Hi, I will be visiting Florence for the first time in May, and like most everyone who visits Florence, we also want to explore some other areas of Tuscany. We have five days in Florence and tentatively we plan to spend 2 days exploring Florence and 3 days exploring other towns/regions. While we haven't decided which towns/regions some that rise to the top of our list are Siena, Val D'Orcia, Chianti wine region, Assisi. I know we cannot do all...or maybe we can.
Our conundrum is this - we'd like to use Florence as a base as opposed to moving from hotel to hotel in different areas. Checking in and out of multiple hotels is not appealing to us. In other words, leave Florence in the morning, spend the day exploring these areas and return to Florence that same day.
Is this is a good/bad idea?
Better to take a train to any of these areas?
If we rent a car - from where and where do we keep it when we return to Florence each day, knowing there is limited parking as well as driving restrictions in Florence?
Or do we just rent a car for each trip and return it to the rental location?
Final yet unrelated question - we are looking at a hotel in the Piazza Santa Maria Novella. Does anyone have an opinion about this location in terms of safety, accessibility to points of interest within Florence, restaurants. etc.
Thanks.
AmyL
Our conundrum is this - we'd like to use Florence as a base as opposed to moving from hotel to hotel in different areas. Checking in and out of multiple hotels is not appealing to us. In other words, leave Florence in the morning, spend the day exploring these areas and return to Florence that same day.
Is this is a good/bad idea?
Better to take a train to any of these areas?
If we rent a car - from where and where do we keep it when we return to Florence each day, knowing there is limited parking as well as driving restrictions in Florence?
Or do we just rent a car for each trip and return it to the rental location?
Final yet unrelated question - we are looking at a hotel in the Piazza Santa Maria Novella. Does anyone have an opinion about this location in terms of safety, accessibility to points of interest within Florence, restaurants. etc.
Thanks.
AmyL