Trip to Tuscany- suggestions??

kikililly

Hi All
I'm planning a 2 week trip to Italy at the end of Feb start of March 09. I'm going for the first 4 days to Venice to the Masquerade festival and then heading to Sienna/ Tuscany area.
I plan on doing a bit of travelling around I would like to see small italian villages and eat some real italian food and I would like to do a cookery course over there. Has anybody here tried that? There are loads of websites about it but mostly they seem to be aimed at american tour groups and they are very expensive.
I'm only looking for a two day cooking place with accomodation and maybe some wine tasting...
If anybody has any experience of that area or any suggestions on places to go I'd really appreciate.
Thanks

christeb

Hi - I took a week trip by car in 2006. Siena is great for a night and there are a couple of places called Montalcino and Montepulciano. Very famous wine villages, I didn't do any wine tasting - really regret it now. But I would definately look these places up if you're nearby. Beautiful winding streets, great food as you would expect.

Enjoy!

Maximilian

I was over there a few weeks ago for a wedding. We all stayed at this place. It was amazing. Mona Lisa was born there, Much Ado About Nothing was filmed there. Wonderful food, amazing wine - they make their own, no additives (which means no hangovers, not one & we drank gallons). Exactly how you would picture Tuscany in your head. Nearest town was Greve-in-Chianti which is nice, good restaurants etc. Not too touristy. Amazing part of the world & I can't wait to go back.

I took some photos of the Villa, if you're interested:
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3198/2982646438_5a7c0723e5_b.jpg
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3214/2981781025_47b2624df2_b.jpg
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3275/2982635864_a89ccdea4f_b.jpg

dereko1969

i stayed just outside greve-in-chianti last year and it's a great spot. half way between siena and florence so you can do day trips and the main square is lovely with restaurants and an amazing deli. the previous post vignamaggio looks great and the agriturismo part might suit you instead of a cookery course.

bills

Definetely check out florence- beautiful city. We stayed in florence and went by train to pisa & lucca- both worth a look. We also did wine tasting in a vineyard which was excellent. We took a bus tour & visited some beautiful villages, castelina? i think was the name of one beautiful village. Cant go wrong in tuscany-just beautiful.

AnneVee

There is a good list of cooking schools that seem to cater to small groups on the To Tuscany website, a company that provides villas in the region. (But To Tuscany themselves don't cater for short trips)

This website doubles up as a travel guide as well with lots more infomation and a great feature is that you can also make your own e-book travel guide, so you can pick and choose what you want to see and do in the region and then collate your own guide.

I hope this helps!

Soladx

San Gimignano and Volterra are also must sees. Transport is poor though.

Maximilian

Soladx wrote: »

San Gimignano and Volterra are also must sees. Transport is poor though.

I think renting a car is a must if you are visiting Tuscany.

Soladx

Maximilian wrote: »

I think renting a car is a must if you are visiting Tuscany.

Definitely agree

quad_red

Hey guys,

We're heading over to Tuscany next month from Friday 10 July to Sunday 19.

We're arriving into Pisa on the Friday and heading straight to San Giamano. Have an apartment booked there until Tuesday.

We were thinking of driving to Levanto to park the car. Maybe staying a night there (Tues night) then taking the train to the far south of Le Cinque Terre and spending two days walking up it, taking our time. Maybe spend a night in Vernazza on Wednesday night.

That's be us ready to go someplace else on Thursday till Sunday.

Any suggestions, oh wise ones?

Cheers!!!
Quad

kikililly

HI, That trip sounds fab! We were over in Feb and stayed in Siena for a couple of days. It is a great city, really unusual if you get a day or two there it wouldn't be wasted. Also about 20 minutes from Siena we went for a weekends cookery in a place called Chianti Kitchen. It was the best weekend I ever spent learnt loads and still cooking the lovely things we made there. The chef is character too!

Quint

Any small town in Tuscany is really nice. As mentioned before, a car is vital. I stayed near Radda in Chianti (great town). For visiting Florence, we parked in Montevarchi (i think!) and got the train to the city. Free parking there, and parking in cities or big towns can be a nightmare. Viareggio is really nice, about 20 minutes by train from Pisa, loads of art deco beach resorts, but I reckon it's seriously packed in peak season. I didn't get to see Lucca which is supposed to be great.

dereko1969

kikililly wrote: »

HI, That trip sounds fab! We were over in Feb and stayed in Siena for a couple of days. It is a great city, really unusual if you get a day or two there it wouldn't be wasted. Also about 20 minutes from Siena we went for a weekends cookery in a place called Chianti Kitchen. It was the best weekend I ever spent learnt loads and still cooking the lovely things we made there. The chef is character too!

wow that place looks amazing http://www.chiantikitchen.com/index.htm
might go there next year or for a late break this year. anyone thinking of going to tuscany should also consider bologna as an airport to fly into, when i was planning my trip to tuscany i thought i'd have to go to pisa but the flight arrival time there was awful (near midnight) bologna is a really nice city and dead handy for getting to tuscany.

quad_red

Hey everyone,

First of all, cheers for all the tips in this thread.

We're staying for the first three nights in San Giomano. Then driving to Levanto and staying there for a night. We're leaving the car there and hitting Le Cinque Terre.

The plan was for two nights on Le Cinque Terre. But we have only been able to book something for the first night so far (in Vernazza).

Anyone here do Le Cinque Terre? Any advice?

That brings us up to the Friday when take the train back to Levanto and collect the car. We are flying out on the Sunday from Pisa airport and it's my gf's birthday on the Friday night.

Anyone have any suggestions for a nice town that has a decent nightlife? I'm not talking clubbing here - just nice restaurants and a bit of life at night.

Thanks!

Quint

quad_red wrote: »

That brings us up to the Friday when take the train back to Levanto and collect the car. We are flying out on the Sunday from Pisa airport and it's my gf's birthday on the Friday night.

Anyone have any suggestions for a nice town that has a decent nightlife? I'm not talking clubbing here - just nice restaurants and a bit of life at night.

Thanks!

I wasn't in Viareggio at night, but reckon this would be a good bet. Close to Pisa by train, probably linked to Pisa airport, but not sure.
Anyway, it's a real holiday resort town for the Italians and it's very lively, the beach is lined with bars and restrauants. They're all art deco buildings that face a road and they back out onto a section of beach, usually with loads of deckchairs. It's like a nice trendy version of Bray/Blackpool

snoozy47

Hi All,
Anyone done any walking holidays in the Tuscany region.
We are going on 6th September for a week and would like to know about any nice walking routes.
Also anyone stay in Bed & Breakfasts in the Tuscany region? We would like to hear of any you would recommend.
Many thanks.