Tuscany + Rome - 9 nights - Itinerary help

[mohit145]

Hello,

I am new to the forum and plan to visit Italy next month. I need your help in finalizing my itinerary which looks like the following at the moment:

18th June 2014 - Wed - Arrival at Rome 19:05

19th June - Thu - Rome. Overnight Rome.

20th June - Fri - Rome. Overnight Rome.

21st June - Sat - Rome to Florence. Overnight Florence.

22nd June - Sun - Florence. Overnight Florence.

23rd June - Florence to Siena. Overnight Siena.

24th June - Siena to Pisa to Lucca. Overnight Lucca.

25th June - Lucca to Pienza. Overnight Pienza.

26th June - Overnight Pienza.

27th June - Pienza to Rome. Late night flight back home.


I want to cover the following places and need your suggestions to plan / edit accordingly:

1. Leaning tower of Pisa
2. San Gimignano
3. Monteriggioni
4. Montalcino
5. Vinci
6. Chianti
7. Cinque Terre
8. Cortona

It will be my first visit and I want to make the most of it. Please guide.

Thank you.

[Lourdes]

Ciao!

Will you rent a car to move around? Let's assume you do have one which will make moving around easier and faster.

Even with a car, you're trying to do too much - you won't be visit every place on your list. This is what I'd recommend for the part in Tuscany ( 2 full days in Rome are fine).

6/21 - Florence
6/22 - Florence
6/23 - Siena - drive down to Siena through Chianti so you can DRIVE through Chianti. Don't make more than 1 stop, if you want to arrive and see Siena....
6/24 - PISA instead of Lucca - visit Monteriggioni and San Gimignano along the way to Pisa. Spend the rest of the day in Pisa.
6/25 - LUCCA/PIENZA - you could head north to Lucca and spend the morning there.... and then drive back down to southern Tuscany. That way you can stop in Montalcino in the afternoon, ending up in Pienza for the night.
6/26 - visit MONTEPULCIANO in the morning, then head down to Rome.

I've managed to fit in everything except for Vinci, CT and Cortona but they are the ones most out of the way as you move around... if you had at least 2 more days, you could fit in CT. Distances in Italy seem "short" but roads are 2 lanes and curvy over hills, so you don't drive fast on them. Each place has a lot of things to see... so this is really already a full itinerary, you actually could use a whole day just for Chianti and another full day for Siena, so trying to do both on the same day is already a lot!

In Italy, you will make the most of everything you see if you take your time to see each place and enjoy it - eat gelato, eat full meals and "trattoria" and restaurants which are part of the experience as well!

If you weren't thinking of driving.... then lots of places are off the itinerary, including Chianti, Montalcino, Pienza.... so do tell me you're thinking of driving!

[mohit145]

Ciao!

Will you rent a car to move around? Let's assume you do have one which will make moving around easier and faster.

Even with a car, you're trying to do too much - you won't be visit every place on your list. This is what I'd recommend for the part in Tuscany ( 2 full days in Rome are fine).

6/21 - Florence
6/22 - Florence
6/23 - Siena - drive down to Siena through Chianti so you can DRIVE through Chianti. Don't make more than 1 stop, if you want to arrive and see Siena....
6/24 - PISA instead of Lucca - visit Monteriggioni and San Gimignano along the way to Pisa. Spend the rest of the day in Pisa.
6/25 - LUCCA/PIENZA - you could head north to Lucca and spend the morning there.... and then drive back down to southern Tuscany. That way you can stop in Montalcino in the afternoon, ending up in Pienza for the night.
6/26 - visit MONTEPULCIANO in the morning, then head down to Rome.

I've managed to fit in everything except for Vinci, CT and Cortona but they are the ones most out of the way as you move around... if you had at least 2 more days, you could fit in CT. Distances in Italy seem "short" but roads are 2 lanes and curvy over hills, so you don't drive fast on them. Each place has a lot of things to see... so this is really already a full itinerary, you actually could use a whole day just for Chianti and another full day for Siena, so trying to do both on the same day is already a lot!

In Italy, you will make the most of everything you see if you take your time to see each place and enjoy it - eat gelato, eat full meals and "trattoria" and restaurants which are part of the experience as well!

If you weren't thinking of driving.... then lots of places are off the itinerary, including Chianti, Montalcino, Pienza.... so do tell me you're thinking of driving!

Damn. I did not consider the driving part. I will not be driving or hiring a car mostly as driving there will be totally different for me. I was planning on doing day tours by bus or privately. I am not sure if that is a good idea.

[alesmart]

Damn. I did not consider the driving part. I will not be driving or hiring a car mostly as driving there will be totally different for me. I was planning on doing day tours by bus or privately. I am not sure if that is a good idea.

Hi, I would suggest you a good local tour company, www.privatetoursoftuscany.com, they did private tours from Siena to the Chianti wineries or to the countryside. If you don't want to hire a car I think it's better than joining a group tour.
Have fun!

[Lourdes]

Then the whole itinerary just needs to be reworked a bit, but it isn't impossible.... you can still do and see a lot with no car, definitely counting on day tours to get to places you wouldn't reach otherwise.

At that point, since many of the tours start in Florence or Siena, it doesn't make sense to move around for your night lodgings every day. I would suggest to use Florence as a base for 3-4 days, then Siena for another 3 days.

You can then do:
2 full days in Florence (6/21-22)
1 day Pisa & Lucca (6/23) - catch the train to Pisa and then on to Lucca and then return to Florence for the night.

At that point, take a look at the tours offered here: http://www.partner.viator.com/en/8357

You could stay another day in Florence as your base but to spend the day in Chianti on this tour: http://www.partner.viator.com/en/835...519-2635DLXCHI

or you could move on to Siena and do tours from there, doing the next 3 nights there.

For example:
A small group tour of San Gimignano and Chianti:
http://www.partner.viator.com/en/835...3CHIANTISUNSET
or of S.G. and Volterra:
http://www.partner.viator.com/en/835...93SANGIMIGNANO
A small group tour of Montepulciano and Pienza: http://www.partner.viator.com/en/835...3MONTEPULCIANO
Wine Tasting in Montalcino: http://www.partner.viator.com/en/835...5493MONTALCINO

Here's the whole list of tours that start in Siena:
http://www.partner.viator.com/en/835...from-Siena/ttd
but take a look at the whole list since it might be possible for you to get more ideas of things to do!

From Siena you can then continue by bus to Rome (cause by train the shorter trips have you go back to Florence first). Take a look at bus schedules here: http://www.sena.it/