Best Day Trips from Siena (With and Without a Car)

# Best Day Trips from Siena

Siena is the best base in southern Tuscany — better than Florence for this, because you're already in the countryside. Here are the trips worth a day, ranked, with the honest logistics.

No car? Start here

| Destination | How | Time each way | |---|---|---| | San Gimignano | Bus 130 to Poggibonsi + 130 connection | 1h15 | | Monteriggioni | Bus 130 | 30 min | | Montalcino | Bus 114 | 1h20 | | Colle Val d'Elsa | Bus 130 | 45 min | | Florence | Coach 131R | 1h15 | | Arezzo | Train via Chiusi or Empoli | 1h45 |

Buses leave from Piazza Gramsci or the nearby Via Tozzi stops. Buy tickets at the tabacchi or the machine before boarding and validate on board. Sunday services are thinner — check the return before you commit.

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1. Val d'Orcia (car) — the one to prioritise

Cypress avenues, Pienza, Montepulciano, San Quirico, Bagno Vignoni's thermal square. This is the Tuscany on the postcard, and it's an hour south.

Route: Siena → San Quirico d'Orcia → Pienza (lunch, buy pecorino) → Montepulciano (Vino Nobile tasting) → back via the SR2. About 200 km round trip.

Eat: Pienza for pecorino and pici *cacio e pepe*; Montepulciano for a cellar tasting with salumi.

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2. Montalcino & Brunello (car or bus 114)

A small hill town with a fortress you can climb and drink wine inside. Brunello is Italy's heavyweight red; a tasting flight in town runs €15–30. Sant'Antimo abbey, ten minutes south, is a Romanesque church in a field of olives — go, it takes twenty minutes and it's free.

Doable by bus if you accept the schedule: roughly 1h20 each way.

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3. San Gimignano (bus, easy)

Fourteen surviving medieval towers on a ridge. It is extremely visited — and still worth it, if you go early or stay late. The trick is to be there before 10:00 or after 17:00 and to walk the outer lanes rather than the main drag.

Change at Poggibonsi. Total 1h15. Get gelato in Piazza della Cisterna, eat lunch off the main street.

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4. Chianti (car, or an organised tour)

The SR222 "Chiantigiana" between Siena and Florence is one of Italy's great drives: Castellina, Radda, Greve, vineyards the whole way. Cellar doors expect a booking; most tastings are €15–35.

If nobody wants to be the designated driver, a small-group Chianti tour from Siena is the correct answer — half-day options run about €70–100.

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5. Monteriggioni (bus 130, 30 min)

A perfectly circular walled village on a hill, name-checked by Dante. You can walk the ramparts in twenty minutes and the whole visit takes two hours. Best combined with Colle Val d'Elsa on the same bus line, or done as a late-afternoon escape.

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6. Crete Senesi (car)

The clay badlands southeast of Siena: bare rolling hills, lone farmhouses, and the abbey of Monte Oliveto Maggiore with its Signorelli and Sodoma fresco cycle in the cloister. Asciano makes a good lunch stop. Half a day, and the best light is late.

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7. Florence (coach 131R, 1h15)

Yes, you can do the reverse day trip. Uffizi or Accademia booked in advance, Duomo from outside, lunch at the Mercato Centrale, home by dinner. It's a long day and Florence deserves more — but if it's your only shot, take the 08:00 coach.

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8. Arezzo (train)

Piero della Francesca's *Legend of the True Cross* fresco cycle, a sloping medieval square, and almost no crowds. If you like art and dislike queues, this beats San Gimignano. First Sunday of the month is the big antiques fair.

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9. Bagno Vignoni & the thermal baths (car)

A village whose main square *is* a steaming Renaissance pool. You can't swim in the square, but there are free natural pools below the village and paid spas nearby. Perfect in winter.

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How to choose

• One day, no car: Monteriggioni in the morning, back for lunch, San Gimignano is the other option if you want the bigger sight.
• One day, with a car: Val d'Orcia, no contest.
• You love wine: Montalcino or Chianti.
• You love art and hate crowds: Arezzo.
• It's raining: Florence, because it's all indoors.

Coming back hungry

Most of these trips get you back to Siena between 18:00 and 19:30 — which lands right in the awkward gap before Tuscan kitchens open at 19:30. Two options: an aperitivo with crostini to bridge it, or head somewhere that isn't precious about timing. A pizza works well after a driving day: [La Napoletana 2.0](/articolo/napoletana-2-0-pizza) on Viale Sardegna does proper Neapolitan (€12–16, listed by 50 Top Pizza) and it's the first decent food you pass coming in from the south.

Frequently asked

Can I do day trips from Siena without a car? Yes — San Gimignano, Monteriggioni, Montalcino, Colle Val d'Elsa, Florence and Arezzo are all reachable by bus or train.

Is Siena a good base for Tuscany? For southern Tuscany, the best one. For the Florence–Lucca–Pisa axis, Florence is better.

How far is San Gimignano from Siena? About 45 km, 1h15 by bus with a change at Poggibonsi, 50 minutes driving.