Florence Travel Answers

Well, I assume that you have been visiting www.trenitalia.com for train schedules. If not, you should. I do admit to using the Italian side of the website, since it seems to be less problem than the English side. Can you go from San Gimignano to the Cinque Terre without going through Florence? Yes. Is it easy? You tell me. www.trenitalia.com suggests that you can go from San Gimignano to Empoli (due west of Florence), change trains to go to Pisa (farther west of Florence and more or less due south of the Cinque Terre), and then change trains in Pisa to go to Riomaggiore (one of the Cinque Terre that I picked at random). The whole process takes about three hours. Make sense? Bill

Bill, Thanks for this. yes, I did go Trenitalia except it kept crashing. From past travels in Italy, I seem to remember that Florence to Cinque terre takes 2+ hours so this does not seem too bad. Thanks again. If you have travelled in any of the hill towns and have any suggestions on how you moved around, I'd love to hear about it. I've been to Lucca from Florence for a day trip but I'd liek to stay in one these places for an extra day and really explore. Thanks again.. Steve

Dear Steve, I've traveled to Italy both by train and by car, and each is good for a different reason. If you only want to visit the major cities along the train route, then great, but if you want to do some exploring, and I would consider Cinque Terra, exploring, then I would suggest renting a car, for at least part of the time you're traveling. Two years ago I visited the cities you mentioned. I think it would be very difficult by train. From Rome to Florence there are some lovely villages near Siena. Some of these are Pienza, San Quirico, Montepulciano, and Montelcino. You have to have a car to get to these towns. Also, near Cinque Terra, is a town called Sarzana that is really nice, but you have to have a car. Next to San Gimignano is Volterra, and I'm not sure you can get there by train. You can also check out: raileurope.com/us/rail/fares... for train schedules , fares and station locations. If you're interested in renting a car, the cheapest I've found is: webcarhire.com/QuotationDeta... I'm going to France in June, and my car rental is32 a day including insurance. The flexibility of having a car is really worth it. You will love San Gimignano. Their Thursday Market is a lot of fun, and there is a kitchen trailer that drives in just for the market that sells the best roasted chicken and potatoes I've ever had. Good Luck and I hope I've helped. elissa

I have been to hill towns both by train and by car. The car can get you some places that the train can't (or does with difficulty) - on the other hand, you can't drive into some of the hill towns. For example, Assisi is a great place to visit, but you have to park your car at a municipal lot just outside the upper city. In our case, we walked up to the hotel, which sent a taxi down to get our luggage. In other cities like Spoleto and Chiusi, you can drive into town, but finding a parking place can be tough. Besides, streets in medieval cities were meant to be twisting and tortuous to slow down attacking armies - you know what it does to your sense of direction ;-). A year and a half ago, we went to Portovenere - just south of the Cinque Terre. Actually, it's like one of the Cinque Terre without all of Rick Steve's publicity (great guy, but people swarm the places he talks about). I don't think the train goes to Portovenere (you take the train to La Spezia and probably take a bus out to Portovenere), but if you have a car, you just drive out to the end of the bay through La Spezia and the road ends in a small fishing village where you watch dinner brought in on fishing boats. We happened to be there at Thanksgiving, and nobody was there - either foreign or Italian. Bill