Holiday in Tuscany

[Stribs]

Hi All
We are thinking a spending a few days in Tuscany in June, in the Pisa/Florence/Siena region.
Has anyone got any recommendations on areas to stay/hotels?
Any help gratefully received.

Stribs

[Gala Placidia]

I would suggest a stay in Lucca, good location, not overcrowded with tourists, beautifully walled city full of monuments and places of interest, Puccini's festival, centrally located train station with good links, charming cafes and restaurants.... It's got the lot....

[Charles Phillips]

What do you want to do? If you want 'culture' and to explore the back alleys of one of the larger towns (Florence, Pisa or Siena) then stay anywhere inside one of these cities - preferably a hotel with car-parking. It is so much nicer to mooch about Siena/Pisa when the coachtours have decamped to Poggibonsi for the night. Even a Holiday Inn if you are on a budget - just be as central as possible in my opinion, and explore on foot.

[Stribs]

I think culture rather than sun worshiping, we can do that here.
Anna's been to this area but I've not

Stribs

[Charles Phillips]

Well sure it isn't about sun worshipping! Just try and work out what you want to do in the evening, and if it is your first trip to Tuscany and you are interested in looking at 'the monuments', and getting a real feel for Renaissance city living, then ignore the (very beautful) minor destinations like Lucca and go for the full immersion stuff offered by Siena or Florence. Neither of these cities is very large, so even if you are in a hotel 500m from the centro storico you can amble back after a good dinner on foot with no problems. But don't think you can do a 'drive past' in any of the cities you have mentioned - that is nightmare stuff. Just plant your roots, drop off the car, and wander about. That's my advice! These places were built for pedestrians (or maybe horse riders) and a car is an embarrassment.

[Aretina]

Hi Stribs

Why not Arezzo, as you say you want to spend a few days in Tuscany.

It is equidistance between both Siena and Florence. Florence 40 mins. on the train and Siena a very easy 55 mins. drive. You also then are within easy reach of many other lovely hill towns, culture, wonderful food, Chianti, Montalcino and Montepulciano for wine and breath taking scenery

Arezzo itself, Etruscan, Roman and Medieval stuff all around but has the buzz of a busy, content with itself, city. Loads of art - Piero della Francesco, Vasari etc.

Also if you come the second week you could go to the Medieval Giostra (Joust) Arezzo's answer to Siena' s Palio.

Aretina

[Sally Donaldson]

Arezzo is lovely but still I feel does not offer nearly as much as Lucca. The walk around the wooded wall which takes around an hour offers on one side views of the magnificent Tuscan countryside and on the other the actual very pretty small city. So different and special.

Good restaurants abound, pedestrian precinct in the centre, Tower Guinigi with it's unique trees on the top, Sito ufficiale APT Lucca - Homepage, fewer tourists than Florence, Pisa and Siena. There is also Italy's fairly new National Museum Of Comics plus of course Puccini's house which is now a museum dedicated to the composer.

[Steve Graham]

It all depends on how long you intend to stay and whether you'll have a car.

If you don't intend to drive, then Pisa, Lucca and Florence have easy rail connections between them. Siena's train station is quite inconvenient, so I've tended to use the coach. My recommendation would be to stay in the centre of Florence and make day trips to the other cities... or not! There's so much to see in Florence that you could easily spend a fortnight there without being bored. Well, I could anyway.

(As an economy tip: Tuscany's spa towns are overprovided with hotel accommodation, so you can often get real bargains. Montecatini Terme is on the rail line between Florence and Lucca, and is pleasant enough as a base.)

If you intend to have a car, you might consider taking some rural accommodation. It's what I've tended to do in recent years -- you can take a break between fighting the tourists in Florence and spend a day relaxing by the pool instead.

[Sally Donaldson]

I love Montecatini Terme also. The public gardens in the centre area are so pretty. Here too is a link from an interesting website that was posted on another forum, to an hotel there - :: GRAND HOTEL NIZZA - MONTECATINI TERME ::

[Gala Placidia]

Although Montecatini Terme is very well located, the beautiful part of the town is the upper, old area which is quite a distance from the lower area where the station is located. Also, it does not have a lot of atmosphere and I would recommend either Lucca or Florence for a Tuscany experience. I do not know Arezzo.... not as yet.