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A Flavour of Tuscany

Tuscany - history & heritage
 
Experience classic, rolling Tuscan landscapes as you cycle self-guided between quality accommodation, while your luggage is transported. Savour the famously delicious food and wine, and visit unforgettable San Gimignano with its medieval towers, and UNESCO-protected Siena.
A Flavour of Tuscany. 4 nights
+44 (0)1653 617001 Call now
A Flavour of Tuscany. 4 nights
+44 (0)1653 617001 Call now
 

Holiday information

 

A short cycling break in Tuscany

Enjoy quintessential Tuscan landscapes of rolling hills, olive groves and vineyards as you follow this delightful route to end amid the Renaissance grandeur of magnificent Siena. Admire the celebrated towers of San Gimignano and savour the winning combination of Tuscan regional cooking, with its renowned meat and pasta dishes, and world-class wines such as Chianti and Brunello. All this makes for a truly memorable cycling break.
The Chianti Hills are as famed for their beauty as for their dark red wines. Hill-top villages crown the rolling landscapes, and every church seems to contain a fine painting. As you cycle, you will be struck by an extraordinary sense of history and the alluring timelessness of the countryside in between.
 

2024

We are currently unable to take bookings for this holiday for 2024. There are, however, many other holidays to choose from, so why not browse our site some more?
 
Gallery
 

Itinerary

The key to Inntravel holidays is flexibility. You can start on the day of your choice, and are free to add extra nights.
  • The average maximum daytime temperatures and monthly rainfall relate to the nearest weather station and are intended as a guide only.
    Average temperatures and rainfall
      Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
    °C 9 11 13 17 21 25 29 28 25 20 14 10
    mm 65 63 60 65 58 41 30 43 69 76 103 69
  • Arrival in Colle Val d’Elsa
    Night 1: at Hotel La Vecchia Cartiera or Il Relais della Rovere (the first of two nights here).
    As your first night's accommodation is on the day of travel, Day 1 is your first day of cycling.
  • Circular route from Colle Val d’Elsa: 30km; longer option: 38km
    Winding roads with some short ascents followed by a longer but steady climb lead you towards San Gimignano. Perhaps the best-known village in all of Italy, it provides an unmistakably dramatic skyline as you approach, with its 14 medieval towers piercing the sky. The town is immaculately preserved and boasts a fine array of museums and galleries. Admire the panoramas in all directions before returning to Colle Val d’Elsa, either along a low ridge to the east of San Gimignano which offers a different perspective of its skyline or along a longer, more demanding route through beautiful countryside.
    San Gimignano
    Circular route from Colle Val d’Elsa: 30km
    Circular route from Colle Val d’Elsa (longer option): 38km
  • Colle Val d’Elsa to Toiano: 34km
    Today’s route passes from the Elsa Valley into one of Tuscany’s least-known areas, the Merse Valley, crossing wide-open spaces and the ancient wooded hills of Montagnola. There are plenty of small villages and hamlets to discover along the way, such as Scorgiano – where it is possible to pre-arrange wine-tasting from a small local producer – and Pievescola. After a long but gradual ascent to another village, the day ends with a descent onto the plain to reach your next hotel, the Relais Borgo di Toiano, near Sovicille.
    Colle Val d’Elsa to Toiano: 34km
    Pause for lunch
  • Toiano to Siena: 34km
    Discover changing scenery dotted with small yet captivating medieval hamlets as you leave the Merse Valley behind. The panoramic strade bianche  (gravelled roads) afford idyllic Tuscan views on your way to the Gothic cityscape of Siena. We recommend an early start to give you time to explore this glorious city.
    Toiano to Siena: 34km
    Siena
 

Accommodation

All your hotels are very well located.

In some places, we work with more than one hotel, as shown below. All are hand-picked by us and, unless there is a price implication (in which case we will contact you to discuss your options), we will tell you which one we have booked for you on your booking confirmation.
 

Extend your stay

What is included
  • 4 nights
  • 4 breakfasts
  • luggage transported
  • high-quality bicycle
  • route notes and maps
  • GPS navigation
  • return rail from Pisa
 
Reviews

If you've experienced this holiday first hand, why not write a review?

We are keen for as many customers as possible to review their holiday. To make it easier to do so, we include a specific review section on our post-holiday questionnaire, and this is what we publish here, unedited. Read our full review policy >

All 4 reviews
  • Mrs C Roy
    Carlisle
    17 September 2022

    A stroll in the early morning quiet of the historic upper town of La Vol de Colle Elsa.

    September firework display over the old town from our hotel room!

    Day 2 - cycling quiet roads to Toiano through vineyards and orchards, past old farmhouses and churches, something interesting to see around every corner.

    The self-guided walk notes around Siena - an extraordinary city - thank you for providing these. 

    A recommendation for eating in Siena - La Sosta di Violante - a convenient 10 min walk from Hotel Santa Caterina.

