What to do? Where to go? Need a car? 5/4 Days in Tuscany.. help!!

CaroMR

New member
Hello All!

I will go to Tuscany from Rome in a 4/5 trip as well, in september.

For now, I'll go by train.. no car in my plans.. YET..
I've been in Florence before but since this time I'm going with my sister an it is her first time I will go to Florence again.

The questions are.. do I need to rent a car if I want to see a little more like the villages and the wineries or I can go somewhere else (not in a tour if possible since I'm not fan of tours)

Where should I stay? Firenze? or better in Siena?
What would be a nice itinerary?
Maybe I can be 1 day in Florence, 1 day go by train to Siena and what about the other 2 days? Chianti? Valdorcia? how do I move around? should I stay in Firenze or should I better stay in Siena or any other place in case I want to rent a car for the third day? To be honest I prefer not to rent a car so I won't have to drive and can do some wine tasting ;) but I don't know if I better should rent it.. what do you think?

Thanks!
 
Ciao CaroMR,

You can definitely use public transportation as your sole means of transport, just know that it will limit some areas you can visit... because, to be honest, bus schedules most often are pretty bad at making them work around sightseeing!

This is the case for CHIANTI and the VAL D'ORCIA - trains go along the perimeter of the main areas and buses into and around are pretty limited. When you have 4 days, you can't really waste it on waiting for buses or planning your travel around them. So, long answer, if you want to see the villages, wineries you have two options: car rental or tour group.

Day tours I think would work out really well for the limited days you have: some of the most common will likely be larger groups but they are still pretty good deals as well - you can do all the wine tastings without worrying about driving! :)

Here are some that revolve around wine tastings - if you stay in Florence, all of them depart from here: http://www.partner.viator.com/en/8357/travel-tips/Wine-Tasting-in-Chianti-and-Tuscany/ttd
and some for sightseeing in Tuscany in general.

If you stay in Siena, you have these other tours you could do:
http://www.partner.viator.com/en/8357/travel-tips/Tours-in-Siena-and-from-Siena/ttd

You could divide up your days and do 2 in Florence and 2 in Siena, saving one to see the cities and the other day for a day trip out. I think in this way you would have the best of each place and still see a good amount of Tuscany - I'd do the wine tours myself ;-)
 
Thank you for your info Lourdes!

So, I already booked in Firenze so that will be my base, they tours can be an option even though I'm not a fan of following around one group .. what do you think about renting one car in the morning and returning it at night? will that be an option too?

Thanks!
 
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