First Time in Italy - Itinerary Help Please

tbas10

New member
Hi There,

We have about 9 days in Italy, I'm having some troubles figuring out an itinerary. We land into Pisa at 3:15 on April 19th and fly out Tuesday morning on the 28th.

Currently our plan is to visit Cinque Terre, Florence and Rome. We would really like to stay in the countryside of Tuscany, could you suggest some places that are close to the tourist attractions? How much time do you need in Florence itself? We most likely will have a car in our time in Florence/Tuscany. My husband will also like to visit the Ferrari and Lamborghini dealerships. We fly into Pisa around 3:15ish and from there I was thinking of going to Cinque Terre first and then do Florence/Tuscany/Pisa and then train to Rome.

Also, any insight on where to stay would be helpful, we don’t want to spend too much on accommodations. We’re not huge wine drinkers but would definitely like to check out a winery or so but we do love Italian food so a place in Tuscany with those two would be awesome. Also, how far is Pisa to Florence to Tuscany?

Thank you,
TJ
 
First time in Italy - Itinerary

Buongiorno!
there are so many tourist attractions all over Tuscany, so whatever area or town you'll choose, it will be a good choice...Florence is a wonderful town that really offers a lot, so it is not easy to say how much time you have to consider to visit it! It also depends on your tastes, are you interested in museums? in shops? in exploring the town? Florence is certainly not a town that you can visit in one afternoon. You could consider stayin in the beautiful countryside around Florence or Siena (a fascinating, medieval town). Have a look at www.prolocosovicille.it, you'll find a lot of useful informations. Our little village "Sovicille" is located at only 13 kms from Siena, at 77 kms from Florence, at 120 kms from Pisa and 116 kms from Lucca. In easy reach are well-known areas like the Chianti, the Val d'Orcia, the Crete senesi...if you need more information, get in touch with us, we will be happy to help you! info@prolocosovicille.it
 
Thank you for your response.

We're more interested in exploring the towns and countryside. We'd like to try and do a museum as well but don't want to spend all day doing that.

Are the Ferrari/Lamborghini museums far from Florence? I hear a lot about Chianti, I'll have to look into it further.
 
First stop CT

Hello -

Using CT as your first stop could be a good way to start off. You can actually save the cost on a car rental for a couple of days by using the trains and then pick it up when you are ready to transfer to the Tuscan countryside. There are several trains up to La Spezia, the south entrance into CT (even on a Sunday) and it is fairly easy from the central Pisa train station.

Then you can train it to Florence, and stay in the city center before picking up a car. In fact, I imagine when you say Ferrari ( http://museomaranello.ferrari.com/prices-and-tickets/ ) & Lamburgini ( http://www.lamborghini.com/en/museum/overview/ ) you mean the museums in Modena & Bologna...which are easily reached from Florence via train and if that is all you really think you want to visit in those two towns you could probably do both in one day.

If you consider a day & half in CT, 2 days in FI - add a day hopping up to Bologna & Modena - leaves you with 4 days to explore Tuscany. I would suggest one of the beautiful B&B in the Chianti area ( http://www.tuscanyaccommodation.com/chianti-bed-and-breakfasts/ ) ...or you could go a little further south in to Sovicille ( http://www.tuscanyaccommodation.com/val-d-orcia-bed-and-breakfasts/ ) as mentioned in the other response. Both areas will give you a great look at Tuscany.

Buon Viaggio
 
Trenitalia or Italiarail

Hi there, Lourdes. Need advice on booling train tickets from Rome to Florence.
1. Is it better to book from here (Malaysia) way in advance or buy there when we arrive
2. What is the difference between the 2 websites - which one should I go to if I were to book tickets online?
Thanks so much - first time travelling to Italy - my wife & I
Herbie
 
Ciao tbas,

It seems the Ferrari is easier to reach without a car, as it has a shuttle (http://museomaranello.ferrari.com/train-airport-hotel-shuttle/). And the Lamborghini, while closer to Modena, is easier to reach by bus from Bologna (http://www.lamborghini.com/en/company/how-to-reach-us/). I just don't know if you could do both in one day without a car, so you can also plan to do it once you leave Florence and get the car, on one of the days you're in the countryside.

