Vineyard stay / No car

gongjoo0eun

New member
Hi..

My husband and I would like to have vineyard stay in Tuscany for 3 nights – 28 – 31 October.
We’ll be making our way from Naples to Florence and start from there.

First of all, we don’t drive..so we’re likely to travel by bus.

Second of all, we are very keen in stay in vineyards, watch the wines being made, taste the wines, try the local food, enjoy the scenery. We are not too big on visiting any other cities (Siena, etc..) and seeing architecture.

I tried going into Tuscany accommodations site but it was not easy to filter out vineyard stays.

Is there any particular area that is recommended for non-drivers?
And any easy way to filter out vineyard stay accommodations?
 
Vineyard stay / no car

Good morning from Sovicille, we are located in the wonderful countryside around Siena and can give you the following advise:From Florence, you can take either the bus or the train to Siena, from Siena there is a bus to Sovicille. There is a nice property in the countryside near Sovicille:
www.casaleilcolombaio.com
where the room Quadrifoglio is availabre from the 28th October for three nights.
The apartment has no kitchen nor kitchen-corner, but the owners always prepare wonderful breakfasts and they are very friendly. On request, they will probably also prepare dinners.
Not far from this property (at about 900 m) there is a wine estate:
www.castellopoggiarello.it
where you can make wine tastings and follow probably some of the works related to the wine production (not the harvest that, by the end of October, is most probably already done).
If you need other information, get in touch with us, we'll be happy to help you.
Tourist information office of Sovicille
info@prolocosovicille.it
 
You're right, the accommodations are not filtered by type of product they produce.... but most or all of the farmhouses listed on http://www.tuscanyaccommodation.com produce wine... or olive oil, or both!

Since you won't have a car, you need to stay at one that is close enough to a town that is easy to get to.
I recommend several in particular:
Fattoria il Lago - you go by train from Florence to Dicomano, and from there is about a 20 minute walk to the estate.
Fattoria Viticcio - by bus from Florence to Greve in Chianti (bus line 365, see more tips to move around Chianti here)
Torre a Cona - by bus from Florence to San Donato in Collina, there is a stop near the estate but make sure to ask driver to stop at the closest - here's the timetable, starting on the 7th page: http://www.acvbus.it/orari/351.pdf

Then on this page: http://www.discovertuscany.com/san-gimignano-accommodation/
we have several WITHIN WALKING distance of the town of SG: Il Vecchio Maneggio and all of the 3 properties belonging to Agriturismo Niccolai (Torre Palagetto and Palagetto di Sotto (same location to the south of SG) and Villa Arnilu' (north of SG)) and Agriturismo La Lucciolaia (east of SG).

So essentially, any farmhouse called "Agriturismo" or "Fattoria" or "Tenuta" likely produces wine... there are also many Villas that also have a wine estate attached! All of these are centrally located to go off and explore both nearby areas and further away, getting back to the local town and then using train or bus to get to Siena, Florence and other towns.
 
Hi Lourdes,

Thanks for your reply!

I embarked on figuring out the bus timetable of 365. How do I read this?

Let's say we're going to be taking the bus from Firenze Autostazione Busitalia on Tuesday 28th October in the afternoon to Greve in Chianti.

1) Is Firenze Autostazione Busitalia near SMN?

2) Does it mean I have options of the following departure hours 1305, 1335, 1415, 1530?

3) Among multiple buses at this hour, there are some buses that makes various stops between Firenze - Porta Romana and Passo Dei Pecorai and I can take those that doesn't make such stops?

4) Where in the bus can luggages be kept? Do we get on with it?

Thanks a lot!
 
1) Is Firenze Autostazione Busitalia near SMN?

Yes, it is right in front, if you're facing the train station, the bus station is on the corner to the left. There is a "Bar Deanna" right at the corner, right behind it you'll find the bus depot.

2) Does it mean I have options of the following departure hours 1305, 1335, 1415, 1530?

From Florence, you start from page 9 of the schedule (her's the link for anybody else: http://www.acvbus.it/orari/365.pdf ).
The very top of the column says the days it runs and any other notes. For example, the 13:05 is on two columns, one has the note 28 and Mon-Fri (the note says school days) and the other 28 (between 11/09 and 08/06 so this runs on Saturday when you're here)... this means essentially it runs all days except for Sunday. Sunday and Holidays are marked "festivo".

3) Among multiple buses at this hour, there are some buses that makes various stops between Firenze - Porta Romana and Passo Dei Pecorai and I can take those that doesn't make such stops?

You can take any - those just signal where bus might make stops, they don't make them regardless only if someone is there or signals a stop. So the stops marks the route it takes.... which also means you don't necessarily need to take the stop at the Autostazione.... although I would, in case you have trouble finding the other stops.

4) Where in the bus can luggages be kept? Do we get on with it?

Depends on the size - if they can go aboard, the driver will let you... if not, he'll stop you and have you put it underneath the bus. When you stop, he'll get down and help you take out the luggage.
 
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