out of Flornece. They have a wine tasting/cooking class that sounds like a lot of fun. accidentaltourist.com
-Bill

erin_rob

i'm the one who posted about the Accidental Tourist. we just did a tour with them a few weeks ago. it was a full day and we were picked up at Piazza Demidoff right in Florence. the morning consisted of a winery tour and tasting. the afternoon was a fantastic cooking class followed by a huge delicious meal. the guide was great, the group was about 10 people, and the price was E80 each. it was a well worth the money.

i think it may be hard to rent a car and do a winery tour yourselves. the driving can be rough, and i don't think there are enough road sings. it could be tough finding your way.

i have also been to Siena on a previous trip so i would say that is also a fantastic day trip. Either one is a good choice.

MonicaRichards

We just got back from Italy and I much preferred Voltera to San Gimiagno. They're very similar but Voltera is much less touristed (although it's still set up for tourists). In San Gimiagno all we saw were American tourists and in Volterra we were the only ones (lots of British and German tourists there). I also liked Lucca a lot, but we went with our kids and they've got a really good playground with a carousel near one of the city gates so that probably influenced my opinion of the place.

buongiorno

I would second Paci's recommendation of Vatican Tours. We used them and they were fantastic and reasonably priced. The actual name of the company is Vatican Tours & Beyond and they have a website you can visit.
http://www.vaticantoursandbeyond.com

Paci

Kleinjk: Buongiorno is also correct. Both web sites will get you to exactly the same place. At first, I thought it might be two separate companies because all my info just said Vatican Tours but they are one and the same.

Paci

Kleinjk:

P.S. If you go on their website, you will see that they offer wine tours and cooking classes, not just site seeing tours. Good luck and enjoy.

kleinjk

Hi all,
Thanks for the great feedback...I just emailed Vatican tours and hope to hear back from them soon.

Paci or anyone else....one question....since we only have one day for a side trip...would you recommend by passing San Gimignano and just focusing on Siena and the Chianti Road?? We also are into wine and are very excited to see some wineries.

Please advise.
Thanks.
K

Paci

Kleinjk:

If you really want to explore in greater detail (and I wish I had the time), I would probably now consider spending more time in Siena. I, personally, could have spent 3-4 hours in Siena and been happy. I think many on this site will say you should spend much more time than that - it's a very personal thing. Having said that, you can also see some of the Chianti region, like Castellina, for example. They have a great winery there, DelleRoccaMacie, where we did our tour and tasting. It was great. Ate fresh figs right off the tree (but maybe you shouldn't tell the owners that - our driver gave them to us -ha). Doing San Gimignano, Siena and Chianti was really pushing it, but we did get a decent "flavor" for the towns and anyway, we are planning a trip again next September for the Amalfi Coast and Tuscany when we will be spending more time in the region.

dcd

Paci, We're thinking of hiring a private driver to take us from Rome to Florence via a private tour of Tuscany hitting the spots you visited. One of the companies we're looking at is Vatican Tours. In one of your earlier posts, you said you had Johnny for Tuscany and were disappointed, but you then said you had Alberto for that trip and were very pleased. So I'm confused. Who should we request/avoid for the Tuscany drive?

Also, did you consider other private tours and if so which ones and how did you select Vatican Tours?

Thanx!

dcd

kleinjk

DCD:
I just got an email back from Vatican Tours where they quoted a price which includes both a tour guide and a driver at the same time. I think Paci liked the driver but not the Tuscany tour guide. I emailed back inquiring if we could just get the private driver and not necessarily the tour guide.

Paci

dcd: We hired Vatican Tours through our travel agent in Chicago. Vatican Tours provides both a driver and a tour guide together so that the guide does not have to worry about driving while guiding. (Hope that makes sense). The quote will be for both the driver and guide combined. If you hire just a driver, like we did for transportation from the Rome airport to our hotel or from Venice to a resort that we stayed at (L'Albereta, between Verona and Milan), he will just drive, not guide, and chances are, he will not speak English. We got lucky when we hired a guide for Florence only in that our driver, Alberto, spoke English (he used to work for Avis Rent-a-Car in Italy) and he was very knowledgeable about Tuscany. Usually, the driver drives and has nothing to do with guiding but our guide was not very good for Tuscany and the driver just kind of took over. When booking Vatican Tours, if you make it clear what you want, they will certainly accommodate you. I hope I made this clear. One more example, in Rome, we had booked a full day tour. For this tour, we had a driver, who just drove, and a guide who got out with us and showed us the various sites, etc. In this way, the driver just pulls over, lets us out and waits until we have finished our site-seeing. It was wonderful. I think our driver in Florence, who was only supposed to drive, realized that something was not right with our guide and just kind of took over- lucky for us. I never looked into other tour companies because this is who our travel agent has worked with for a number of years and has been very happy with them. You will really only require a driver when the city is more spread out, like Rome, or if you visit the Tuscan countryside. In Florence and Venice, we had only guides and we did a walking tour of both cities.

Paci

kleinjk: See my reply to dcd. If you want a tour guide for Tuscany, you will get both a driver and guide so the guide does not have to worry about parking, etc., but can concentrate on spending time with you showing you the various sites. However, if you do not require a guide but only want someone to drive you from place to place, just request a driver, but one who speaks English.

Paci

dcd: I just re-read my post and if I wasn't clear, avoid Johnny, the guide for Tuscany, and see if you can get a different guide. However, Alberto, our driver for Tuscany, was fabulous, but basically, he is only supposed to drive. In summation, see if you can get Alberto to drive and a different guide to show you the sites and then you will have the best of both worlds.

dcd

Paci,

Thanx so much for the clarification. I had no idea the private tours provide both a driver and a guide. That probably explains the difference in pricing among the various companies I have contacted.

dcd