em101

Hello

Myself and a friend – both 30 years old, female are planning a trip to Italy in September/October. We would like to visit a couple of cities and towns and spend a few days walking through the Tuscan countryside. We would really appreciate any help or guidance anyone could give us.

We plan to fly into Pisa and would like to travel by train (rather than bus as one of us gets travel sick) as much as possible (short bus journeys are fine). Neither of us want to drive – I know people will say it is better to drive but we are not going to drive, this is a definite!!

We are considering flying to Pisa to Florence (1/2nights) , Siena (1 night) and walking from Montalcino to some of the surrounding towns. Essentially, we would really like to walk through the Tuscan countryside for a few days, seeing beautiful scenery and pretty towns, stopping for nice food and wine. We will have 7 – 9 nights in total.

Any guidance as to where to go to see the nicest scenery would be much appreciated. We have received some very helpful advice from Fodors in the past!

swandav2000

Hi em101,

Sorry, I don't have any personal suggestions to make --

Just wanted to pass on one possibility for you, a company that arranges your hotels & walks & supports and then leaves you alone (I've never done one but have always wanted to).

http://www.randonneetours.com/tours/..._Itinerary.htm

Good luck as you plan!

s

em101

Thanks S - that looks lovely. I have already taken my big trip this year so am planning this one on a budget (it was meant to be a cheap week in the sun somewhere but I couldn't resist Tuscany!!). Essentially, I would love to do a trip like this but budget restraints mean I will need to do it by myself rather than with a company!

dreamon

It depends on your definition of 'nicest scenery' but we did some walking in the hills north-east of Lucca (the Garfagnana area) a few years ago and we loved it. It's quite forested and quite hilly. There are buses and trains from Lucca, depending on which town you choose.

Even if you don't take an organised tour, you can 'borrow' some of their ideas so they are worth looking at. There are many around.

sandralist

Consider flying into Rome and taking the train to Chiusi, and from there investing in a taxi ride to Montepulciano or Pienza. It will cost you around 25 euros apiece to share the cab, but it will put you in the heart of the most famous scenery.

You might find this old thread useful

http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...tepulciano.cfm

bilboburgler

What a great idea. My thoughts are
1) Start with google maps and get make the switch that shows you the topography or elevations well. Using this you will quickly see that Tuscany is made up of a few rivers and a series of tall hill ridges. Away from Pisa/Lucca and Florence nearly everything else is on the top of a hill (because P/L/F were such mean b@@@@ds)
2) So, while you will want to start a walk at the end of the train line (ie the valley bottom) you may want to end up at the top.
3) This topography does affect your planning (or your knees)
4) The second thing is to realise that while the roads don't go everywhere the "white roads" go about everywhere and local tourist info can provide maps etc (or just use GPS and google) though note that they may be dogs etc.

So you can walk to Pienza to St Querico with only a dip before the end. I've also done Montriggioni to Siena though the train stops just to the north of M (and below).

Words with Mont- have a clue in them

willit

THere is an article from the UK Daily Telegraph about the Via Francigena at http://tinyurl.com/o483tu8. This is the Pilgrim trail that passed down Italy to Rome and it passes through Monteriggione and Siena.

Also the official site at http://www.viefrancigene.org/en/ which includes maps and articles about the whole route.

ALthough this site is more general, and basically a book advert, it does contain some interesting trails:
http://www.50hikesoftuscany.com/

When I've been to the Abbey at San Antimo, I've always wanted to follow the path that heads towards Montalcino in one direction or Bagno Vignoni in the other. The paths are well marked, but I am not sure how easy it would be to get to any of these by bus or other public transport.

em101

Thanks for the posts - that is really helpful. Flights to Pisa booked this morning so tied to that.

Very preliminary itinerary so far looks like:

Sun 28 Sept – Arrive in Pisa, take train to Florence, spend evening there.
Mon 29 Sept– Florence - spend day sightseeing.
Tues 30 Sept– Florence to Siena - sightseeing Siena.
Wed 1 Oct – Siena - walk from Sienna - hope to walk to one of towns around Siena - any suggestions welcome
Thurs 2 Oct– Siena to Montalcino- relax, look around town
Fri 3 Oct– Montalcino - Saint Antamo – Montalcino
Sat 4 Oct– Montalcino – San Quirico D’orcia – Pienza
Sun 5 Oct– Pienza – Montepulciano
Mon 6 Oct– Montepulciano to either Lucca or Pisa - any suggestions on which is nicer to stay in?
Tues 7 Oct– Luca to Pisa/ Pisa sightseeing

Does this look like a reasonable itinerary? Is there anything left out that we should add or anything there that is maybe not the best use of our time? Any suggestions or thoughts much appreciated! Also, any accommodation suggestions appreciated...hoping to stay under €75 a night between us!

wekewoody

I can tell you that the first 30 minutes or so of the walk from
Sant'Antimo to Montalcino is lovely. That is as far as we got as we had a car to return to.

I am not sure how you would get there without a car (bus?) but we noticed signs for a lot of trails that lead out of Bagno Vignoni. We did not take any of them, but the signage appeared to be new.

snowgirls

I would go to Lucca and walk the medieval walls all around the old city. Grand view and the town is made for walking. http://designforwalking.com/lucca-it...rian-friendly/

mama_mia

For Oct 1,the walk between Monteriggioni and Siena is about 3 hrs and goes along the Via Francigena (pilgrim trail mentioned earlier)so it is waymarked. There are buses between Siena and Monteriggioni, so you could do bus one way and walk the other.

