Best base to explore Tuscany Region

[Danielle18]

Hi all, I am new to this forum and would value any suggestions on where to base ourselves when travelling to Tuscany. My husband and I are travelling to Italy for a month in September 2018. We plan to travel south from Rome through Sicily and then fly up to Venice. From Venice we plan to travel across to Lake Como and then to La Spezia. All this is pretty sorted but I am struggling on where to base ourselves from there to see Lucca & Pisa, Florence, San Gimignano, Siena and Cortona. Will have 4 nights maybe 5 if we shorten our stay in La Spezia from 3 nights to 2. Also not sure if we will be travelling by car or public transport. Any suggestions would be appreciated, thanks.

[DonnaDenise]

Buongiorno,

It is so important to consider you base early in the game - not only will it help you in planning your itineraries but many times you will come up with (at least) another 10 places you didn't even know existed and now you just HAVE to put them on your itinerary!

Have a read through our intro article for choosing a base, and then feel free to get back to use with more detailed questions.

Buon Viaggio,

Donna Denise

[Lourdes]

If you will be using the train, since your time is limited, I would suggest to move as you go along to avoid wasting time in going back and forth. I am assuming you're making your way back to Rome?

From La Spezia you can head south to Lucca the first day, then head on to Pisa for the rest and sleep there.
So essentially do both on one day. Choose your favorites from these two:

A day in Lucca: https://www.discovertuscany.com/lucc...-in-lucca.html

A day in Pisa: https://www.discovertuscany.com/pisa...itinerary.html

Move on to Florence the next day. You can then use Florence as a base for 3 days total and visit Florence the first, Siena and San Gimignano the second. Move on by train toward Cortona the last day of your days in Tuscany.

Pick your favorites from here for your time in Florence -- you can fit wandering around after dinner when you return at the end of your day trips too:

https://www.visitflorence.com/itiner...-florence.html

Here are some helpful links for getting to Siena and SG without a car:

http://www.discovertuscany.com/san-g...gimignano.html

http://www.discovertuscany.com/siena...out-a-car.html

Top sights in Siena: https://www.discovertuscany.com/itin...-in-siena.html
and in San Gimignano: https://www.discovertuscany.com/san-gimignano/