Lucca Travel Forum

We'll be at a villa outside of Lucca in mid june before traveling to Geneva to visit family members. We will have a car and two boys aged 9 & 12. We are interested in Wineries, but will have to dole them out carefully as the children will be already over-exposed to the renissaince art of Florence, etc.

you must take them to the tower in Pisa only a few miles down the road. the area is crowded with people hawking everything and very tacky, but you and they must see the tower and get a picture. we did recently and left town in 10 minutes for lucca. i would vote for siena

I'll throw out the idea of Cinque Terre, about an hour NW of Lucca, in Neighboring Liguria. It will be a change of pace as it is on the coast, incredible villages, walking paths with breathtaking views.

My Liguria page has more info, and I've got a trasnportation tip on where to park since you've got the car (not big on advertising my pages but it may fit nicely in your plans)

Pisa does have much more to offer than just the tower, but it is worth a stop if only to see it, along with the baptistry and Duomo.

GOod luck

hi - despite all the described negatives above, I would still lean toward visiting the Tower, Baptistery, and Duomo in Pisa. How can you not? Siena would be perfect but is a fairly long trip from Lucca. Perhaps cutting cross country to Volterra would work. The Cinque Terra is justly famous or closer I believe is the resort city of Viareggio. Plenty of options.

I second the suggestion for Volterra. This is by far my favorite little unknown hilltown in Tuscany. Some will tell you San Gimignano, which is lovely but also insanely overrun by tourists. In Volterra you get the same benefits but very little tourists. THis means prices are better, the town is cleaner, easier and more relaxing to walk through and there is plenty of Roman history here as it has Etruscan roots. Your boys will be interested in the Roman amphitheater ruins and there's a fantastic Etruscan museum there (think Gladiator type stuff) and even a couple of wine & cheese shops where they do wine tasting for you two adults. I can't remember the name of the one we went to, but it is in the city centre. It's a small town so just ask anybody and they can direct you. Local souvenirs can be obtained very inexpensively here - the specialty is alabaster, which the city has mined for centuries and created lovely artifacts. Some of my favorite gifts to bring home from here are wine bottle stoppers, vases and ashtrays. They are small and cost next to nothing but look spectacular! Look for the handmade paper shops in town here also. Much cheaper than Florence but same quality. The restaurants are good here too. I think it your kids and you will enjoy it immensely on different levels. It should only be about one hour or maybe a bit more from Lucca.

Buon viaggio! LL

I'd suggest Morellino di Scansano winery. It has some of the best "new" Italian wine and they just opened a great wine tasting center. If you google it you'll find it and reviews on it. Scansano is also wonderful because around it there are a wealth of small castle towns that I enjoyed, and there's also Saturnia, which I would definitely suggest as a "relax" after much traveling and site seeing.
If you want more info, let me know.
Best of luck,
Sam