Visit to Saturnia Thermal Springs

bishen

New member
Hello

I am planning to visit Italy in November for my Honeymoon and will be visiting Tuscany between 21-26 November. Among the places to visit, the Saturnia Thermal is one of the main attractions that me and my fiance are looking forward to. I came across your website and found it quite helpful and informative. I will be doing the best tour of tuscany and the cinque terre tours while in Florence. I needed your help regarding the Saturnia Springs. My queries are as follows:
1. How do I reach Saturnia from Florence. I am planning to visit Saturnia on the 25 November and will be going to Rome on 26 November. Hence, the plan is to stay at Saturnia itself on 25 November. What is the most convenient way to Travel from Florence to Saturnia.
2. Are there any accomodations near the Saturnia Thermal Springs. This would help us in saving travel time back to siena or florence as we need to travel in the opposite direction to Rome the next day.
3. What are the other places to visit in florence since we will be there for 4 days.

Thanks :)
 
Ciao Bishen,

Thank you for posting your questions on the forum, I can't answer by email to anyone before and not have the possibility of sharing that info with others!

Saturnia is a beautiful natural hot springs in southern Tuscany. So it makes perfect sense to stop there on your way to Rome. The best and most convenient way to get there is with your own car. The entire area of the Maremma, where you'll be heading is best seen by car..... so I recommend you rent a car in Florence and drive down to Saturnia and take the opportunity to also visit Pitigliano, Sorano or Sovana in the area - they are towns on tuff rock, with tunnels carved around them by the Etruscans, a definite must see when you are in the area! Here are tips on the car rental:
http://www.discovertuscany.com/tuscany-car-rental/

2. Definitely spend the night in the area - take a look here.
Don't limit yourself to Saturnia - Manciano and Pitigliano and anything else in the countryside between all of these towns would be fine!

3. While in Florence, spend at least 2 full days there - take a look at this itinerary: 2 days in Florence.
Since you're doing the 2 tours, I am assuming those will take up the other two days, right??

If you need any more tips or suggestions, let me know!
 
Dear Lourdes,

Thanks a lot for your response. It was helpful indeed. I will look up on the hotels and the car and revert to you for further queries. Also wanted to check, the places to see that you recommended in 2 days in florence, would it be easy to cover via local transport (bus/train) or would i need to rent a car for the same?

Thanks & Regards

Bishen
 
Ciao Bishen,

The places in Florence can ALL be visited on foot, as the historical center is quite small and walkable.
That 2 day itinerary pretty much assumes you just walk by the outside of all of these places and not go inside - that way you can see a lot of Florence in a short time. But if you have the time, I'd definitely recommend you stop and visit some of them - the cathedral for sure, maybe even climb all the way to the top of the dome - and as far as museums go, visit the Uffizi or Palazzo Vecchio museum.

To save some time (or if you're tired of walking), you could catch a bus to go up to Piazzale Michelangelo - see details here.

There is no need for car in Florence at all, and even buses have very limited access to the historical center now so prepare yourself for a lot of walking ;-)
 
Hi Lourdes,

How much time does it take to visit Saturnia from Lucca by car and are there any scenic places to cover while driving?

Any vineyards on the way where we can do a 1-2 hr stopover

Till what time in the evening the Saturnia baths are open

Thanks.
 
You definitely need to go with a car rental if you want to visit Saturnia.

Saturnia have outdoors NATURAL springs, so they are open at all times - I would suggest to go with daylight to be on safe side. It is a waterfall over rocks. So until there is still light after sunset, maybe until around 8pm at the moment.

If you want to go to Saturnia, DO NOT DRIVE DOWN from LUCCA - instead, stop there as you drive UP from ROME.
The springs are in SOUTHERN Tuscany so they make more sense on your way up so you don't lose time driving back down (it is a good 3 hr drive each way from Lucca - that is not a good day trip). Map it out on Google Maps so you can see the distances and times.

There are vineyards all over Tuscany - if you're near Saturnia, I would recommend driving to Scansano so you get to taste the Morellino di Scansano wines. You can also stop midway up the coast in the Bolgheri area, another wine area well-known for the fine red wines.
 
hot springs

If you are driving up from Rome (and time is tight) then you might want to look into the hot springs at Bagno San Filippo which are closer to the main highway and won't take you far off like Saturnia would.

Donna Denise
 
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