Tuscany Travel Guide —
Cypress roads, Renaissance masterpieces and Chianti at sunset

Tuscany is the landscape that taught the world what Italy was supposed to look like. Rolling green hills ribboned with cypress alleys, medieval towers rising above fields of sunflowers, and the amber glow of Chianti villages at dusk — this is a region that has been perfecting the art of beauty for seven hundred years. Driving through the Val d'Orcia on a spring morning, with mist still clinging to the valleys below hilltop San Quirico, you understand why painters, poets and pilgrims have been making this journey for centuries. Tuscany rewards slowness: a long lunch in Montalcino, a white-wine aperitivo on a Florentine rooftop, an afternoon doing absolutely nothing at a thermal spa near Saturnia.

Compared to the crowded coastal resorts of Amalfi or the urban intensity of Rome, visiting Tuscany feels like stepping into a more deliberate, more considered version of Italy. The things to do in Tuscany span high culture and deep countryside: world-class museums sit within twenty minutes of organic olive groves where you can press your own oil. What sets the region apart is density — Renaissance frescoes, Romanesque churches, Etruscan ruins and Michelin-starred trattorias are layered so thickly that even a two-week Tuscany itinerary only scratches the surface. For travellers who want beauty without the frantic pace of a city break, this is the benchmark.

Your Tuscany itinerary — choose your style

Why Tuscany belongs on your travel list

Tuscany occupies a unique position in world travel: it is simultaneously one of the most visited regions in Europe and one where it still feels possible to find an empty piazza, a family-run enoteca with no English menu, and a vineyard road with no other car in sight. The sheer variety is staggering — Florence alone holds more UNESCO-listed art than any other city on Earth, while the Crete Senesi south of Siena looks like a Tarkovsky film set. Tuscany's food and wine culture is arguably Italy's most evolved, from Brunello di Montalcino to bistecca alla Fiorentina, and the region's agritourism infrastructure means even first-time visitors can access it with remarkable ease.

Tuscany's neighbourhoods — where to focus

Top things to do in Tuscany

1. Explore the Uffizi Gallery

No Tuscany itinerary is complete without a morning inside the Uffizi, and visiting Florence's greatest museum rewards proper preparation. Book tickets weeks in advance for any date between May and September — same-day entry is essentially impossible in peak season. Start at the top floor with Botticelli's Birth of Venus and Primavera, then work back through Giotto, Caravaggio and Leonardo before descending to the loggia overlooking the Arno. Most visitors make the mistake of rushing; the Uffizi is best treated as a half-day experience with deliberate pauses. The museum café on the upper terrace has arguably the finest view of the Palazzo Vecchio in Florence, which is reason enough to budget the extra time.

2. Drive the Strada del Vino

The Chianti Classico wine route — the SR222 and its tributaries — is one of the great self-drive experiences in all of Europe. Collect a hire car in Florence, head south through Greve, Panzano and Radda in Chianti, and stop at the estates that take your interest. Many of Tuscany's finest producers, including Fontodi, Rocca di Castagnoli and Castello di Brolio, accept walk-in visitors for cellar tours and tastings, though booking ahead guarantees a guided experience. Plan the drive over two days rather than one: a night in a Chianti farmhouse agriturismo between stages lets you eat a long dinner with Sangiovese pairings and wake up to mist in the valley rather than rushing back to Florence in the dark.

3. Walk the Val d'Orcia Villages

The UNESCO-protected Val d'Orcia is Tuscany at its most cinematically perfect, and the best way to experience it is on foot between its small stone villages. Pienza — the ideal Renaissance city commissioned by Pope Pius II in a single burst of ambition — sits above the valley and can be explored in two hours. Bagno Vignoni, barely a hamlet, is built around a Renaissance thermal pool that once hosted Catherine of Siena and Lorenzo de' Medici. San Quirico d'Orcia has a Romanesque church of startling beauty. String these together on a clear April or September day, with a long lunch of Pecorino di Pienza and Brunello, and you have one of the finest days Tuscany can offer any visitor.

4. Attend the Palio di Siena

Twice each summer — on 2 July and 16 August — Siena transforms its Piazza del Campo into a bare-earth racetrack for the Palio, a bareback horse race between the city's seventeen contrade districts that has been run almost without interruption since the thirteenth century. This is not a folkloric performance for tourists: Sienese families plan their year around it, jockeys are bribed and poisoned and centuries-old rivalries are prosecuted with genuine passion. Standing tickets in the central campo are free but require arriving at dawn and remaining in the crowd for eight hours. Balcony seats on the piazza cost several hundred euros and must be booked a year ahead. Either way, the Palio is the most viscerally Italian thing you will witness in Tuscany.

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Best time to visit Tuscany

Tuscany events & festivals 2026

Whether you're planning around a specific celebration or simply want to know what's happening, this guide covers the best events and festivals in Tuscany — from major annual traditions to cultural highlights worth timing your trip around.

Tuscany budget guide

Getting to and around Tuscany (Transport Tips)

By air: The main gateway to Tuscany is Florence Airport (FLR), served by direct flights from London, Paris, Amsterdam, Berlin, Brussels and most major European hubs. Pisa International Airport (PSA) is a second strong option, particularly for low-cost carriers including Ryanair and easyJet, and sits just one hour from Florence by train.

From the airport: From Florence Airport, the tram line T2 runs directly to the city centre (Santa Maria Novella station) in around twenty minutes for €1.70 — straightforward and reliable. From Pisa Airport, the Pisa Mover shuttle connects to Pisa Centrale station in eight minutes, from where direct trains to Florence take sixty to ninety minutes depending on service. Taxis from either airport to central Florence cost €20–35.

Getting around the city: Florence is eminently walkable within its historic centre, and most major sights cluster within fifteen minutes on foot of the Duomo. The ATAF city bus network covers the wider city reliably. Across the broader Tuscany region, a hire car is strongly recommended — trains connect the main cities (Florence, Siena, Lucca, Arezzo, Cortona), but smaller Val d'Orcia villages, Chianti estates and Maremma coastline are effectively inaccessible without your own wheels.

Do I need a visa for Tuscany?

Visa requirements for Tuscany depend on your nationality. Select your passport below for an instant answer — based on the Passport Index dataset for entry into Italy.