Tuscany

[villageidiot]

My wife and I are considering a week in Tuscany, we were thinking of an apartment/villa in July renting a car. Any guidance or advice would be greatly appreciated. We were considering Tuscany for the food and weather.

[goorwich]

If you want to be by the sea try Viareggio .
You can visit Florence and many other places in 1/2 hours..
You land in Pisa so spend first day there.

Edited by goorwich on Wednesday 8th May 15:50

[Kapenta]

I'll second Viareggio. We have stayed there a number of times and specifically in Hotel Eur, in Lido do Camaiore (it is an affordable hotel with a pool and if you do stay there, get a top floor sea-facing room).

Great beaches, good Hobie sailing, fantastic seafood restaurants and day boat-trips to Cinque Terre / Portovenere / Isola D'Elba are worthwhile, as are the train trips to Pisa and Lucca.

[The_Doc]

We've done south Tuscany, which is less Anglicised, for the last three years.

Based around Volterra, we love the countryside and food. You can get to Sienna in 45 mins and the more well trodden paths are only 60 mins away ( Chianti valley )

This year we're back to Pomerance, which is 45 mins from Pisa airport and fab.

Rent the villa directly from the owner via ownersdirect.com

I went here on holiday as a child with my folks and it really is worth the hype.

Aiming to see da Vinci's home town this year!

[a311]

Watching this thread with interest.

Need to sort something out in lieu of our anniversary as the Mrs has stuff on.

Always wanted to see Florence and it's the last Italian city I want to see on my list that needs ticked off. Flights from lcoal airport dictate a week or 4 nights so way thinking a week spread between Florence, Pisa and somewhere else so wil Google some of the places mentioned above-or would we be better off picking a central-ish location and just doing a couple of day trips to the cities?

ETA

The_Doc said:

We've done south Tuscany, which is less Anglicised, for the last three years.

Based around Volterra, we love the countryside and food. You can get to Sienna in 45 mins and the more well trodden paths are only 60 mins away ( Chianti valley )

This year we're back to Pomerance, which is 45 mins from Pisa airport and fab.

Rent the villa directly from the owner via ownersdirect.com

I went here on holiday as a child with my folks and it really is worth the hype.

Aiming to see da Vinci's home town this year!

The Doc-what the name of the place you've stayed via OD?

Edited by a311 on Thursday 9th May 11:05

[The Leaper]

a311,

Wife and I went to Pisa for 5 days two years ago: far too long for what is really a town that you can do in a day. I would not recommend being based there, but just do a round trip in a day.

This year in September we're going to Lucca for 5 days, flying into Pisa Airport. From Lucca it easy to get the train to Florence, Pisa, and Viareggio. In fact, we're thinking that Varieggio may be the base for a week's trip in 2014.

R.

[a311]

The Leaper said:

a311,

Wife and I went to Pisa for 5 days two years ago: far too long for what is really a town that you can do in a day. I would not recommend being based there, but just do a round trip in a day.

This year in September we're going to Lucca for 5 days, flying into Pisa Airport. From Lucca it easy to get the train to Florence, Pisa, and Viareggio. In fact, we're thinking that Varieggio may be the base for a week's trip in 2014.

R.

Cheers. Looking at being based somewhere in the countryside and then just take day trips to Pisa/Florence. As you fly into FLorence might stay there the first or last night as we'll be flying in and out so might be worth doing instead of a day trip. Will have a look at Lucca now.

[gregd]

We stayed here which was lovely.. http://www.volpaia.com/sito/inglese/index.php

[The_Doc]

a311 said:

Watching this thread with interest.

Need to sort something out in lieu of our anniversary as the Mrs has stuff on.

Always wanted to see Florence and it's the last Italian city I want to see on my list that needs ticked off. Flights from lcoal airport dictate a week or 4 nights so way thinking a week spread between Florence, Pisa and somewhere else so wil Google some of the places mentioned above-or would we be better off picking a central-ish location and just doing a couple of day trips to the cities?

ETA

The_Doc said:

We've done south Tuscany, which is less Anglicised, for the last three years.

Based around Volterra, we love the countryside and food. You can get to Sienna in 45 mins and the more well trodden paths are only 60 mins away ( Chianti valley )

This year we're back to Pomerance, which is 45 mins from Pisa airport and fab.

Rent the villa directly from the owner via ownersdirect.com

I went here on holiday as a child with my folks and it really is worth the hype.

Aiming to see da Vinci's home town this year!

The Doc-what the name of the place you've stayed via OD?

Edited by a311 on Thursday 9th May 11:05

2013 and 2012. Casa Edoudo. http://www.ownersdirect.co.uk/italy/it3189.htm
Really, really amazing place owned by a chap called Mark who returns your emails in 6 hours and bends over backwards to make the booking and holiday smooth. The villa has two mirror lodgings, one looks out over the valley, the other out over the valley and the hill.

2011 http://www.ownersdirect.co.uk/italy/It3506.htm
Lovely place with choice of three sizes of apartment . Runs by a British couple who live out there. Again such a pleasure to deal with.

I'd stay at either again, in fact I am !

Edited by The_Doc on Friday 10th May 20:32

[nej606k]

We've stayed at www.santantonio.it and it was superb. Plenty of good reports on Tripadvisor too.

Edited by nej606k on Friday 17th May 20:53