Tuscany

Tuscany is part of Italy and the Schengen Area, so US, UK, Canadian and Australian visitors enter visa-free for up to 90 days in any 180 on the euro. The biometric EES is now live at the border, while its companion ETIAS authorisation is not yet in force (expected in 2027), so you don’t need it at the moment.

The one local cost to budget is the imposta di soggiorno — a per-person, per-night tourist tax added to your room, scaled by hotel class (in Florence roughly €3.50–8), capped at seven nights, with children exempt.

Allow a little time at the border for EES enrolment, and re-check the ETIAS status before travel since its date keeps moving (not required as of now). Factor the tourist tax into accommodation budgets — it’s charged separately from the room rate, often collected in cash at check-out.

Florence is the reason many people come to Tuscany, and it delivers — Brunelleschi’s dome, the Uffizi’s wall of Renaissance masterpieces, Michelangelo’s David, and the medieval jewellers’ bridge over the Arno. It’s one of the densest concentrations of great art anywhere.

The flip side is the crowds: the headline sights are so popular that timed-entry reservations are effectively mandatory for the Uffizi, the Accademia and the dome climb, with same-day entry often unavailable in season. Book ahead and it’s sublime; turn up unplanned in July and you’ll queue.

Reserve the Uffizi, Accademia and dome online well before you arrive — this is the single biggest difference between a smooth Florence visit and a frustrating one. Consider an early or late slot to dodge the worst crush, and explore the Oltrarno across the river for a quieter, more local side of the city.

Beyond Florence, Tuscany’s art cities are a string of day-trips, each distinct. Siena is the great rival — a complete medieval city around the sloping, shell-shaped Campo, where the frenzied Palio horse race runs twice each summer. Pisa is more than its famous tilt: the whole Campo dei Miracoli is a marble marvel.

Lucca charms with its intact Renaissance walls, wide enough to walk or cycle atop, while San Gimignano bristles with the medieval tower-houses that earned it the "medieval Manhattan" tag. Quieter Arezzo rewards those who venture further.

For many, the hills are Tuscany. The Chianti wine region rolls between Florence and Siena — vineyards, stone villages and the black-rooster seal of Chianti Classico — while south lies the UNESCO Val d’Orcia, those cypress-lined ridges and golden fields of a hundred photographs.

Its hilltop towns double as wine capitals — Montalcino for Brunello, Montepulciano for Vino Nobile, and perfect little Pienza — and the way to do it is to base yourself at an agriturismo, a working farm or winery with rooms, and drive the cypress-lined back roads at a gentle pace.

The countryside is where a car (and an agriturismo base) transforms a Tuscany trip — the Chianti and Val d’Orcia hill towns and wineries are poorly served by public transport. Just mind the ZTL zones when you dip into historic centres, and book tastings and farm stays ahead, especially around the September harvest.

Tuscany isn’t only cities and vines — it has a coast. The island of Elba, where Napoleon spent his first exile, offers beaches and clear water a ferry-hop offshore; the Versilia riviera draws Italian holidaymakers to chic Forte dei Marmi; and the wilder, rural Maremma in the south has its own cowboys, a national park and the thermal pools of Saturnia.

Up in the Apuan Alps behind the coast, the Carrara quarries have yielded white marble since antiquity — the very stone Michelangelo carved, still cut from the mountainside today.

The cities are well linked by rail: fast, frequent trains run Florence–Pisa (about an hour) and to Lucca, so you can do the big sights car-free. The exception is Siena, oddly poorly served by train — the bus is usually faster.

For Chianti and the Val d’Orcia, though, a car is essential. The vital warning: Tuscan historic centres are ringed by ZTL (limited-traffic) zones, camera-enforced, and driving in without a permit triggers automatic fines (often arriving months later via the rental company). Park outside the walls.

Tuscany is at its best in the shoulder seasons. Spring (April–June) brings mild days and green hills; autumn (September–October) adds the magic of the harvest — grapes and olives — with warm light and thinner crowds, arguably the single best time to come.

High summer (July–August) is hot, crowded and expensive, with the coast packed by Italians around Ferragosto; winter is quiet and cool, with the cities uncrowded and some rural places closed.

Tuscan food and wine are a trip in themselves. The reds are legendary — Chianti Classico, the powerful Brunello di Montalcino and Vino Nobile di Montepulciano, and the Bordeaux-style "Super Tuscans" of the Bolgheri coast — ideally tasted at the cellar door.

On the plate it’s robust and simple: the enormous rare bistecca alla fiorentina, hand-rolled pici pasta, ribollita and panzanella, pecorino from Pienza, and cantucci dipped in Vin Santo. The region’s whole rhythm is built around the slow, local table.

• Art and Renaissance citiesSkiponly FlorenceGoFlorence plus Siena and a hill-town day
• Wine and landscapeSkipa cities-only tripGoa car and an agriturismo in Chianti or the Val d’Orcia
• Beach and islandsSkipthe baking inland summerGoElba or the Versilia coast

Build the trip around the table: a few nights at a Chianti or Val d’Orcia agriturismo with its own cellar turns the wine country from a drive-through into the highlight. Reserve tastings and the better restaurants ahead in season, and don’t rush a bistecca lunch — it’s meant to be lingered over.