TRAIN - Florence to Poggibonsi, then bus to San Gimignano

Thanks to this site we have planned our time in Tuscany, and whilst we will not have a car, will base out of San Gimignano.
We originally planned to get from Florence to Poggibonsi by bus, the times appear disjointed with our arrival train from Venice, thus we are going for the train option, thus my questions:
1. Can we buy our ticket from Florence in Venice? Thus saving time. Our time between trains appears only to be 40 minutes.
2. The Trenatalia site shows the train goes Florence to San Gimignano, via Poggibonsi. Does that mean we transfer to a bus at Poggibonsi? And if we buy a train fare does that include the price of the bus ticket?
3. If we got stuck in Poggibonsi, and if all else fails, can you get a taxi to San Gimignano. This is just the final fail safe plan.

As always thanks again.
 
Ciao Johnsonfive,

Glad to see you back on here and hear your plans are coming together! Let's go in order of your questions:

1. Yes, you can buy your ticket all the way to Poggibonsi from Venice. They'll give you the separate tickets for each part of the journey but stamp them in the appropriate station (stamp the one from Florence once you're in Florence).

2. The train station is called "Poggibonsi-S. Gimignano" on the site. They have chosen to make it easy for you to identify that it is the closest station. But no, your ticket will just get you to Poggibonsi, then you need to take the bus. You'll need a separate ticket, which you can buy at the train station once you arrive. The bus info (link to schedule from Poggibonsi) is at the bottom here: http://www.discovertuscany.com/san-gimignano/how-to-reach-san-gimignano.html

3. If you get stuck or just at that point want to take easier route the last leg of the trip, there are taxis usually parked outside of the train station during the day up until 8-10 pm. At that point, you can be taken directly to your lodging - are you staying within the town or outside? Fare should average between 25-30 EUR. If you are inside the town, taxis can enter into the ZTL area to drop you off right in front so don't accept being dropped off at the entrance into town since with luggage you'll still have to walk in and most of it is on a slight uphill.
 
Ciao Lourdes. Thanks again.
We have purchased our tickets from Trenatalia already from Venice to Florence. Great price purchasing them early. The logic behind buying the leg from Florence to Poggibonsi in Venice, was just to save time once in Florence. We were going to catch the bus, but this was much simplier.

We are staying four nights in San Gimignano at Hotel Leon Bianco. Sounds exquisite. We will just bus it around from there as required (Siena etc), and then take the bus back to Florence. Hotel has said they will assist.

Staying at Hotel Duomo in Florence for two nights. Great location, and we have the lovely room everyone talks about.

Thence we have purchased Frecciarossa tickets to Milan, and will just spend a night at the Hilton, Malpensa Express to the airport and home to Australia. Concluding a trip basically around the World.

Thanks for your assistance yet again, and l am sure l will have another question.
 
Sounds like almost everything has fallen into place already!

Yes, get the train tickets in Venice as it is will save time once in Florence. Bus from S.G. should work fine, it is well connected to Poggibonsi and to Siena, just take time to see the area remaining flexible. Anything that sounds complicated to get to by bus - get your hotel to help you hire a private driver or tour guide to take you ;-).

If you any more questions, we'll try to do our best to help out!
 
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