Day in Tuscany or is Florence a Must?

[Cruise Junky]

Hi..I'm a bit torn...I'd love to spend a day exploring Tuscany, drinking wine, tasting Olive Oils and visiting little towns...But..I've never been to Florence. Is Florence a must on your first visit? I'm a little underwhelmed by going to Florence. I know the art is wonderful, but I don't want to spend all day in art galleries.

 

If we did Florence, we'd do it through the ship.."Florence on your own" but if we did Tuscany..can you recommend a good tour company?

 

Thanks

[joan24]

For my first visit, I would definitely see Florence. I have a wonderful guide who you could use in Florence or she could take you to some of the towns in Tuscany. She is wonderful and a pleasure to tour with. Her name is Pauline Priore and she's an American who has lived in Florence for over 25 years. You can email her at paulinep@tin.it. If you contact her, tell her that Joan and Bob say hi.

Joan

[snshn3]

for Tuscan wine tours check out:

http://www.fodors.com/forums/threadselect.jsp?fid=2

[cberge]

I would say that Florence would be a must on your first trip,but that is MHO.There is more to see in Florence than just the art galleries.We have been before and are going again this year,but spending 2 weeks traveling by train.We are going to Tuscany as well,but doing day trips with the idea we will go back and stay there for a week or two at some future time,but I would not have traded seeing Florence for Tuscany the first time out.

[nomoresnow]

We decided to do tour tuscany on our recent cruise. Here is a review of our day. It was one of the highlights of our cruise.

 

On Monday we were scheduled to arrive in Livorno at 7a.m. We were arranged a tour of Tuscany with tuscanytours.net. Because it was Monday, we decided that a Tuscany tour would be more productive as the major museums are closed in Florence. This was a wonderful day. We meet another couple through the message boards to share our tour. At 7:30 Maximo picked the four of us up in a roomy van. We drove through some beautiful country which looked just like a postcard. The air was clean and fresh. There were beautiful fluffy clouds in the blue sky. We arrived in San Gimignano with its 14 towers that date back to the 11th century, as it was coming alive for the day. Maximo walked us to a special area in a grove of olive trees so that we could view some of beautiful countryside and impressive towers. We toured the Duomo, the Piazza of the Cisterna, and a few shops and then our adventure continued.

Maximo then drove us to castle town called Monteriggioni. This was such a quiet place which let you imagine you had stepped back in time. After this stop we were off to Siena.

Maximo drove us into the town and parked next to the Duomo. We toured this part of town and visited the Duomo. Maximo then walked us to the famous Piazza Del Campo. He gave us about an hour and a half to shop and enjoy lunch. We decided to dine at a great little restaurant called La Torre. The four of us that were touring together, went to this little place just off the Piazza. We had read a review in Frommers and everyone’s review was right on target. This was the best Italian food we ever had (my husband is of Italian descent too!). We had a carafe of the house wine, some bottled water, some delicious homemade spinach tortellini in a butter and cheese sauce, and two big bowls of some delicious Tuscan ham tossed in an olive oil and tomato sauce. The check was only 39 Euros for four people. It was not only delicious but a bargain too. After lunch we shopped a little and met Maximo back at his car. He asked if we might be interested in a wine tasting since we still had some time before we need to drive back to the ship. We of course said yes!!!!

Our next stop was the Vancanze In. We had a wonderful wine tasting. We sampled some 8 wines and probably could have had a few more. We bought some great bottles of Chianti Reserve and other great wines. What a great day!!!! Fabulous scenery, good food, good wine and good friends! I would highly recommend this wonderful tour.

[ajpack]

Joan24... Do you have any prices for Pauline? How many people can she accommodate? Are you expected to get other people to go along to defray the expense or will she book others to fill up her tour?

 

Anne

[wwinfl91]

I would suggest if this is first trip to the area to definitely go to Florence with a stop in Pisa on the way. Then the next time you are in the area you can do the countryside of Tuscany. That is how we are planning it. We did Florence and Pisa last year and figure to return to the Med over the next couple of years and see some of the countryside on our next trip.

 

By the way I can also suggest a guide we used who did an excellent job. Paola lives in the Old city area of Florence and does a great job as a tour guide. We did a tour with 3 other couples, 8 people in all, and had a very good time. Her web site is:

 

http://www.florencetour.com/

 

Have a great next cruise.

[msmeltz]

Hi,

Just got back from July 1 Brilliance. Florence is beautiful, but very hard to see on a one day tour. Our ship didn't come in at Livornia as planned, but an hour further north. It was a long ride to florence. Our private tour driver, driverinrome.com, had reserved tickets for the David, so we passed everyone on line. Then he let us off at a street market, and we had one hour to eat and explore. We wanted to get to Pisa. We spent practically the whole day in the van. We had been to Florence before, so it wasn't that upsetting, but if you expect to see it all....there is just not enough time.People that did the tuscany trip said it was fabulous.

[Cruise Junky]

Hi,

Just got back from July 1 Brilliance. Florence is beautiful, but very hard to see on a one day tour. Our ship didn't come in at Livornia as planned, but an hour further north. It was a long ride to florence. Our private tour driver, driverinrome.com, had reserved tickets for the David, so we passed everyone on line. Then he let us off at a street market, and we had one hour to eat and explore. We wanted to get to Pisa. We spent practically the whole day in the van. We had been to Florence before, so it wasn't that upsetting, but if you expect to see it all....there is just not enough time.People that did the tuscany trip said it was fabulous.

 

I know...I haven't read a bad review about it, everyone just raves. And that's my idea of Italy, spending a day in the tuscan hills. I guess either way, we'll be back...it's a place I've always wanted to spend some time. We'll just see if we feel like a day touring another city, more museums and churches, or a day in the country....we should all be so lucky to have to make these choices :)

[Aussie Gal]

Having been to Florence twice, each time for a few nights and also having stayed in a hill town for a five nights on another visit, for one day I would suggest Tuscany. Florence is so hard to see in a day and the crowds are enormous. Everywhere you go you find people queuing up to see either David which to me is the most wonderful thing in Florence, to go into the Duomo or the Pitti Palace or the Ufizzi. There are just too many people and not enough time.

 

I would see Pisa and then go to San Gimignano and Sienna. I would also try to get to a winery for lunch and that would be a perfect day's outing. We stayed San Gimignano and the best time is at the beginning of the day and the end of the day when all the tourists have gone. It is a wonderful town with spectacular views over the Tuscan Hills.

 

I would love to return to that part of Italy. Enjoy.

 

Jennie.