How does this sound for an itinerary. We’ve already been to Siena & Cinque Terra. Going late October early November this year.
8 Nights… 3 nite Lucca / 3 nites Verona / 2 nites Florence Also considered San Gimong Greve & Cortona is options
DAY 1 Arrv Florecence at noon / rent car at airport - drive to Lucca
Day 2 Lucca base
Day 3 Lucca base
Day 4 train to Verona
Day 5 Verona
Day 6 Verona
Day 7 train back to Florence / climb Duomo / bridge
Day 8 Florence museums
Day 9 depart from Florence for home
I’ve gotten mixed signals on Florence. Some people love it others have said they’d just day trip Florence. Have you been to both Neal? I’d liker to have another day in Florence since we’ve never been but flight schedules don’t align for it.
LOVE Florence. It is an extremely walkable city with some of the most amazing architecture and art in the world, as well as great food and wine opportunities. Verona is best known for something that happened there in a play.
There are a ton of day trips available from Florence (and there are threads on them here). And don’t get me wrong; I’d take a few days in Verona any day – just not at the expense of so many other places that offer more.
I’ve thought about a scenario where I rent an apartment in Florence for 5 nights and then go to Verona for a few nights with day tripping from Florence. The tough thing though is if you daytrip Greve, Lucca, Cortona etc you miss out on the enchantment of night time in any of those other places. I sort of hate seeing a town only as a day tripper like cruise ship person. That’s why I was going to pick one of those small villages to also sleep in? I like hearing other opinions and nothing is locked in stone yet but will be this week soon.
Hi Craig
Personally I’d save myself a couple of transfers and drop Verona (maybe returning there @ end of September another year to hit the end of the Opera season).
That then leaves Lucca as a great base to hit out to Pisa, Carrara (possibly too late for the San Miniato truffle festival), plus I’m told Bagni di Lucca is nice. Cinque Terre is sort of in range, but staying there is better IMO than a day trip.
Florence offers you the chance to give it a real good look or take a place in the nearby countryside and day trip in and also enjoy the scenery / take in some winery visits. If you’ll have a car withn that intention I’d lean towards the staying a little way out and perhaps even on a bus route to allow for easy access to the city.
Overall I would probably apply 1 extra day to Lucca (allowing for potential impact of jet-lag best beaten off by walking around a mostly pedestrianised walled city). The remaining 2+ days saved go to Florence and/or Tuscan countryside.
The reason for ditching Verona is purely logistical. 4 hours train travel either way, plus time spent checking out checking in, travel to from stations, a little contingency time plus packing / unpacking. That may end up as 12-14 hours of ‘mostly hassle / wasted time’ which could be replaced by stuff you want to see, do or just to relax and take in the scenes… and this written by someone with a genuine soft spot for travelling on Italian trains.
and don’t worry, you’ll still barely scratch the surface of the two bases you do stay in.
p.s. I see you mentioned apartments - definitely our preferred option in Italy, opening up options to do things at your own pace, be that rising at 4am or noon. Also the fine food shops, markets etc. are a joy and not a chore, allowing you to eat light but good at the apartment once a day, leaving just one hearty Italian meal a day to digest!
Love Lucca so I agree with you there. Florence appeals to some. Very different than Lucca.
You will be really close to some of the nicest Tuscan hill towns. Think about a day checking out San Gimignano, Volterra, Monteriggioni, Col di Val d’Elsa. All very beautiful and historic.
I’ve only been to Verona once, on business to visit a customer, totally jet-lagged, and being driven by an Italian at about 120MPH down the highway from Malpensa to get there. So I don’t remember that much, but also don’t remember being attracted enough to think I should go back and spend more time. Florence, OTOH, is a place I could go back multiple times. Love it, and the surrounding countryside and hill towns.
Craig
Worth noting that the bus services are often very good in Tuscany, with the advantage of offering centre of town arrivals (the train stations typically being 1-2km from the centre).
Additionally, if Verona still appeals, do explore ‘open-jaw’ tickets, often no more expensive, where you fly into one airport and out of a different one. Verona airport is a good exit airport as it is close to the city centre.
Finally, assuming Pisa is on the agenda, the field of miracles is special, but the area immediately around it is a truly awful exhibition of what mass tourism brings to a tourist attraction. This includes the road from both train stations to the field of miracles. Grim. However the city itself is bizarrely unblighted by tourism, with charming churches, good food (very fairly priced) and a decent pedestrianised main street for an evening passeggiata. So many people spend half a day there, say the Field of miracles is brilliant, but Pisa is a dump, not realising they never even saw Pisa itself!
Ditto the recommendations to consider skipping Verona this trip and spend the entire five nights in Florence area. We did five nights last November - flew in/out of Bologna, 2 nights near Panzano, 1 night in Florence, 2 nights near Montalcino. Amazing trip. We hadn’t been to Tuscany for several years, and we had a wonderful time discovering new things and leaving with a much different impression, particularly of Florence, than we did the first time around. I was also looking at Lucca, but really couldn’t fit it in to minimize travel times. We did add an Arezzo day trip - very much worth it for the famous frescoes.
I’m really glad we spent the night in Florence. We weren’t so impressed after our first trip as we did the museum, museum, church, museum couple of days- and even considered skipping it this trip. This time we hit one Church (Santa Maria Novella) and no museums - but took leisurely strolls, shopping, enotecas, book stores, perfumeria, lounging in cafes, etc. Walking across the Ponte Vecchio at night when it is all lit up during the passegiata was so much better than our first experience on a crowded May afternoon.
We had a car and driving wasn’t difficult - but highly recommend a GPS to help if you’re planning on visiting any wineries.
Whatever you decide, go with what things you and your family like to do. Have a wonderful time!
Thanks again, interested in any restaurant, apartment or villa recs for Florence, Cortona & Lucca. I have our air booked and am working on the details now. Still be something like; 2-3 nights in Lucca, 2-3 nights in Cortona or maybe a winery villa instead of Cortona and ending with 3 -4 nights in Florence before we fly out super early the next morning. I’m pretty sure about Lucca and still up in the air about Cortona vs staying at a Chianti or Brunello winery for 2-3 nights.