Tuscany in 2 days

Rishi

New member
Hi Team,

I will be visiting Italy along with my friends in 2 weeks time.
We plan to explore the Tuscany region for approx 2 days and plan to cover the below :

a) Pisa
b) 1 Thermal Bath
c) 1 Vineyard
d) Cinque Terre villages
e) Country side / scenic places

We are driving from Rome early morning and are put up in Lucca and will have approx. 40hrs to explore Tuscany.

Could you please guide us how and what to cover in Tuscany Region and the bookings to make our trip memorable.

We have rented a car for 2 days.

Thanks.
 
If you're staying in Lucca, then I would suggest you try to fit as much as you can by staying nearby.
There are thermal baths in Bagni di Lucca and San Giuliano Terme to the north of Pisa.

You can try doing Pisa on your drive up from Rome, then the thermal baths in San Giuliano before arriving in Lucca (otherwise try Bagni di Lucca).
Check out Lucca the rest of the evening and next morning, then drive up to La Spezia - I'd park here and take the train into Riomaggiore and visit the rest of the Cinque Terre by train and boat - I would really recommend doing the boat ride from Riomaggiore to Monterosso to see all 5 towns from the sea, then heading back and stopping in Vernazza and Manarola by train.

You will get to see the countryside and scenic places as you drive up from Rome as well as going to the CT and to the thermal springs.

2 days is really a short time, but by staying between Pisa and Lucca, you should be able to fit everything in your ambitious plan!

Remember to always remain flexible and cut back if you're feeling rushed -- Italy is best enjoyed slowly....
 
Hi Lourdes,

Thanks for the detailed note.
We might be taking the bus from Rome and not the car as planned earlier.
Could you please suggest how should we go about covering the thermal bath,vineyard,Pisa and CT as we won't have our car.

Also could you please suggest a vineyard tour along the countryside and close to Lucca.

Do we need to book for the thermal bath and vineyards in advance.

Thanks.

Regards,
Rishi
 
2 days to explore

Buongiorno,

Your time is already tight, so I hope you meant you were going to take a train and not a bus up from Rome. A train will be much quicker than a bus.

Considering all the things you want to do, and the fact that a visit to Cinque Terre is really an "all day" event, I believe you will need to cut back on one of your activities. Instead of doing a vineyard, you could look at visiting an "enoteca" in Lucca where you could get a wide range of wines from the area and/or Tuscany. (For example Enoteca Calasto has a wine tasting menu)

If you are going to be without a car then you will probably need to look at visiting the thermal baths in San Giuliano which are closer to the city center of Pisa.

However, just doing justice to Pisa (and the Square of Miracles) and Lucca can be an all day event. Though if you were to overnight it in Lucca before heading to CT, you could use your dinner experience as an opportunity to taste the wines of the area.

Buon Viaggio,

Donna Denise
 
As Donna has said above, moving around by bus or train and not by car changes your options and the feasibility of trying to really include everything.

Your time will be further limited as you'll have to be careful to work around timetables. I would also suggest early train from Rome to Pisa (morning), bus to San Giuliano for bath (afternoon) and then Lucca for evening. You should walk around Lucca the next morning, then spend the rest of the day in CT (easy train access but still takes 1.5-2 hrs to get there). Being 5 towns, it is an all day trip really.
You don't mention where you're headed after the 40 hours... so if you're heading north after, I would suggest spending the night in CT rather than head back to Lucca to optimize and have more time in CT.
 
Thanks Donna and Lourdes.
After our 2 day trip to Tuscany we plan to travel to Venice on 27th for our last 2 days in Italy.

We were thinking to cover Pisa on 27th early morning before our train/bus to Venice.

In that case shall we cover some vineyard on 25th?
We are more keen to see the entire process and the landscapes around the vineyards.

The baths around San Guiliano are natural or spa?
Do we need to book the same in advance?

With the above details could you please help me with a plan for 25th as I am keen to cover some scenic views,thermal bath and vineyard and reserve 26th for CT

Thanks
 
Seeing how short of a time you have, you really would benefit from having your own means of transportation.

The San Giuliano terme are spa centers, not natural springs.

If you want to visit vineyards to have tours of the estate and cellars, rather than just wine tastings, it would be good to decide where you want to stop (what areas) and have names and addresses of local wineries ahead of time - contacting them to book a visit and tasting, just to make sure you won't be disappointed once you're here.
 
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