bouradly

I am halfway done with planning a rough itinerary, but need some advice regarding day trips:

1. I have approx 5 days in Florence. My itinerary so far consists of 3 full days just in Florence itself. I'd like to plan a day trip to Siena or San Gimignano. Is it possible to do a trip to both of these areas in one day? Also, I think the Fodors book I bought said to take a bus to Siena rather than the train. the SITA? Can the SITA bus take me to both of these places? Or should I sign up for one of these tour guide type buses? Does anyone know of a company that does this? There must be some out there, but I don't know where to start.

2. I have about 6 days in Rome. I haven't planned my rought itinerary for this yet because there's a lot of information. Thinking about a day trip to either Pompeii or Orvieto. I'm wondering if I should just spend all 6 days in Rome or do you think I would have time for one day trip?

willit

San Gimignano and Siena would be possible in a long daytrip. Download the PDF file from http://www.trainspa.it/2009/extraurbano.pdf

Table 131D gives you the trains from Florence that stop at Poggibonsi (where you need to change)
Table 130A gives you the Siena - San Gimignano buses (they stop at Poggibonsi) so you can work out the timings.

From Siena there are frequent buses to Florence.

bouradly

Thank you for the info for the buses!

LoveItaly

Depending on your interest in Rome bouradly you may or not want to take a side trip out of Rome. Personally I would find a day trip to Pompeii too long. I would take the train (about a one hour trip plus time getting to the train station etc) to Orvieto.

nancy

I would either visit Orvieto for a day or, if you'd like to see Roman village ruins, go to Ostia Antica with a stop along the way at the St Paul's Outside the Walls (now one of my favorite churches in Europe).

In my opinion, Pompeii is a long way to go.

Steve_James

Hi Bouradly - UIf you prefer organised excursions, there are at least two tour companies offering Siena + S. Gimignano as a day-trip - CAF Tours and SITA -

www.caftours.com/en/regtoursac.htm
http://tinyurl.com/yw6hx3

Rome-Pompeii normally takes 2-2.5 hours but is certainly viable as a day-trip if you don't mind a long day. Orvieto takes about an hour by train.

Hope this helps ...

Steve

Vttraveler

You could easily spend all 6 days in Rome and still leave with a long "to do" list. I think Pompeii is too far for a comfortable day trip but I know many people visit it that way. Ostia Antica is much closer, more of an easy half to three quarters day trip.
I would research possible day trips from Rome and decide whether or not to do them when you get there. Orvieto is a favorite for lots of people and is an easy hour train ride. Tarquinia with its Etruscan history was on my list of possible day trips last time but we never made it.

In Florence I would recommend spending some time in Fiesole which hardly rates as a real day trip--it is right outside the city and reachable by local bus.

jdc26

I've done Fiesole, Orvieto, Pisa, Siena, San Gimignano, Lucca and Parma all from Florence.

Happy travels!

jdc

ira

Hi bour,

Bus schedules (Firenze, Siena or Poggibonsi, San G) are at http://www.busfox.com/timetable/

ira

PS,

For Florence to Siena take the SITA bus from the station on Via Santa Caterina da Siena (near the SMN) to downtown Siena.

For Rome, I think a day in Orvieto would be worthwhile.

ALANP

If you really want to see Pompeii, then do it. Yes it's about 2.5 hours there and 2.5 back but doable. Take the train from Rome to Napoli, then the Cercumvesuvio (spelling?) to the Pompeii stop. Make sure you get on the right train going to Pompeii out of Napoli. Orvieto is also very easy in an hour and is quite lovely. In Florence take bus number 7 from outside the train station to Fiesole to another world. It's another great town overlooking Florence. Also Lucca is easy by train for a day trip. Enjoy!!

bouradly

Thanks for the advice and suggestions, everyone.

I think I might skip out on Pompeii this time around and take a day trip to Orvieto if I can fit it in my plans.

Also, thanks for the head's up on Fiesole. It sounds like a few of you enjoyed that city and I think I'll have time to check it out. I'll repost my rough itinerary once I have everything together to see what people think.

Thanks again! This forum has been very helpful.

MarieF

We spent 9 days in Rome this past May. You would be amazed how the time flies in that beautiful city! I have a trip report posted here (if you want to read it, click on my name). I was considering a day trip to Pompeii as well but decided against it. Instead, we went to Ostia Antica, the ruins of the old port of Rome that are at the mouth of the former location of the Tiber. Ostia is easily accessible by train from Rome (takes about an hour) and the ruins are extensive and really interesting. You can spend several hours to a half-day exploring. I'd considerable a trip there if you can fit it into your plans.

fitznj

Orvieto is really lovely. You could make that your stop in between Rome and Florence. Half a day would be perfect. We did the Caftours to San G. and Siena in one day. It was fine. Of course, would be wonderful to spend more time in either of those places....but I only had one day to dedicate to that. Really loved both places. Also, we did a tour with the company The Accidental Tourist and that was the highlight of my Florence visit. We did the wine tour and it was Nov and they were pressing the olive oil. So so cool. I recommend them highly. The only downside to the Caftours was that we had this sort of annoying woman as the tour guide and her idiomatic English was driving some of the people crazy. One guy even ditched the tour, calling her a Nazi! Pretty funny.... I just plugged in my ipod and enjoyed the ride.