Siena (Italy) Bike Rental Experience

[Mr. Pink]

Originally Posted by litcrazy

Would Florence be a better hub than Siena then? I’m open to either with an eye to combining biking and more traditional tourism.
Everyone in my family enjoys museums and churches more when combined with a 3-4 ride… I imagine others here can relate.
How do bikes and trains mix in Florence? Can you take the train with bikes to the starting point of rides?

Yes, you can. My buddy did this with his wife, renting in Florence. The trains have cars equipped with racks. This is a good option I forgot about.

edit: If you're in Florence and want to see Siena, take the bus, not the train. The bus drops you off on top of the hill. Great Rick Steves tip. He has many.

[NoMoreParagon]

Originally Posted by litcrazy

Would Florence be a better hub than Siena then? I’m open to either with an eye to combining biking and more traditional tourism.
Everyone in my family enjoys museums and churches more when combined with a 3-4 hour ride… I imagine others here can relate.
How do bikes and trains mix in Florence? Can you take the train with bikes to the starting point of rides?

Really depends if you prefer gravel or road. In Siena you can do both, in Florence it is mostly road riding.
As I said, despite being a big city, it takes you 10mins by bike from the center of Florence to be on the hills with little traffic.

If you want to do world class gravel, then Siena, San Quirico, Pienza etc are much better options.

Apart from the cycling, when you in Florence, I highly recommend to pay a visit to Ditta Artigianale, one of the world best speciality coffee place in Via dello Sprone.

[Mr. Pink]

Do not miss the Uffizi, but definitely reserve ahead for tickets and entry times. The expanded Boticelli rooms are worth the visit alone. And Vivoli for gelato.

[basilic]

Originally Posted by Mr. Pink

Montalcino, Pienza, and Montepulciano (...) But, its country, so, you won't be getting the culture of Siena out there.

While I agree that Siena deserves a few days, off the bike, the places you mentioned are just beautiful (san Biagio church below Montepulciano! the renaissance square in Pienza, the lions supporting portal columns in S Quirico, ...) and easy to include into a bike ride

[54ny77]

just ride around the square on a fixie, carry a colorful flag!

[litcrazy]

Everyone's been so useful. Thank you. Plans are coming together.
We're going to spend 4 night in Siena, so we'll have one day of full art mode in Florence.
Weather permitting, we're hoping for a half day ride and maybe a full day ride out of Siena, so we can explore Tuscany.
The proposed route of the Collegiate Church of San Quirico d’Orcia to the Renaissance square in Pienza to San Biagio church below Montepulciano looks to be about 60km and rather tempting. We could then take the train back some of the way.
Another day we could do some gravel. Any recommendations?

[Gasman1440]

Wow