Your first look at any one of the Hill Towns of Tuscany will take your breath away. You may have seen images of these stunning places in movies and books. But nothing can possibly prepare you for the real thing.
Once you experience this other-worldly countryside of abundance for yourself, you will understand perfectly why even the tiniest of these towns has been fought over continuously throughout history. Who wouldn't want to own the top of one of these hills, looking out across brilliant landscapes, covered in vineyards that yield plentiful harvests for the finest wines? Who would not be inspired to paint or sculpt or roam the hills in search of gemstones to craft into exquisite jewelry?
If you have decided to travel to Tuscany, you have made an excellent choice. But there are three essential points you will need to understand before you set out on your travels.
For a wonderful trip to Tuscany, plan to include five destinations, one large, one medium-sized, and three small. Florence, of course, is the absolute must as your large destination. Your trip to Tuscany would not be complete without including a visit to Florence. Few cities compare to Florence in terms of breathtaking beauty, as well as plentiful, awe-inspiring experiences. With its art and sculpture, gardens and architecture, history and culture, craftsmanship, wine and food, Florence will captivate you. Your time will race by. And likely you will decide that you simply must return another year.
Since Florence is the largest destination on your itinerary, plan to spend 5 days here. But then make day trips from Florence by train to two of your other destinations- the small but fascinating towns of Cortona and San Gimignano. Add five additional days to your trip, and split these between two remaining destinations, Montepulciano and Siena. So, your ideal trip will be 10 days total.
And what a trip it will be. You will have the time and latitude to truly soak in and enjoy this wonderful region. Sights to see. Art to peruse. Food and wine, relished at outdoor tables, overlooking the lively and spacious piazzas. Artisan shops. Local exuberance. Landscapes to inspire you. And the considerable fun of moving about amongst these towns and cities, with the journey as much a part of the delight as the arrival.
This trip to Tuscany will be rich in experiences. And it may seem like it will be a complex trip to arrange and take on your own. So, you may be tempted to take the easy route of signing up for a bus tour. Yes, the descriptions for these tours always do sound appealing. And it seems like it would be so much easier just to turn over the controls for your trip, and let someone else be in charge.
If your thinking is leaning in this direction, think again. Your trip to Tuscany is overflowing with possibility, too much so to waste it trapped on a bus with 30 other people. You will want time to relish the experiences of each of these remarkable towns and cities.
A group tour will move too fast and try to pack in too much. It will be too constrained, including when you are sitting cramped up in the seats of that bus that was designed for a smaller breed of people than your towering American husband. It will be choreographed to someone else's liking, with much precious time wasted waiting for your fellow chattering tourists to get back to the bus. And as you race through a city that the tour guide has already seen several hundred times, you will be traveling about in a noisy hoard, blasting past all those intriguing shops and appealing bistros.
This is not what you want for your own, long anticipated, trip to Tuscany. Instead, you will want to move about in freedom, walking about and pausing as you like, spending more time here and less time there as things do or do not capture you. Some of your most memorable moments will be your bistro stops, your visits to the shops that catch your eye, your pause to look out across a view of peaceful hills and valleys, your wandering into a restaurant on the piazza with a fabulous piano player.
You will want to be free to take your time to explore the leather market in Florence, and study the original oils and watercolors by the artists who are displaying their own original work in Piazza Michelangelo.
Sitting at an outdoor table at a restaurant behind the Duomo in Florence, or on the wall facing the Duomo in Siena, you may find yourself caught up in a photo orgy, taking shot after shot of the intricate marble work, starting with the full structure, then focusing in more and more closely for a sequence of photos that captures the inlays of green, pink and white marble or the gilded image above the door or the statues looming over you from the eaves.
Once you experience this other-worldly countryside of abundance for yourself, you will understand perfectly why even the tiniest of these towns has been fought over continuously throughout history. Who wouldn't want to own the top of one of these hills, looking out across brilliant landscapes, covered in vineyards that yield plentiful harvests for the finest wines? Who would not be inspired to paint or sculpt or roam the hills in search of gemstones to craft into exquisite jewelry?
If you have decided to travel to Tuscany, you have made an excellent choice. But there are three essential points you will need to understand before you set out on your travels.
Point 1: Give Each Destination At Least One Full Day or Three or Five
For a wonderful trip to Tuscany, plan to include five destinations, one large, one medium-sized, and three small. Florence, of course, is the absolute must as your large destination. Your trip to Tuscany would not be complete without including a visit to Florence. Few cities compare to Florence in terms of breathtaking beauty, as well as plentiful, awe-inspiring experiences. With its art and sculpture, gardens and architecture, history and culture, craftsmanship, wine and food, Florence will captivate you. Your time will race by. And likely you will decide that you simply must return another year.
Since Florence is the largest destination on your itinerary, plan to spend 5 days here. But then make day trips from Florence by train to two of your other destinations- the small but fascinating towns of Cortona and San Gimignano. Add five additional days to your trip, and split these between two remaining destinations, Montepulciano and Siena. So, your ideal trip will be 10 days total.
And what a trip it will be. You will have the time and latitude to truly soak in and enjoy this wonderful region. Sights to see. Art to peruse. Food and wine, relished at outdoor tables, overlooking the lively and spacious piazzas. Artisan shops. Local exuberance. Landscapes to inspire you. And the considerable fun of moving about amongst these towns and cities, with the journey as much a part of the delight as the arrival.
Speaking of having time and latitude... This brings us immediately to...
Point 2: Avoid Group Tours and Have a Better Experience on Your Own
This trip to Tuscany will be rich in experiences. And it may seem like it will be a complex trip to arrange and take on your own. So, you may be tempted to take the easy route of signing up for a bus tour. Yes, the descriptions for these tours always do sound appealing. And it seems like it would be so much easier just to turn over the controls for your trip, and let someone else be in charge.
If your thinking is leaning in this direction, think again. Your trip to Tuscany is overflowing with possibility, too much so to waste it trapped on a bus with 30 other people. You will want time to relish the experiences of each of these remarkable towns and cities.
A group tour will move too fast and try to pack in too much. It will be too constrained, including when you are sitting cramped up in the seats of that bus that was designed for a smaller breed of people than your towering American husband. It will be choreographed to someone else's liking, with much precious time wasted waiting for your fellow chattering tourists to get back to the bus. And as you race through a city that the tour guide has already seen several hundred times, you will be traveling about in a noisy hoard, blasting past all those intriguing shops and appealing bistros.
This is not what you want for your own, long anticipated, trip to Tuscany. Instead, you will want to move about in freedom, walking about and pausing as you like, spending more time here and less time there as things do or do not capture you. Some of your most memorable moments will be your bistro stops, your visits to the shops that catch your eye, your pause to look out across a view of peaceful hills and valleys, your wandering into a restaurant on the piazza with a fabulous piano player.
You will want to be free to take your time to explore the leather market in Florence, and study the original oils and watercolors by the artists who are displaying their own original work in Piazza Michelangelo.
Sitting at an outdoor table at a restaurant behind the Duomo in Florence, or on the wall facing the Duomo in Siena, you may find yourself caught up in a photo orgy, taking shot after shot of the intricate marble work, starting with the full structure, then focusing in more and more closely for a sequence of photos that captures the inlays of green, pink and white marble or the gilded image above the door or the statues looming over you from the eaves.
