Tuscany/Val d' Orcia-Stay recommendations

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We like higher end places but do not wish to pay splurge like rates per night everywhere we go on this trip

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Does anyone not like this?

What are you looking to do? Staying outside of a town is great if you want it, but FYI a lot of the roads are crap in the country so its not exactly something you want to drive at night home from dinner. For 2 nights its probably fine.

If you are just a couple, my point was staying in a town somewhere is not the worst idea.

I have been to Val d'Orcia. Montepulciano and Montalcino but we drove there from our accommodations in Chianti country, namely a villa about 20 miles south of Florence. If you have Chianti booked, I would just stay there extra days and drive to Val d'Orcia.

We stayed at that villa twice and it was a spectacular place. Unfortunately, we can stay there no more because it has been sold as a private residence.

As for Florence we have done both. Twice we have stayed in Florence hotels and once we commuted there from our villa in Chianti which was just south of San Donatto in Poggio and just north of Castellina.

I would rather drive a half hour than keep changing hotels.

It will be our first time there. We were hoping to drive or be driven around to some of the towns, visit wineries, and experience some amazing dining. I don't wish to have long commutes back to where we stay so I guess that is why we are trying to split the two areas.

We spent a few nights in Monticchiello. It is a typical Tuscan town similar to Montalcino/Montepulciano. We spent a couple of days criss crossing the Val d'Orcia, and it was amazing. I recommend getting your own car so you can control the pace. We hit some of the medieval towns, but the best part was driving across the countryside and stopping and taking pictures of farms, villas, etc. There is a small chapel seemingly in the middle of nowhere surrounded by a clump of cypress trees. It is called Capela de Madonna di Vitaleta. We also drove to the Abby of Sant' Antimo. It is a beautiful monastery down in a valley. We also visited the fortress at Montalcino. You can walk along the walls and there is a very nice wine bar (enoteca) inside the walls.
On our way back to Rome we spent a couple hours in Cortona. I highly recommed stopping there. The views from the city are amazing.

We stayed at a really cool spot in Monticchiello. We found it on AirBnB, it is an apartment built into the tower of the city walls. It has a window in the bedroom that looks over the Val d'Orcia. It was owned by a lady who also owned the restaurant in town. She was a real character. She has since passed away but I believe her daughter is running it now.

This was the view from our bedroom:


This is the AirBnB link:
LINK

Last Tuscany trip we did a stint outside of Montepulciano at LUPAIA.

Wow, it was nice. I highly recommend.

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I don't wish to have long commutes back to where we stay so I guess that is why we are trying to split the two areas.

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When I said outside of town, I meant a tuscan town and not Florence, just to clarify. What I meant is that a lot of the towns are small enough you can stay in them and have basically the same Tuscan views, you are just in town and not in the country.

Some of this would depend on the time of year also. Like if you are staying for a week of summer I'd stay in the country with a pool. But for just 2 nights, nothing wrong with either option at all but I'd probably stay in a town, on the edge of a town where it would be quiet but you can still walk around to grab breakfast in the morning and dinner at night. But its really all personal preference.

The farm we stayed on was great, but the road there was a crappy tourist road and we were in your fairly normal Italian rental car so I didn't love driving to the farm at night. Its not like the farmers had jacked up American trucks with 4x4, but they had crappy cars that could take a ding and you wouldn't know. I wouldn't say its a major issue, but something to consider. Not all are hard to access either, ours was almost 2km from pavement.

3 years ago, we stayed in La Foce, about 20 minute outside of Montepulciano. It was a beautiful property, but we were not in a "town."

La Foce

One day, we drove an hour to Banfi Winery, inside the Castle of Poggio alle Mura just outside of Montalcino. This winery was first class. The food was Michelin star rated. Although we didnt' stay in their hotel, it is well known to be first class accomodations.

Banfi Hotel

We also drove one day to Il Borro winery in Il Borro. Il Borro is an organic wine estate and restored medieval village spanning 1,100 hectares in the Valdarno di Sopra region of Tuscany, Italy. Owned by the Ferragamo family since 1993, the historic property features an 18th-century aging cellar, modern gravity-fed winemaking facilities, and sustainable organic production of 12 fine wine labels. We didn't stay at the hotel, but it looked five star.

II Borro

We visited all of these places from La Foce as day trips. Most of the drives were only about an hour to an hour and half. We loved having our own car.

After La Foce, we stayed 3 nights in Volterra and visited several cities in that area. We also loved the Ornellaia winery which was on the west coast of Tuscany. Very high end Super Tuscan wines and I believe high-end accomodations. On the far western side of Tuscany.

We stayed in Volterra for 3 nights. Like most hill towns in Tuscany, it is a medival city meaning that large walls surround the city up on a large hill. We made day trips to San Gimignano and Siena. Siena was a great town to visit.

If you want more information, here is a link to our blog on Tumblr: Two Texans in Tuscany You might have to create an account on Tumblr to read our blog.

After a week in Tuscany, we stayed 6 days in Florence at a very high-end apartment that we have access to. It was a great trip. Happy to share any other information, but our blog has all of the details.

Ciao!

In May, I stayed at the Laconda Palazzone outside Orvieto, and it was fantastic, but that's not in the Val d'Orcia (though reasonably close). We spent a day in the Val d'Orcia driving from Orvieto to Siena.

We loved Pienza for a few hours, and we also liked the Pecorino and wine tasting at Podere il Casale, if you want to tour a sheep dairy and see the cheese production process.

We loved our stay at Agriturismo Savernano outside of Figline and SE of Florence. Fantastic home cooked meals and a house made chianti that we now ship in twice a year. With that chianti, the neighbor's prosecco, and the fresh bread, olive oil, and cheese, it made for a nice, relaxing setting opposed to the hustle and bustle of a major city.

Montalcino Townhouse dot com

Best airbnb we’ve ever stayed in. In town, walking distance to restaurants and very easy to navigate to nearby towns