Top Tuscany Tours & Vacations 2024/2025 [reviews & photos]

Tuscany Tours & Travel Packages 2024/2025

120 Tuscany trips. Compare tour itineraries from 67 tour companies. 408 reviews. 4.8/5 avg rating.

Small Group Tuscany Tours

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Top Tuscany Attractions & Experiences

Top Tuscany Experiences

    • Viewing Michelangelo’s David in the Accademia Gallery in Florence
    • Marveling at the artistic masterpieces in Florence’s Uffizi Gallery
    • Visiting the Duomo (cathedral), Florence’s most notable landmark
    • Shopping at the flea markets near the Duomo and along Florence’s Arno River
    • Relaxing at a winery for lunch and an afternoon tasting of the local vintages
    • Exploring towns where the houses cling precariously to the tops of hillsides
    • Admiring – and perhaps climbing – the Leaning Tower of Pisa
    • Attending the Palio, the famous biennial horse race held in Siena’s central piazza
    • Walking or biking the medieval walls of Lucca

Tuscany Tours & Travel Guide

Tuscany Attractions & Landmarks Guide

If you're looking for the quintessential Italian travel experience, there's not better place to start than Tuscany. The region houses everything, from classic wine regions, villas dotting hillsides, the historic centers of Florence, Pisa, and Siena, among others. It's the perfect place for a week long trip, or if you have more time, spread out for two weeks enjoying a leisurely picnic one day and museum exploration the next.

Along with Venice and Rome, Florence – the capital of Tuscany – forms the third part of a rough triangle that connects Italy’s three most famous cities. Florence should be a must-see on everyone’s list – and many visitors don’t want to leave -- but there’s much more to Tuscany than its capital, great as it is.

Watch for Italy tours that make time for other medieval and Renaissance cities such as Siena, Pisa, and Lucca, explore the backroads and vineyards of Chianti country, and visit some of the most photogenic hill towns in the world – little villages that cling to the hilltops and seem lost in time.

Exploring Florence, the Art Capital

Don’t let Florence’s traffic and crowds deter you – this is an amazing city, replete with some of the world’s greatest artworks. It enjoys a beautiful location in a valley along the Arno River, and was the heart of the Italian Renaissance, nurturing artistic geniuses such as Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, and Raphael.

Start with Michelangelo’s David, the world’s most famous sculpture, which now resides in the Accademia Gallery; get there early to beat the longest lines. (You can view a replica in the square while you’re waiting.) You’ll also find Michelangelo sculptures at the Bargello Museum and the Medici Chapels, among other sites in  the city.  

The Uffizi Gallery contains the world’s greatest collection of Renaissance paintings – along with works by Michelangelo, da Vinci, Raphael, and Giotto, don’t miss Botticelli’s masterpieces, Birth of Venus and Primavera.

Other stops include the ornate 14th-century Palazzo Vecchio – where the Medicis once ruled and which remains the seat of government – and, across the river, the Pitti Palace, which displays Renaissance paintings in a palatial setting.

A number of Florentine churches also contain notable artworks, and the Duomo – the city’s cathedral and its major landmark – is an unforgettable sight with its red dome and white, green, and pink marble exterior. The immense Gothic structure dominates the city skyline and you can climb winding stairs to the top of the dome’s interior – not for the faint of heart.

Florence is also a shopping mecca, especially for leather goods. The open-air market stalls near the Duomo and the shops along the Ponte Vecchio (old bridge) over the Arno are fun places to browse.

A Trip to the Leaning Tower of Pisa

Ever since it was completed in the 13th century, the Leaning Tower has leaned. Built on soft soil next to Pisa’s cathedral – it’s actually the church’s bell tower – The Leaning Tower’s 5.5-degree tilt made it one of Italy’s most renowned historical landmarks.

