Lizanne,

This may help www.sienamobilita.it/mappe/Mappa_EXT.pdf

You can visit Florence by train, as well as Arezzo (changing trains in Sinalunga).

I know there are also trains to Buonconvento and to Monte Oliveto Maggiore, but I don't think the train stations are near the parts of these towns that people want to visit.

In Tuscany, where many towns are on hilltops, the train isn't a great way to get around. Buses are more likely to go into the center of towns, but they have schedules that aren't set up for tourists. A majority of riders consists of high school students who attend specialized schools in other towns, so there are buses heading to these towns very early in the morning and back in the afternoon. There are very few buses on Sundays.

Here is a huge document, 159 pages, that show schedules for tbuses that connect Siena to other places in Tuscany:

www.trainspa.it/train04/extraurbano.pdf

Here are some of the towns that may interest you, with the page numbers:

page 17-19 Buonconvento Pienza

Page 20-23 Buonconvento Montalcino

40-41 Castellini Radda in Chianti

44-45 Gaiole

50-60 San Gimignano

61-70 Firenze

81-82 Arezzo

The schedules begin with the way out /A and are followed by the return route /R. The columns with crossed hammers at the top indicate buses that run Mondays through Saturdays. Those with a cross are for Sundays and holidays.

You'll see that there are many stops in Siena, and I don't recognize the streets for most of them. FS is the train station, and Porta Ovile is not far from the Duomo, but I don't know most of the others.

Many of the buses don't travel the whole route, so it many be frustrating trying to find a combination that will get you there fairly early, leaving enough time to see the town before you have to return. For example, I don't see any way to get a decent amount of time to see Pienza, which is a pity.

You'll also see in front of some of the towns the word "Bivio", which means "Turnoff". This could be some distance from the town, and there may or may not be a bus waiting to take you from there into the town. I wouldn't consider taking a bus that stops only at the bivio and not in the town.

That's such a comprehensive answer to common question, perhaps the Moderator could include it in Top Questions?

If you were going to go from Siena to Florence, I would take the bus, not the train. The bus and train station in Florence are right next to each other and pretty close to the main sites. However in Siena, the main bus station is close to the city center but the train is not. We took the bus between the cities on our trip and it was very easy. They left every half hour or so and there was no need to book ahead. Just show up at the bus station. From the bus station in Siena, the bus made several stops on its way out of town. Then in Florence, it makes several stops to let people off before the main station downtown.

Straniera, I'm afraid that the detail would be outdated quickly, especially the page numbers on the bus schedule; they change the schedules twice a year. Also, if you look at the schedules, you'll see that in a lot of cases, it would be very difficult to make a day trip out of them. A car is really the best way to see rural Tuscany.

I see that I mistakenly used the Italian spelling of Florence, Firenze in the bus schedule section.

I also would probably use the bus to go to Florence from Siena, but access to the train station has been greatly improved by a new escalator up to the town.

"A car is really the best way to see rural Tuscany." Absolutely, you are preaching to the converted. But there will always be people who, for whatever reason, don't hire a car when they come here and your post provides a useful guide as to where they can travel to on public transport if based in Siena.

you can go to San Gimignano, Colle Val d'Elsa and Monteriggioni, they are all close to Siena, so you can manage to visit them all in one or two days, see more info here …blogspot.it/2013/03/medieval-siena_21.html

as for the weather, I was in November, and it was still warm and sunny

thank you

lizannie

thank you

lizannie