Hi
This is our first trip to Italy. Planning to be there around 20th or 25th of April and visit Rome, Tuscany, Cinque Terre and Venice. From my brief reading it seems that Val D'Orcia would be a great place to drive around to do a farm stay and see rolling hills, wineries, see cheese making etc. I thought of making Montepulciano as the base (we'll be arriving from Rome by train). Found a decent farmhouse close to Montepulciano.
My questions
1. Would Montepulciano be a good base as there are many car rental agencies around? Places of interest (again from brief reading) are Pienza, Montalcino, San Quirico, San Gimignano, Siena etc. Or may be rent from Montepulciano and stay somewhere so that all of these are not more than 30-45 away?
2. Would 6 days be too much? Should we split 3 days Chianti and 3 days Val D'Orcia? We'd prefer not to cram in too much unnecessarily.
3. Could you suggest a driving itinerary for this area?
4. I assume all the small towns have parking outside them (just like the villages in Provence) so we won't accidentally enter any ZTL areas?
5. Is Florence a must do? If so may be a half day trip by train would be preferable.
6. Looks like this is Easter week. Would anything be closed or overly crowded? I read the Rome can be very crowded so we'll do Rome on our way out.
Thanks in advance,
Beena
This is our first trip to Italy. Planning to be there around 20th or 25th of April and visit Rome, Tuscany, Cinque Terre and Venice. From my brief reading it seems that Val D'Orcia would be a great place to drive around to do a farm stay and see rolling hills, wineries, see cheese making etc. I thought of making Montepulciano as the base (we'll be arriving from Rome by train). Found a decent farmhouse close to Montepulciano.
My questions
1. Would Montepulciano be a good base as there are many car rental agencies around? Places of interest (again from brief reading) are Pienza, Montalcino, San Quirico, San Gimignano, Siena etc. Or may be rent from Montepulciano and stay somewhere so that all of these are not more than 30-45 away?
2. Would 6 days be too much? Should we split 3 days Chianti and 3 days Val D'Orcia? We'd prefer not to cram in too much unnecessarily.
3. Could you suggest a driving itinerary for this area?
4. I assume all the small towns have parking outside them (just like the villages in Provence) so we won't accidentally enter any ZTL areas?
5. Is Florence a must do? If so may be a half day trip by train would be preferable.
6. Looks like this is Easter week. Would anything be closed or overly crowded? I read the Rome can be very crowded so we'll do Rome on our way out.
Thanks in advance,
Beena