Florence 4 Day Itinerary (Tuscany Base)
Four days adds San Gimignano to the 3-day plan, the last of the Tuscan hill towns reachable without a rental car. This itinerary still keeps day one light on in-city sightseeing (see our full Florence guide for that) and now covers three separate Tuscan day trips by train and bus alone. Want less or more? Our 3-day and 5-day versions extend the same spine.
Book these before you go
- Check rates on Booking.com for a hotel near Firenze SMN, the departure point for every day trip below.
- A Siena and San Gimignano day tour on GetYourGuide if managing three separate transit schedules across four days sounds like a chore.
- Leaning Tower of Pisa tickets on GetYourGuide , since peak-summer climb slots sell out within hours.
Day 1: Settle into Florence
Arrive, check into a hotel near Firenze SMN, and keep the day light. Confirm your next three train and bus times on Trenitalia , and leave the Uffizi, the Duomo dome, and the Accademia for a dedicated in-city trip, our full Florence guide covers that ground properly.
Day 2: Siena
Regional train on Trenitalia , 1 hour 20 to 1 hour 30 minutes each way, roughly 30 departures a day from SMN. Give it the whole day: Piazza del Campo, the striped Duomo, and the medieval streets between them reward real time, not a rushed half-day. See the UNESCO listing for Siena’s historic centre for why the Campo’s shell shape is a protected layout, not just a pretty square.
Day 3: Pisa and Lucca, one train day
Pisa is about an hour away (regional fare 8 to 13.50 euros); the Leaning Tower climb is a separate 20-euro ticket through the official opapisa.it site , bookable up to 90 days out. Our honest verdict on the tower is that the climb is skippable, the photo in the piazza is the real point for most visitors. Lucca sits another hour to 90 minutes beyond (around 10 euros one way), a walled town for walking or biking the ramparts. Both fit into one day, easily.
Day 4: San Gimignano, the last transit-only trip
No train station of its own: take the regional train to Poggibonsi (about an hour), then local bus 130 (20 to 30 minutes) into San Gimignano itself, roughly 6.80 euros one way, 13.60 return, 1.5 to 2 hours door to door. The stone towers, the medieval Manhattan, are worth the transit friction once. If juggling the train-plus-bus connection twice in one day sounds tedious, this is the trip most worth swapping for a guided day tour instead.
| Day | Focus | Transit from Florence SMN |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Florence orientation | None, already in the city |
| 2 | Siena day trip | Regional train, 1h20-1h30 each way |
| 3 | Pisa plus Lucca | Regional train, about 1h each way |
| 4 | San Gimignano | Train to Poggibonsi plus bus 130, 1.5-2h each way |
Confirm the last bus 130 departure back to Poggibonsi before you commit to a late dinner in San Gimignano itself. The town is small and charming but not set up for a missed connection back to the train.