Tuscany - road trip & Florence

Milktrolley

We're planning a holiday (we being the family) over the summer - end July / beginning August. One idea that we've thought about is Tuscany.

A rough itinerary that we've thought about would be:
Day 1: Fly into Pisa
Day 3-7: Leave Pisa by car and take a trip along Italy's western coast, maybe down as far as Grosseto, stopping off in towns along the way as we please From there, a trip up through Sienna and up to Florence
Day 7: Arrive a Florence at fly from there on day 10.

My research has thrown up conflicting reports (particularly about Pisa), so a few questions:

• Is Tuscany all its cracked up to be?
• Is there much to see in Pisa?
• Is a road trip around Tuscany a good idea?
• What sort of hidden/unhidden gems are there to be seen in Tuscany?
• Is affordable accommodation (~€100 for 3 people sharing per night) easily come by in the summer or would it need to be prebooked?

Any help or alternative suggestions would be appreciated. In any case thanks for reading

TU154

Not done Tuscany much but have spent lots of time in Piedmonte, which is absolutely fantastic. A bit like Tuscany but with less tourists. My preference has always been to get off the beaten track, find an Agritourismo (equivalent of a B&B) in a rural area and spend some time exploring the local area. Can recommend the Asti area, Alessandra, Asit, Costligole d'Asti, Barolo region.
Also a bit more north is the Lake Orta area. Similar to Lake Como but with less tourists. Nice and cool too if the weather has been very hot.
The Agritourismos are generally very affordable, but they do tend to be in the smaller towns and rural areas and not cities.
Road trip highly recommended.
Will be quite warm then by the way, so be prepared. A car with Aircon is a must.

bills

Tuscany is beautiful, was there last year & it was fabulous. Went to pisa & did the leaning tower,not sure what else there is to do there but seemed a nice town. We also went to lucca which is a nice walled town that has a great campanile with amazing views. This is very near pisa.Im sure you would have no problems amusing yourself in this area. We did a bus tour of tuscnay another day & went wine tasting and up to a little village in the hills, i think it was called castlelina, really beautiful. Florence is a great city too- so much to see & do. I would definetely reccomend this area. Its not cheap & it will be very hot at that time of the year but if you dont mind that im sure you will enjoy. Oh yeah, i would guess you would need to prebook accomodation & even museums in florence at that time of year as tuscany will be full of tourists.

cml387

Having spent some time in Tuscany, I wouldn't personally choose the coast as the highlight.
Outside of the usual sights of Pisa and Florence:

San Gimigano, but arrive in the evening when the tourists are gone.
Volterra,a forbidding hill city which is classic Tuscany
"Chiantishire" southeast of Florence - fantastic countryside
Sienna -worth at least a half day.
Get the Lonely planet guide, it's spot on.

If you want to see Florence, park for free in Piazza Michelangelo and get your first view of the city.
Also, if you want to see the Uffizi gallery you can book tickets in advance (within 2 to 3 days) and avoid the queues.

Milktrolley

Thanks for the advice mo chairde... would a week - 10 days be enough to take in the main places? personally i'd love more but its the wallet that's dictating the timespan unfortunately

trotter_inc

Milktrolley wrote: »

Thanks for the advice mo chairde... would a week - 10 days be enough to take in the main places? personally i'd love more but its the wallet that's dictating the timespan unfortunately

10 days should be just about right for the area you're going to.

We did something similar to you 2 years ago, we flew in to Milan and drove from there to Rome, wasnt a rush at all, over the 12 days.

One suggestion I might make is instead of going out to Grosetta take the car ferry over to the island of Elba, lovely little island, ideal for chilling out.

We spent 2 nights in Florence and found it to be enough, we ate in the NICEST restaurant ever in Florence, food was prob the best we ever had, its listed in the Lonely Planet but cant remember the name, sorry.

Nicest part of the holiday was just taking our time driving around the Tuscany countryside and stopping in little villages and wineries, like one of the other posters suggested to you earlier.

I wouldnt say you need to pre-book any accomodation, most of people you will meet along your trip will be doing much the same as you, taking there time and exploring. We stayed in cabins in "holiday villages", there was a great one right in the middle of Tuscany in a place called Girosole, had lots of swimming pools and restaurants. You should be able to get a self-contained cabin for about €70 - €90 (I think)

Check out the following link, and especially the 'travellers photos' section:

http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserReviews-g187893-d255261-r4130176-Norcenni_Girasole_Club-Tuscany.html

Enjoy!

paulanthony

I would agree with what the previous posters said.

I wouldn't spend too much time in Pisa, it's a nice town but theres not much in it apart from the leaning tower and bascillica. Maybe visit it for a few hours but not actually stay there.

Florence, Siena, San Gimignano, Lucca and Volterra well worth seeing. Check out which days the palio is on in Siena or when the festival is on in Volterra as both are great experiences.

The Garfagnana area north of Lucca is nice too and not too far from Pisa airport. Towns like Barga, Borgo a Mozzano or Castelnuovo are great and a bit less touristy.

As regards cost, Tuscany is nowhere as expensive as people make it out to be. Obviously restaurants in Florence with a view of the Duomo will be expensive but normal pizzerias and trattorias are far, far cheaper than Ireland. Car hire is also cheaper than here or even France.

It's a great country and region. Enjoy yourself.

Milktrolley

It was something I'd in mind so I'll definitely be using these replies when trying to convince the family it's a good idea thanks again for the tips - the palio in siena is something i'd love to be around for so i must have for myself a look and find oot when it's on

holly1

Delighted when I found this thread.Myself and hubby are going to Castellina for a family wedding in May for a week,anyone tell me anything about it and the surronding area.Is it far from the coast.
We are flying into Pisa (late)so staying that night (have booked hotel).Then hope to hire a car next day and head to Castellina,thought we would hire a car at the airport,any ideas.:)

cml387

Hi Holly1

Lucky you.

I would say Castellina (presuming it's Castellina in Chianti) is 1.5 to 2 hours from Pisa airport,inland.

You'll need a good map.Use the motorways and dual carriagways,it's easier. From Pisa go to Firenze (Florence) then the A1 briefly (Roma direction) then Siena. Turn off at
Poggibonsi and take the the ss429 to Castellina

I only had a chance to drive out of Florence through Castellina but it is lovely.

The drive from Castellina to Poggibonsi is fantastic (though Poggibonsi is fairly dreary).