Can you train your way around Tuscany? I'd say it's nearly the best ways to see Tuscany's major attractions with as little worry as possible. The Tuscany Rail Map below shows most of the rail lines between major tourist cities and towns in Tuscany, along with bus routes where needed to get to hill towns and smaller cities.
It's easy in Italy to find a station, and buy tickets for the next destination out. It's how we used to do it in the "olden days" of train travel in Italy.
Rail Map of Tuscany
The darker green lines on the map indicate major rail lines with frequent trains. The thinner lines indicate rail lines with less frequent transportation and slower trains. Destinations with an asterisk (*) by them indicate that the train station is not in the city center; a bus ride may be required to get into the city. Dashed lines indicate bus connections to cities without a train station nearby.
The Big Three of Italy by Train
Let's say it's your first trip to Italy and you want to hit the spots your neighbors think of when they talk about Italy. That would be Rome, Venice, and Florence. They're easy. Fast trains run between them. If you're adding the Cinque Terre, that too is easy on the train.
Let's take the Florence to Rome leg of our trip. The 170 mile trip is a little over an hour and a half on a fast train, and least expensive if you take the first train in the morning at 6am. Check pricing for particular days and times using the button below.
Or perhaps you'd like to hit Venice first. Fast trains take 2 hours and 14 minutes. Slow trains take nearly twice that, but give you a chance to stop on a couple of fine destinations on the way, Bologna and Ferrara.
That leaves you with a leg from Venice to Rome, the longest part of your Italian triangle, a trip done in just over 4 hours on the fast train.
The Smaller Places in Tuscany
The argument against using public transport on your holiday is that you'll see no small villages. Poppycock. If you want to see small villages, you can stop at stations like the one called Aulla-Lunigiana, which is just outside of the big city Aulla, population 10,000, and which gives you access to smaller towns like Pontremoli, population just over 7000 From Aulla you can get to many popular Tuscan desinations like Lucca and Barga easily.
From the Lunigiana you can see the marble mountains around Massa and Cararra.
You can arrive by train at the small town of Torre del Lago Puccini on Lake Massaciuccoli to see the Puccini Festival.
Here's a list of all the railway stations in Tuscany.
Then there are the place linked by frequent buses from larger cities.
Villages like San Gimignano, the town of towers, is easily accessible via a short ride on Tiemme Spa line 130 bus from the larger Poggibonsi (28,000 population) station.
Hill towns like Cortona are accessed via bus as well. Both Cortona stations, Camucia-Cortona and Terontola. are connected to central Cortona via a bus where you are able to buy tickets on board.
Siena station is 2 km from city center. From the station it takes 5 minutes to get to the city center on buses leaving regularly to piazza Gramsci or Piazza del Sale.
Tuscany Tours and Day Trips
To travel without planning, day trips and tours while you are in Tuscany are available to round out your vacation, especially if you have a longer stay in Florence. You can get not only to the Cinque Terre, but to Monteriggioni, San Gimignano, the Chianti wine region and Pisa as well. Click the button to learn more.
More Tuscany Travel Resources
What towns are there to visit in Tuscany? See our Tuscany Travel Map. To see how it all fits together, see our Italy Rail Map.
Other Regional Rail Maps for Italy
More detailed information on frequently traveled routes in Italy:
More Italy Travel Planning Resources
- Travel Planning Timeline: Learn what you need to plan when.
- What Will an Italy Vacation Cost?: Tools for budgeting your Italian vacation.
- Unplanned Attractions: Save time for the good life in Italy.
