8 day itinerary in Tuscany

cayala

New member
My family is traveling to Tuscany in August for about 8 days. We'd like to visit Florence and Pisa, but are more interested in traveling through other areas of Tuscany, perhaps staying in a farmhouse/vineyard/villa. We are interested in cooking, wine tasting, eating, and biking. Could you please suggest 2-3 towns in Tuscany where we could base ourselves? And the day trips we could do from these base towns? And cooking classes, wine tasting, etc that don't require a tour? Many activities I have found are tours that drive you to places, but since we will have a car, we'd rather go on our own. Thanks!
 
Well, Your plan is very good. If you will enjoy this trip with your family I want to recommend you book a farmhouse. Because this will be the best place to enjoy a great time with family and you will save you money for staying there.
Anyway, there are many popular attractive cities in Tuscany. I will share some names here. These are
Pitigliano
Florence
Pienza
Sansepolcro
Greve in Chianti
Go all these cities and come back from this trip with great memories.
 
Ciao Cayala,
The easiest thing to do will be to arrange for the tours/activities yourselves with local hosts. Once you have booked a place to stay, many of whom actually will offer cooking classes and tastings directly at their place.
Many farmhouses that have a restaurant will offer cooking classes directly but some places have agreements with local chefs or restaurants for that service, so it is something you can arrange after.... or just take into account as you look at a place to stay at.

Keep in mind that once you're here, there are wineries practically everywhere. You can ask your hosts for local wineries where you can just call ahead and book a visit and tastings and go direct, without the need to join a tour.
As far as places to stay at, I'm going to recommend a few that meet some of your requests - either are a winery, which might provide food and tastings, or farmhouses/villas that do all (food, wine and cooking classes).

https://www.tuscanyaccommodation.com/romitorio-di-serelle.html - this one has a restaurant, offers tastings and has a restaurant on site. Now I don't recall but they might do the cooking classes as well, you should write and ask. They also have bikes you can use.

https://www.tuscanyaccommodation.com/villa-dianella.html - this is a winery resort that is perfect for food, wines and cooking classes. You don't mention ages of family members so here I am not sure if there are young kids, and in that case, I would not recommend it. It is a place perfect for adults, older kids, who will not get bored.

https://www.tuscanyaccommodation.com/podere-casanova.html - this one on the other hand is ideal for families with younger kids. Also provides cooking classes and tastings.

https://www.tuscanyaccommodation.com/la-topaia.html - provides food, cooking classes and bikes and it is in Mugello where there are many gravel roads perfect for biking away from the more traveled roads.

https://www.tuscanyaccommodation.com/fattoria-viticcio.html - this is another winery that would cover most of your needs. It is just outside Greve in Chianti city limits so it is perfect for also going out and go wine tasting at many other local wineries.

https://www.tuscanyaccommodation.com/agriturismo-fratelli-vagnoni.html - winery, perfect for kids, right outside of San Gimignano. So also ideal for going tasting in the immediate area, and there are many restaurants in SG.

Keep in mind most of Tuscany is hilly, so if you base yourself on a hill, cycling will be tough from the get go since it will be downhills and uphills right away. So consider how much biking you want to do when selecting a place to stay at. You didn't rate the importance of all the things you want to do, if you do, I can help you sort out which ones might fit better.

Hope this is a good part from where to start and help you out in your search. You have time, so let me know as you go along how your ideas change and I can help provide more info.
 
Ciao Lourdes,
I just read your response and found it helpful as I'm currently in Florence for the next 3 weeks, but then would like to stay at a farmhouse or winery in Tuscany for a few days after I leave. I am traveling alone with my small puppy, are there any farmhouses or wineries that I would be able to stay with my pup? I would like to be relatively close to a city since I won't have a car, but I would rent one if I needed to. I was searching the tuscanyaccommodation.com website but didn't see an option to search for pup.
Thank you in advance,
Shanna
 
Ciao Lourdes,
I just read your response and found it helpful as I'm currently in Florence for the next 3 weeks, but then would like to stay at a farmhouse or winery in Tuscany for a few days after I leave. I am traveling alone with my small puppy, are there any farmhouses or wineries that I would be able to stay with my pup? I would like to be relatively close to a city since I won't have a car, but I would rent one if I needed to. I was searching the tuscanyaccommodation.com website but didn't see an option to search for pup.
Thank you in advance,
Shanna
Ciao Shanna,

You can see a selection of farmhouses that welcome pets here: https://www.tuscanyaccommodation.com/tuscany-accommodation-pets-welcome/

Since you don't have a car, do you feel you can move around with train or bus with the amount of luggage you have? I see you posted on another thread with more details, so I'll answer more completely over there.
 
Top