But, in danger of eventually toppling to the ground and bringing the Pisa economy crashing down with it, it was anchored in the 1990s with its lean reduced to 4 degrees – thus (presumably) saving it for the foreseeable future. Seven stories high, it contains some 300 climbable steps. The adjacent cathedral and baptistery are worth a look as well. Pisa is just 50 miles west of Florence.

Sidetrips From Tuscany - Lucca and Barga

Lucca is much less known than Pisa – it lacks a leaning tower – but many visitors consider it a more interesting destination.  Like most Tuscan cities, it has the requisite medieval winding streets, a cathedral, a thriving flea market where you can find just about anything, and excellent food.

But Lucca’s top attractions are its historic walls, wide and flat enough to walk or even bike along for nice views looking down at the city. Just 40 miles northwest of Florence, Lucca also makes a possible stopover en route to Pisa.

Barga, about an hour by car or bus from Lucca, is one of those impossibly beautiful hill towns that you often see in Tuscany – but Barga is more equipped than most to accommodate visitors.

The roads leading up the hillside through town are too narrow to accommodate automobile traffic, so you park your car at the base of the hill and walk up, passing trattorias, bars, and little shops selling enticing edibles along the way. A church crowns the top of the hill, as is typical of Tuscan hill towns, and views sweep over the countryside below.

The Lure of Siena

Siena, located south of Florence, is an ideal base for exploring the nearby hill towns and vineyards of that region. All streets lead off of fan-shaped Piazza del Campo, one of Italy’s largest and most attractive central plazas, and the site of the Palio, a biennial horse race drawing competitors from the city’s 17 districts – one of the most colorful, exciting pageants in all of Italy. Siena’s heart is mostly medieval, with steep, narrow streets snaking up the hills from the Piazza del Campo.

Touring the Tuscan Wine Country of Italy

Tuscany’s wine country is known for its food and wine, of course, but also for its rustic atmosphere and authentic feel, made more so by its centuries-old -- and sometimes crumbling -- villas and farmhouses.  Along with its sun-kissed cuisine and wines served on trellised terraces, its rolling hills, picturesque villages and pastoral landscapes dotted with vineyards and olive groves make for an irresistible combination.

Tuscany’s – and Italy’s -- most renowned wine is the soft red Chianti; Sangiovese and Montepulciano are other varietals to try. Castelo Banfi and Biondi Santi in the Siena region are two of Tuscany’s largest wineries, but that little vineyard down the dusty path miles from nowhere may be the ideal Tuscan setting you’ve pictured in your imagination.

Hill towns in the Tuscan wine country include Montepulciano, Volterra, Montalcino, and San Gimignano, which, between them, feature a sufficient number of castles, fortresses, walls, medieval streets, and vistas to satisfy anyone’ fantasies of how he truly authentic Italy should look and feel.

Tuscany Reviews & Ratings

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Anonymous

Oct 2018

Provided byExodus Travels

'Happiness from small things'

' 'Happiness from small things' is what we want to give our guests; peace and tranquillity from our countryside, and company with which to discover the secrets and...

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Anonymous

Oct 2018

Provided byExodus Travels

Some people might be misled in thinking this is a walk in the park, before booking, it should be entitled trekking in the mountains of Tuscany

A brilliant experience and can't wait to go on the next one. Having walked up a mountain, with sweat pouring out of me, breathing deeply, with the sun beating down ...

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Anonymous

Oct 2018

Provided byExodus Travels

Fantastic!

Exodus holidays are only as good as their leaders and Sara is fantastic, super knowledgeable and full of enthusiasm. The area and accommodation ensure you feel fu...

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Anonymous

Oct 2018

Provided byExodus Travels

Walking in Tuscany

This was one of the best trip I ever had! Beautiful scenery, friendly people, great home cooking, but most importantly - our incredible guide Sara. She was taking ...

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Anonymous

Oct 2018

Provided byExodus Travels

Great Holiday and Superb Walking

A great holiday with excellent walks which were enjoyable as well as being physically quite demanding. Liz, our guide for the week, made the holiday extra special ...

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