Another wonderful city we visited was Siena in Tuscany. It is actually one of the most popular tourist destinations in Italy.

It is famous for its art, cuisine, museums, outstanding beautiful architecture and the very famous Palio, a horse race that is held twice a year.  Actually, the Palio is such a big event I will do a separate post on it.

Siena is easily one of Italy’s loveliest medieval cities. It is so worth while to take the trip when you are in Tuscany. A day visit is great however if you have the time stay a couple of days. There is just so much to do and see in this gorgeous city.

There are a few options in getting to Siena from Florence. I have travelled by coach, I have driven and also take the Sita bus from Florence. I learned that although taking the train into Siena is an option it is not the best option. Siena does have a train station, however it is located further from the historic city centre than the bus station.

The SITA company runs the buses between Florence and Siena, and the departure point in Florence is just across the street from the city’s main train station, Santa Maria Novella. Siena’s bus stop is at Piazza Gramsci, well inside the old city walls.

The journey between the two cities takes roughly 1.25 hours on the fast bus. This is a direct trip. There is another bus which stops several times including a stop at Poggibonsi where we stopped on the way to San Gimignano.

If you are travelling from Florence by car, the quickest way to get to Siena is on the autostrade which only takes 1 ¼ hours and goes through the very beautiful Chianti region. If you decide to go via the scenic route, make sure you have a very good detailed map and or a GPS

If you are not from Florence, I highly recommend seriously considering not driving in Florence. It is not the most driveable city in Italy and is very frustrating.  If you plan on renting a car, wait till you are ready to leave Florence.

At then end of the day of my last trip to Siena, after walking till our feet ached, we chose to sit in a great bar overlooking the piazza and drank our wine and people watched.

Now this is an activity I can thoroughly recommend. When I travel I want to make every post a winner but some times I just need to sit back, reflect and watch the world go by.

There is so much to see and do in Siena I will do another post at a later date.