Cycling around siena

damwalsh

New to boards so this is my first post.

am attending a wedding on the 25th of September in Siena. and am looking to maybe head over a little earlier say on the 22nd or 23rd of September and get some cycling in first.

Anyone any suggestions
- what routes would you recommend (looking to cycle maybe 120km-150km per day, if I could start in Siena and loop back another way

- Would be looking to take in some nice routes with some nice hills and hit some country roads away from lots of traffic

Any suggestions would be great

ROK ON

damwalsh wrote: »

New to boards so this is my first post.

am attending a wedding on the 25th of September in Siena. and am looking to maybe head over a little earlier say on the 22nd or 23rd of September and get some cycling in first.

Anyone any suggestions
- what routes would you recommend (looking to cycle maybe 120km-150km per day, if I could start in Siena and loop back another way

- Would be looking to take in some nice routes with some nice hills and hit some country roads away from lots of traffic

Any suggestions would be great

Best town in Italy bar none. Have been there a few times but not on a bike.
Landscape is rolling and also there is the Strade Bianchi - white gravel roads.

From my visits two hilltop fortress villages stand out. They are Montergionni and San Gimangno.
We got a bus to both and it travelled on quite country roads.
Montergionni is tiny but stunning. The climb fron the road up to the fortress village is only about 1km but is steep.
There is/was a great restaurant there called I'll Pozzo.

Also in Sienna I would eat in two places
(1) restaurant in an old converted pharmacy near the Univ.
(2) Roast house on the corner of the square at the Monte di Paschi building.

A colleague of mine went to college there so I will ask for more cycling routes.

CheGuedara

Siena - would go back there in a flash.

Haven't done it myself but there's a nice cycle to be done between Siena and Volterra heading north from Siena to just south of Colle di Val d'Elsa then west to Volterra.

It's a climb up to to Volterra (it's an old city on a volcanic plug looking over a surrounding plain (spectacular) and out and back would be 105km or so or 150km going in a loop like this

Ant

I stayed in San Gimignano for a week a few year's back when a friend got married in the old town of Certaldo and I'd agree that Tuscany is fabulous for cycling. Che's route looks pretty good as I greatly enjoyed travelling the route between Volterra and Siena before looping back up to the north.

I was there before I got back into cycling (last year) and at the height of summer. While I was tempted to rent a bicycle, everyone else went for mopeds which I must admit was a great way of seeing the countryside without having to suffer the hills in the August heat (since getting back into cycling, I've learned that a little bit of suffering is good for the soul). For your wedding in late September, I'd imagine the temperature should be just fine for cycling.

damwalsh

Cheers for the comments guys.

Had a quick look a the map and seems that piza and florance are in striking distance so plan at the mo is to cycle to pisa and spend the night and then onto florence stop off there for a few hours and then head back for siena through the hills.

looking on the internet it seems that the countryside is nice place to be cycling through

CheGuedara

[jealousy]You'll really enjoy it[/jealousy]

If you've not cycled or driven in Italy just be aware that if you hear beeping as you approach a right hand corner that may be your warning that there's an Italian on a motorcycle/scooter taking the racing line against you :eek: - just something to be aware of (explains a lot of how Val Rossi came into doing what he does so well).

Also if you're going to grab a bit of food in Siena I can totally recommend the Gallo Nero restaurant, there's no place to buy bad coffee on the Piazza del Campo in the middle of the city and good luck finding a bad Tuscan wine while you're there