People that have traveled to Tuscany:

[eb777888]

Where did you stay? What's a good central location? We're looking at about a 10 day stay next summer. I want to wine taste for my 40th! I want to see as much as possible, but want to move hotels as little as possible. We have only ever been to Rome, we have seen nothing else in Italy. I have no idea where to even start. Where's the best place to stay to be central to everything?

I need some input. 

[eb777888]

Aug 18, 2016 19:07:17 GMT -5 @beagle said:

I'm going to Tuscany in October. Florence is a good central location to start.

Oh, cool! What do you guys have planned?

[cuccaro]

Florence would definitely be my choice. It's so walkable and has amazing food. From there we did a wine tour of the Chianti region of Tuscany and also a day trip to Lucca.

[eb777888]

Aug 18, 2016 19:21:03 GMT -5 HRH Queen Dick I, Orphan said:

Stay in Florence or Siena. Go to Lucca, San Gimignano, Pisa.

Are these day trips or do we have to change hotels? I think I'm okay with changing hotels one time. 

[eb777888]

Aug 18, 2016 19:22:05 GMT -5 HRH Queen Dick I, Orphan said:

I got crapped on by a bird in San G. Very lucky.

Hahaha. 

I did, too. In Riverside, California when I was in fifth grade. Not nearly as romantic as your story, but still. 

[memenee]

Very jealous. This is going to be an amazing trip for you! Ditto previous posters who suggest Lucca, Siena, Pisa, Florence...we loved them all!

[milosh]

We stayed at a small resort in a small town called San Vincenzo. We got a groupon for it, so it was super cheap and the food was so so delicious. There wasn't too much around the resort but the ocean views were amazing. We took a train ride to Pisa one day and walked around town quite a bit. Absolutely no one spoke any English but people were very kind and we seemed to get around ok. I would suggest registering for groupon in a town or city close to where you want to be. The deal was amazing, I would totally do it again.

[ProfessorArtNerd]

There's so much art and architecture there. You should probably hire a personal art historian

[eb777888]

Is it possible to see almost everything in 10 days and only switch hotels once? I guess that's my question. I'm not sure how big the area is.

When we did our trip last month, we tried to see too much and it was just TOO MUCH traveling. I want to avoid that. Especially considering all of the wine I'm planning on consuming. :-)

[eb777888]

Aug 18, 2016 19:45:18 GMT -5 ProfessorArtNerd said:

There's so much art and architecture there. You should probably hire a personal art historian

I really don't see any other solution.

[eb777888]

Aug 18, 2016 19:48:02 GMT -5 carmenere said:

We did 4 days in San Gimignano and 6 days in Florence on our honeymoon.

San Gimignano was absolutely beautiful and we spent most of our time there just relaxing, eating/drinking wine and exploring the town. We also took a wine tasting day trip and an afternoon trip to see some local towns and a castle.

All our days in Florence were packed with museums, shopping, and eating. It was awesome. I know another couple who rented an apartment and a car in Florence and took day trips all over Tuscany from there.

This sounds wonderful!!! Wine, shopping, museums, eating?? Yes, please!!!

[Aloe Vera]

---

Stay in Florence. Siena and Pisa are close (1-2 hours by car) and Bologna too.
Take side roads too. THat's what we did when we drove from Bologna to Florence. The scenery was breathtaking. 

[winnied]

We stayed at an Airbnb in Colle Val D'Elsa. It was cheap and tons of room. An hour from Florence and a little over an hour from Montalcino. We did stay at a different Airbnb for Florence, just because we spent a few days there.

PM me if you want the Airbnb listings for either. I would highly recommend them both, especially the one in the Tuscan countryside.

[kangaroo11]

We did a wine and bike tour listed in Rick Steves book. It was a good combo of drinking and seeing beautiful countryside. Stay in Florence and you can rent s car or take trains to other cities. One of our fave hill towns is Cortona (famous for Under the Tuscan Sun), but it's still amazing.

[eb777888]

Aug 18, 2016 20:07:10 GMT -5 HRH Queen Dick I, Orphan said:

Parlate Italiano? E utile conoscere un po'della lingua quando si viagga nel paese.

Que?


Guess I need to brush up on my Italian. 

[ProfessorArtNerd]

Aug 18, 2016 19:47:17 GMT -5 eb777888 said:

Aug 18, 2016 19:45:18 GMT -5 ProfessorArtNerd said:

There's so much art and architecture there. You should probably hire a personal art historian

I really don't see any other solution.

One day, someone is going to take me up on this offer. Some day!

[bananapancakes]

It's a little bit out of the way (and maybe not even in Tuscany anymore?) but I can't recommend the Cinque Terre region enough. I absolutely adore that place. It was breathtakingly beautiful and I had the best mojito of my life at a little restaurant in one of the villages there. The bartender went out to the garden to get fresh mint leaves to make it. It was amazing!

[eb777888]

Aug 18, 2016 20:17:10 GMT -5 bananapancakes said:

It's a little bit out of the way (and maybe not even in Tuscany anymore?) but I can't recommend the Cinque Terre region enough. I absolutely adore that place. It was breathtakingly beautiful and I had the best mojito of my life at a little restaurant in one of the villages there. The bartender went out to the garden to get fresh mint leaves to make it. It was amazing!

