3 days in Florence or Tuscany (before cruise)?

[arsesta]

Hi folks!

 

Would appreciate some advice on our itinerary for honeymoon in September. Arrive in Venice on 9/25 and board Celebrity Reflection at Civitavecchia on 9/30. We will have time after cruise to visit Rome.

 

Question is related to the days before cruise. Original plan is to do 2 nights in Venice, 3 nights in Florence with a day tour to Tuscany. Given that we love food, wine, and local culture, we are now thinking of skipping Florence completely and spend the 3 days in Tuscany visiting vineyards, farmers market, eating our way through this part of the country. We're in our mid/late 30's and want to savor the Italian experience (backpacking/whirlwind travel days are behind us). We will have plenty time to do museums in Rome so I am not devastated about skipping Florence. We are not strong drivers, and we prefer public transport, but I heard going through southern Tuscany by bus/train is hard.

 

Which itinerary do you recommend:

3 days in Florence with one of the days on a guided tour in Tuscany

vs.

No Florence, all 3 days in Tuscany, with a ca rental and DIY tour

vs.

3 day guide tour in Tuscany

 

Obviously we want to keep cost reasonable but this is also our honeymoon so willing to splurge on a guided tour. Which company do you recommend?

 

Thank you!

[Hlitner]

Given that you do not want to drive, we think your idea of 2 nights in Venice and 3 in Florence is a very good plan. You can use the train from Venice to Florence. Florence is an amazing city which also makes a perfect base if you want to do 1 or even 2 days exploring the nearby rural parts of Tuscany. The Chianti wine road (S222) actually runs between Florence and Siena and you might also consider a couple of ours in a city like San Gimignano. Since we do our own driving in Europe, we will leave the tour company recommendations to others :).

 

Hank

[wheezedr]

Should open this comment with my bias that Florence is my favorite city in Italy so I would encourage you to spend some time there. Actually I like your realitive itinerary and would think with three middle days you could see Florence and still spend some time in the Tuscan countryside. The train works well especially Santa Maria Novella in Florence which is right in town. Finding one hotel for those nights would save lots of check in and out hassles. You could easily rent a car for the day to do some of the hill towns or wineries. Driving into or out of Florence was not hard and certainly not like Rome or Paris where I always go out to the airport first . There are a number of agencies nears the train station. Day trips could be to, sienna, San grimigliano, Lucca. Not all of them but you can pick. If you do not want to rent a car I am sure there are day tour companies as well.

Spend part of one day just wandering around town marveling at the duomo, the gates to heaven, various churches, etc. The big museum question would be whether or not to do the Academia. As a stand alone museum it does not rank among the must sees of the world, but it does have the David, and that is it's great draw. Have been twice, once on my first visit to Florence and later when I brought my son, and would have to say it is worth seeing in my opinion.

[tiqittaq foo]

We spent 4 days in Florence before taking the train to Venice for embarkation.

Stayed in a AirBnB close to Santa Maria Novell train station

Day 1- walk around Florence,

Day 2- ( guided) day tour to Cinq Terre, depart near SMN train station

Day 3- visit to Uffizi Gallery and other key sights in Florence

Day 4- ( guided) day tour to San Gimignano ( my third visit to SG)Chianti Wine tasting and Siena, depart near SMN train station

Day 5- 9.30 am train to Venice

 

Ate lots of gelato, twice had dinner at Il Latini, must try the Florentine steak there.

 

 

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[TMLAalum]

Florence is well-worth a three night stay, but since you will be staying in Venice and Rome you will have the experience of city explorations there.

 

So renting a car and exploring the Tuscan countryside will be an ideal change of pace and give you a whole different flavor of Italy! Plus you have the freedom of spontaneity in that you can stop and enjoy whatever & whenever you wish.

 

September is a perfect time to visit vineyards and wineries. Hank's suggestion of San Gimignano is seconded by me...we also liked Lucca (but park outside the city walls) and Volterra. If you pick a central location in Tuscany you can hub & spoke and just unpack once.

[BEENSAILING]

We spent 4 days in Florence before taking the train to Venice for embarkation.

Stayed in a AirBnB close to Santa Maria Novell train station

Day 1- walk around Florence,

Day 2- ( guided) day tour to Cinq Terre, depart near SMN train station

Day 3- visit to Uffizi Gallery and other key sights in Florence

Day 4- ( guided) day tour to San Gimignano ( my third visit to SG)Chianti Wine tasting and Siena, depart near SMN train station

Day 5- 9.30 am train to Venice

 

Ate lots of gelato, twice had dinner at Il Latini, must try the Florentine steak there.

 

 

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what day tour company (companies) did you use? and were you happy with them? we are thinking of going to Florence after our cruise (which ends in Rome.) Thank you..

[tiqittaq foo]

Beensailing:

 

I stayed at Novella House in Florence ( by the way, excellent location and accommodation). The owner booked the tours for us. The tour operator is My Tours, http://www.mytours.it. Both tours were very good in terms of sights, timing and price. Francesca, owner of Novella House can book day tours for you. (novellahouse@gmail.com) No payment needed until the start of tour.

 

 

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[cruisemom42]

I would vote for basing yourself in Florence and doing a daytrip or two to see Tuscany. But then I like cities. I think you are going to find plenty of foodie opportunities in Florence, including great restaurants.

 

Also look for the new 'food market' upstairs area at the Mercato Centrale:

https://thecuriousappetite.com/2015/06/03/food-markets-of-florence/

[maryann ns]

The first time we were in Florence we took a one day cooking course with Accidental Tourist and had a very memorable day. They now have an all day cooking and wine day which sounds wonderful. http://www.accidentaltourist.com/

 

However my first choice would be to rent a car and get into Tusany and tour around on your own.

[slidergirl]

We spent 4 days in Florence before taking the train to Venice for embarkation.

Stayed in a AirBnB close to Santa Maria Novell train station

Day 1- walk around Florence,

Day 2- ( guided) day tour to Cinq Terre, depart near SMN train station

Day 3- visit to Uffizi Gallery and other key sights in Florence

Day 4- ( guided) day tour to San Gimignano ( my third visit to SG)Chianti Wine tasting and Siena, depart near SMN train station

Day 5- 9.30 am train to Venice

 

Ate lots of gelato, twice had dinner at Il Latini, must try the Florentine steak there.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums mobile app

 

Another for basing in Florence. I'm not a guided tour kind of person, though. I would just rent a car for a day trip out into the countryside. It's pretty easy to do and the majors have rental offices throughout Florence besides the offsite rental center at the airport. If you are picking up/dropping off the rental car, you do not have to worry about the ZTL in Florence; if you keep overnight, be sure your hotel/apartment/BnB has legal parking for you!!

 

I've eaten at Il Latini; I don't do red meat, but the roasted chicken was good. I did a walk-in there and was fortunate to only wait about 20 minutes for a table (I shared). I like Sostanza much more, though; their butter chicken was to die for!