Longed for trip to Tuscany

jinnyj

New member
Firstly - what a gem of a website & forum I seem to have stumbled across!

I spent a hugely enjoyable 3 week tour of Italy as a 16 year old on a school trip and always promised to take my Mum there on her own (my father refuses to do Italy as he doesn't like pasta!!!) I was hoping for a trip to Tuscany in the middle of May but sadly it is now going to have to be pushed back to end of June or even July so someone can come and look after him. First question - how much are the prices going to be hiked up by then?

I would like to start in Tuscany taking in Florence, San Gim etc. before ending up in Rome with possibly time for some painting along the route. I don't really want to hire a car particularly but could for part of the time. My mum has arthritis so long days doing tours are out but she would love to soak up the atmosphere and I am keen to show her things I so loved all those years ago.

So any suggestions? Accomodation looks daunting! I would rather do traditional (B&B etc) rather than huge impersonal hotel. I don't want to do the package tour thing as she would hate being ordered around on a coach! And is it possible to fly to say Florence from UK and back to UK from Rome?
 
Hi Jinnyi,
I can understand your feeling towards Tuscany! :eek:
I live in Tuscany and sometimes I feel like a tourist: watching amazing sunsets, taking pics everywhere, breath peaceful atmosphere, enjoy Tuscan food...

Don't worry for the prices, they usually increase a bit from now to June/July, the higher prices ever are during August when everybody in Italy are on holiday! And according to me May and June are the best months to visit Tuscany for the lovely temperature and the amazing colours of Tuscan countryside! Even July is not bad but it could be very hot!
I can suggest you to stay right in the middle of Tuscany from where you can easily move almost everywhere in Tuscany!
For example take a look on Certaldo (Florence): it's a small village with a wonderful medieval borgo on top of hill: Certaldo Alto ... amazing! It's a quiet place, few tourists, almost only citizens, to enjoy the real Tuscan life: old ladies chatting, cats taking sun, red flowers on doorsteps.... like a dream!
A nice B&B in Certaldo: hotelcertaldo.it read also something about it on tripadvisor! They also can organise everything for you: daily trips, food, good recomandations etc...
From Certaldo you can easily reach by train Florence, Siena, Pisa and only few minutes by car the next San Gimignano, Volterra, Monteriggioni and lots of other enchanting Tuscan borgos!

I think no problem for your trips by plane ... I'm sure you'll enjoy once again your holiday in Tuscany!
 
Ciao Jinny!

So glad you enjoy the website and forum! We hope we can be of help in planning such a wonderful vacation with your mum.... and tell your father he can certainly avoid pasta in Italy! In Tuscany he can count and enjoy the famous Florentine t-bone steak, the ribollita, the pappa al pomodoro, the cinghiale (wild boar) and much much more. Does he like pizza? :) If he still refuses, I am sure you'll have a great girls trip with your mum :D

You definitely can do Italy without a set tour and without getting a car. Florence is well connected to Rome with high speed trains (or slower ones if you aren't in a hurry) and you can get to Siena by bus (the SITA one drops you off closer to the center since the train station is a little further away). You can also take a bus to San Gimignano.

Prices do tend to rise a little during the summer but not extremely. Prices are generally higher along the seacoast since so many Italians head there for the summer. While July will be high season, there won't be that much difference in cost in terms of accommodation since the whole June-August is high season.

You don't say how long you have - a week? One of the easiest solutions would be to set up a base in Florence since from there trains go pretty much everywhere around the region. You could take a day trip to Pisa and Lucca, another to Siena, another to San Gimignano. Another day to Arezzo and so on. You definitely don't want to fit in too much every day, head in a different direction and just spend as long as you want at each place.

There are lots of B&Bs in Florence - take a look at this page that lists many charming B&Bs in Florence
and look at the various websites - there are many types for every budget.

As for airfare, there is always the possibility of flying "open jaw" which is what you're describing - flying into one city and out of another. Depending on where you are in the UK, you could look into what Ryanair offers - I know they are very basic but they do fly into the Pisa airport (which is just 1 hour train ride from Florence - you could start your Tuscan vacation by spending the first day there) and they also fly out of Rome Ciampino airport. It'll just likely be cheaper than with the traditional companies which will charge more for using this "open jaw" option.

Hope we've provided some useful tips - feel free to post any other questions you might have and we hope to offer some more help! :)
 
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