This sounds lovely! H love mojitos. 

[clseale]

Aug 18, 2016 19:42:51 GMT -5 HRH Queen Dick I, Orphan said:

No my other post was a lie.

Montalcino, Montepulciano and San G are day trips from Siena.

Pisa and Lucca are day trips from Florence.

I don't know about the first two, but you weren't wrong about San G. We rented a car and day tripped from Florence. We had lunch & a wine tasting at a family farm across a valley from it and then explored the city. It was only a 45 min drive or so. 

[eb777888]

I pinned it on my pinterest board! Thanks bananapancakes . It looks incredibly beautiful!

[cville]

Florence is my favorite city on earth.

[MrsPotatohead]

I was just there! For 10 days I would do half in the countryside and half in Florence. We stayed at The Renaissance Tuscany, a resort in the middle of beautiful nowhere, easy day trips to pisa or lucca, wineries, cheese farms etc. We did an airbnb in the middle of Florence which was awesome because you basically walk everywhere (DO NOT DRIVE INTO THE CITY, HUGE FINES!!! we made that mistake...). I have more recs if you want

[bananapancakes]

Aug 18, 2016 20:18:25 GMT -5 eb777888 said:

Aug 18, 2016 20:17:10 GMT -5 bananapancakes said:

It's a little bit out of the way (and maybe not even in Tuscany anymore?) but I can't recommend the Cinque Terre region enough. I absolutely adore that place. It was breathtakingly beautiful and I had the best mojito of my life at a little restaurant in one of the villages there. The bartender went out to the garden to get fresh mint leaves to make it. It was amazing!

This sounds lovely! H love mojitos. 

Just look at that. Isn't it amazing! We stayed in La Spezia and then did a combination of hiking and taking the train between villages, returning to our hotel at night. We also visited Rome, Florence, and Pisa and I know it was a couple hour train ride away from one of those destinations but I honestly don't remember just how far or where we were coming from/going when we stayed there. It's totally worth looking into though. 

[Elsa]

Stay in a hotel with meeeeee. I wanna come!!!!

[eb777888]

Aug 18, 2016 20:26:01 GMT -5 bananapancakes said:

Aug 18, 2016 20:18:25 GMT -5 eb777888 said:

This sounds lovely! H love mojitos. 

Just look at that. Isn't it amazing! We stayed in La Spezia and then did a combination of hiking and taking the train between villages, returning to our hotel at night. We also visited Rome, Florence, and Pisa and I know it was a couple hour train ride away from one of those destinations but I honestly don't remember just how far or where we were coming from/going when we stayed there. It's totally worth looking into though. 

This is what I pinned. It really is beautiful!

[eb777888]

Aug 18, 2016 20:30:53 GMT -5 Elsa said:

Stay in a hotel with meeeeee. I wanna come!!!!

You are so petite and will fold beautifully into my carry on!

[ProfessorArtNerd]

Aug 18, 2016 20:30:53 GMT -5 Elsa said:

Stay in a hotel with meeeeee. I wanna come!!!!

Get in line, lipstick girl!

[chicago]

A split between Florence and the wine region would be amazing. We stayed at a little 16th century villa in Montepulciano called Villa Cicolina. I dream about it still. It is straight out of a fairy tale with lavender growing in the garden, a pool with the most gorgeous hillside views, fresh croissants and jam in the morning, and amazing "surprise" dinners. Rent a car and drive all over - Montalcino for Brunello, Perugia in the Umbria region. Siena and San Gimignano. You'll have an amazing time.

[eb777888]

Aug 18, 2016 20:26:01 GMT -5 MrsPotatohead said:

I was just there! For 10 days I would do half in the countryside and half in Florence. We stayed at The Renaissance Tuscany, a resort in the middle of beautiful nowhere, easy day trips to pisa or lucca, wineries, cheese farms etc. We did an airbnb in the middle of Florence which was awesome because you basically walk everywhere (DO NOT DRIVE INTO THE CITY, HUGE FINES!!! we made that mistake...). I have more recs if you want

Why the countryside? Is there wine and good food there? lol. :-) 

So did you stay at only The Renaissance and do all of your traveling from there? I would honestly happily sit on a train for 2 hours a day, or even an uber, to stay in one hotel. 

[eb777888]

Aug 18, 2016 20:39:36 GMT -5 chicago said:

A split between Florence and the wine region would be amazing. We stayed at a little 16th century villa in Montepulciano called Villa Cicolina. I dream about it still. It is straight out of a fairy tale with lavender growing in the garden, a pool with the most gorgeous hillside views, fresh croissants and jam in the morning, and amazing "surprise" dinners. Rent a car and drive all over - Montalcino for Brunello, Perugia in the Umbria region. Siena and San Gimignano. You'll have an amazing time.

I looked at villas and was really confident we could afford it. Nope...Like, we would have to have three families pitch in to afford it, lol. The cheapest were $2K a night! Are there villa hotels? Because I would want to do that. We can't afford to rent out an entire villa, though.