I highly recommend Chianti as an area to stay in, even if you don't drink too much wine. It is just a beautiful area. Drive around Chianti, see Siena and San Gimignano and the hilltop towns in Chianti and you've pretty much used up your days already!

Pisa to Florence, with a car, is about a 40 min drive. Tuscany is the region for both, so once you're here you're going to be exploring all of Tuscany - the Ferrari and Lamborghini museums are no longer in Tuscany, they are in the Emilia Romagna region to the north of Tuscany. The drive is through the Apennines but Bologna isn't that far from Florence.

Enjoy!
 
Ciao Herbie,

The two train sites are actually

http://www.trenitalia.com/

http://www.italotreno.it/en/

I would suggest to check both sites out for Rome-Florence and get those (and Florence-Rome if you're heading back on a specific date) ahead of time, particularly if you see a good fare and the times work out for you. You can almost always find space on the trains even the day of, but then you surely pay the base fare which is higher and you take whatever seats are available, which might mean not being right next to each other. So for long distance, I do suggest to get online before coming.

If you're using trains to move around Tuscany, those are all "regional" trains and are sold "open-ended": that is NO date on the ticket and NO seat assignment. So those you can buy once you're here, making sure to stamp the ticket BEFORE you get on the train to validate it for use. Seating is first-come, first served so just get to the train about 15-10 min before and look for seats for you both.
 
Hi Lourdes,

Thanks for the info.

On our train back from Cinque Terre, what's best to do first? Should we check out Pisa and grab a rental car and go stay in Tuscany-Chianti for a couple of nights and then stay a couple of nights in Florence or the other way around? Were going to Rome afterwards and I presume we'd catch a train from Florence? So was thinking of catching an early train and if were already in Florence then we don't have to deal with returning car rental and can just be on our way on the first train to Rome. What do you think?

Thanks,
TJ
 
Ciao tbas,

Since you're planning to train back to Rome, I'd suggest you take return back to Pisa, grab the car then and head on to an accommodation outside of Florence. Chianti would be really central location - take a look at this site to look for lodgings in the area:
http://www.tuscanyaccommodation.com/chianti/
Enjoy visiting the countryside - Chianti, Siena, San Gimignano, Certaldo, Volterra, San Gimiginano. I'd leave at least a full day or two to Florence, to once you're ready, go into Florence, return the car there and enjoy Florence with no kitchen. The rental agencies all have locations in the center, you can drive to them even if they are in the ZTL area just make sure they communicate your license plates to the police so that you don't incur fines.
The SMN train station is very central, you depart from there to head to Rome ;-).
 
Looking for suggestions for a Tuscany town to use as a base

Hi Lourdes
We are a family of seven (two parents and the rest in their 20s) traveling to the Tuscany region in May. We are hoping to find a 3-4 bedroom in a town that has access to the train so that we can travel to Sienna and Florence and possibly Cinque Terre. We'd love to stay in town and have restaurants/shops within walking distance. Any suggestions?

Thanks
Pam H.
 
Certaldo a Great Base on the Florence-Siena Train Line

If you want to see the Tuscan countryside and find some wine and good food then you would be better off staying on the southwestern side of Florence, which is closer to Pisa, rather than venture into the more mountainous region east of Florence where Greve is.

Certaldo area is a great base as it is right in the middle of an area exactly half way between Florence and Siena in which there are some lovely places to see like Certaldo Alto, San Gimignano, Colle di Val d'Elsa, Volterra and Monteriggioni. The train station in Certaldo has a free large parking lot behind it so you can easily go to Florence (to the north) and Siena to the south) by train without having to worry about parking.

There are loads of good, inexpensive places to eat local food and there are also many family-run wine producers in this area.
 
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