Public Transport Tuscany

fipo79

New member
Hi Everyone,

Myself and Boyfriend had been planning to rent a car from Florence and head into the Chianti Countryside for 5 nights. And travel around from there. However, the price of rental car for 6 days is very expensive, and reviews of the Florence rental places aren't great, so we need to change plans and use public transport.

We had planned on going to Chianti and using car to travel to other places. However, on public transport would it be too awkward to get to San Gimignano/Siena?

So we are thinking 2 nights Siena, then 3 nights in/near San Gimignano. Is it difficult to do this on public transport (Florence to Siena Saturday 11th June, Siena to San Gimignano Monday 13th June)?

We then need to go to Pisa Thurs 16th June. Is it easier to do this from Siena or San Gimignano?

Also, does anyone know good accommodation (Apartment) that would be close to the town, walk/cycle distance. So we have some peace and quiet, yet go to the towns for food drinks but we can still easily reach by public transport?

Thanking you so much for help

Fiona
 
Ciao Fiona,

The one place that is hard to visit well without a car is the Chianti area, since it is pretty large and has many towns. Public transport through it isn't great, and there are no trains crossing it either, just going around it.

If you use Florence as your base, you can do a day trip to Siena and get there easily by bus - or definitely move down to Siena to see and experience it better.
Read this: http://www.discovertuscany.com/siena/tourist-info/getting-to-siena-without-a-car.html

You can get to S.G. without a car as well - read this:
http://www.discovertuscany.com/san-gimignano/how-to-reach-san-gimignano.html
You can reach it from Siena as well as Florence.

Pisa can be reached a little easier from Siena, since you can take a bus - the link above on getting to Siena has links from Pisa to Siena which has info on getting back to Pisa too.
From S.G. you can also do it, just a bit more roundabout - bus to Poggibonsi, then train to Pisa (with a possible train change in Empoli).

I would highly recommend staying in Siena - maybe on the edge of the walls so you get to be close to everything and still experience countryside biews. Take a look at Hotel Athena

If you want to stay just outside San Gimignano, I would suggest Torre Palagetto or Palagetto di Sotto - both are less than half a mile south of S.G. so very easy walk into town.

Be aware that S.G. and Siena can seem very crowded in the day, but you'll get to enjoy them immensely in the evenings once the many "day" visitors leave ;)
 
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