Here is a youtube video showing what the walk is like:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Thn4ghMqRvs

kybourbon

>>>would like to travel by train (rather than bus as one of us gets travel sick) as much as possible (short bus journeys are fine)<<<

In rural Tuscany, you won't find much train service.

>>>Thurs 2 Oct– Siena to Montalcino- relax, look around town<<<

Are you walking or taking the bus?

>>>Sun 5 Oct– Pienza – Montepulciano<<<

Many buses don't run on Sundays (not quite clear which parts you plan to walk/bus).

A budget hotel (with great views) in Siena is the convent Hotel Alma Domus.

http://www.hotelalmadomus.it/

The bus from Florence to Siena is better than the train as it drops at the historic center (train station is a bit of a distance away from the center). The rapid bus is mostly divided highway, not country roads.

In Pienza, I've stayed at Il Giardino Segreto. They have apartments, but also a couple of rooms.

Luca/Pisa are only 20-25 minutes apart (train or bus) so you could stay in either.

http://www.ilgiardinosegretopienza.it/

sandralist

Are you aware of the via Francigena? If not, do some googling, especially for the parts of the path that go through Tuscany from Lucca to points south, and see if it helps clarify your trip.

Reading your original post I did not realize that you intended to overnight in separate towns, and walk between towns carrying your stuff. I assume you have thought about heat or downpours and are willing to carry on despite it, or are budgeting for car transport on days you don't want to deal with either.

Ticks are a problem is many parts of Tuscany. You should avoid walking or picnicking in grassy, brushy areas, or sitting on stone walls. If you are wearing walking shorts it is not a bad idea to use AUTAN PLUS anti-tick spray, available in Italian pharmacies. If walking in conventional trousers, tuck them into your socks.

I think you will need a true walking plan that keeps you off busy roads with truck, bus and other vehicular traffic. Most public roads in rural Tuscany have less than a ribbon of "shoulder", and to utilize unpaved farm roads, you really need to know where they actually go. You will need detailed maps.

bilboburgler

This link might help

http://www.bella-toscana.com/stradebianche.htm

Jean

Many museums in Florence are not open on Mondays which is the only full day you've given yourself there.

sandralist

I don't know what time you are arriving in Pisa, but if you could further south than Florence your first day, your itinerary might make more sense if you started at your southernmost point. You will have a long and complicated journey on public transportation going from Montepulciano to Lucca.

Upon arrival in Pisa, consider taking the train to Siena instead of Florence. The following morning, or on Tuesday morning, take the train from Siena to the Montepulciano train station, and it is about a one hour's walk from there to Montepulciano itself. Even if you had to spend the night in Florence your first night, I would start moving by train to your further point south right away and save Florence sightseeing for later in your trip. (Again, you could take a train from Florence to Chiusi and taxi if you don't want to walk from Montepuliciano station.

If you spend your first days in Siena, then on your way back from the val d'Orcia, if you don't want to stay in Siena again, consider staying in Buonconvento.

em101

Thanks for the assistance - really useful! Suggestions for walks are really useful - will look into them, particularly pilgrim trail.

Wekewoody - we plan to walk from Montalcino to Saint Antamo.

Kybourbon - plan is to get the bus from Siena to Montalcino and walk Montalcino – San Quirico D’orcia – Pienza on one day (longest walk). I have booked the hotel you recommend in Sienna - looks ideal.

Sandralist - yes we have considered this, I am more hesitant on carrying our own bags that my travel companion!! Useful to note re ticks.

sandralist

Have you checked these bus schedules? If not, if you are booking hotels, have they got reasonable cancellation policies? You might really need to fine tune this routes.

It is actually quite tricky to do a lot of walking in this part of Tuscany. One of the reasons the area is popular is that it is ideal for a driving vacation. People do take walking vacations in Tuscany, but there is not much invested locally to support that kind of tourism (as you find further north in Italy or along the famous St James/Santiago walk in France/Spain).

I too would be hesitant about carrying luggage. You have the possibilities of rain and heat to contend with. If you end up hiring taxis to get you from one place to the next because of bad weather or no buses are running and you have hotel reservations, costs can add up.

On a separate thread, I suggested to somebody contemplating a driving vacation in Tuscany not to overplan it, because being spontaneous while driving in Tuscany is the icing on the cake. But I think without a car you need not only a detailed and precise Plan A, but also a detailed and precise Plan B for -- literally -- every step of the way. Especially since you are trying to cover such a very large chunk of Tuscany.

caze17

Last year, my husband and I hiked on a white road from Pienza to Monticchiello and back. We really enjoyed it. You can click on my screen name to find a few more details on the hike in my (very long) trip report.

Since you are doing a point-to-point trip, your October 5th day that you reference above, might break down like this: depart from Pienza, walk to Monticchiello, enjoy lunch at Osteria la Porta, and continue walking to Montepulciano for the evening. I think that your suggested itinerary is very do-able, though keep in mind that you will be carrying a full backpack, not just a measly daypack like I was. Only you know what you are capable of.

We stayed at this B&B in Pienza, which was very affordable:
http://www.rossellino.it/
The breakfast was terrible (stale croissants), but otherwise, I highly recommend it.

Enjoy your trip!

cbgetaway2015

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