  • KP & NP, Australia
    30 August 2022

    Trip 1 - Flavour of Tuscany

    Tuscany is beautiful and we enjoyed exploring the region. The Inntravel routes can take you to off-the-beaten-track towns and villages you might not otherwise think of visiting, but are glad you did because it was so rewarding.  (We've now done four Inntravel walking or cycling trips in four European countries.) The hotels were great and the staff friendly. This trip (Flavours of Tuscany) is graded level 2, and even with an electric mountain bike, one of us found the rolling hills of Tuscany and a couple of busy roads a bit challenging at times. Colle di Val d'Elsa was a delight - a town with a walled old city and a vibrant new town with lots of restaurant options. The end-of-summer festival we encountered during our stay (in September 2022) was great fun. Toiano amongst the sunflower fields was a peaceful place to stay (lovely hotel and pool), and the Siena hotel a pleasure to arrive at, with its relaxing garden and view back over the countryside we had cycled through. 

    Trip 2 - Postcards of Provence

    We thoroughly enjoyed our Postcards of Provence trip in September 2022. The cycling routes were mostly flat and on quiet roads or lanes. Our bikes (electric) were great, and we were very pleased on day one to receive a friendly explanatory handover from a rep of the cycle rental agency. The recommendations for restaurants, lunch stops and places to visit were excellent (for example the goat farm, where we bought some cheese and enjoyed it with a drink that evening). The hotels were wonderful. We had some unexpected delights: on a quiet Sunday cycling on country lanes we came across an end-of-harvest celebration being held in the village church courtyard, and our stay in the town of Saint Remy de Provence coincided with an annual festival which had the streets buzzing with activity.  In Arles we can recommend visiting the new (in 2021) Frank Gehry designed Luma Arles Tower, which as well as having interesting exhibition spaces affords a wonderful view over Arles and the region from the top floor. 

     

  • Liz & Berit, Stroud and Austin
    02 July 2022

    A really fabulous holiday: great cycling routes, the countryside was amazing and best seen by bike, the hotels were top notch and the transfers seamless. Highly recommend this short and very do-able 3 day trip ending up in Sienna. We booked a second night in Sienna, to have a little more time to soak it in, and then took the train and ferry to Isola d'Elba for a few days to swim and chill out in the sun. A great holiday. 

  • Mrs F Duffy
    Cardiff
    31 May 2022

    We absolutely adored Relais de Borgo Taiano. Lovely hotel, great facilities and a really good restaurant nearby. The hotel in Siena was ideally placed and had the benefit of a lovely garden. As always, with Inntravel, we really think you do well in choosing hotels.
 

FAQs

If you have any questions relating to this or any other Inntravel holiday, our friendly travel experts will be happy to help. You might also find our General FAQs section helpful.
  • Our cycle supplier will provide you with a touring bike with 21 gears; a waterproof map case on handlebars; panniers/saddlebags; pump; puncture repair kit; and a lock. Electric bikes are available as an upgrade (see price panel), subject to availability, and must be requested at the time of booking.
  • While we would always recommend that you take your own well-fitting helmet, they can be hired locally for a small fee. Please let us know at the time of booking if you would like to hire a helmet.
  • Yes, we will provide GPX tracks for this holiday prior to departure so that you can follow your route on your smartphone or dedicated GPS device if you wish. (We also provide maps and our tried-and-tested route notes, which remain the principal means of navigation).
  • We’ll send you route notes and maps 2-3 weeks before your holiday. The route notes not only contain directions to get from hotel to hotel, but also include practical information about places of interest and eateries along each route, plus cultural information about the area. On mornings when you are moving between hotels, you leave your luggage in reception as you leave, and it will be transferred ahead to your next accommodation so that all you need to take with you are a camera, sun cream, drinks, food and waterproofs.

    For more detailed information, see our cycling holidays in Europe page.
  • You are responsible for damage to or loss of the rental bike while it is hired to you. Always be careful to lock it up, ideally to an immovable object, and remove all easy-to-steal accessories whenever you leave it unattended.
  • We can book a wide range of routes from the UK with a variety of airlines. As well as being more convenient for you to book all elements of your holiday together, it also means that we’ll accept liability for your travel arrangements, so if things go wrong, such as the airline going bust, we’ll make suitable alternative arrangements for you. The fee for this service is £35 per person (£15 for children aged 2-11). More information on flights >
  • We can’t book flights that originate outside the UK, but if you wanted to book your own flights to London (or elsewhere in the UK), we can make all onward travel arrangements (including flights) from there. Alternatively, if you are booking your own flights to an airport in continental Europe that’s appropriate for your holiday, we can book onward rail travel and/or taxis. More information about how we can tailor holidays for customers outside the UK >
  • Since our holidays are self-guided, we recommend calling us for a chat about your plans before making a booking, especially if it’s the first time you’ve booked with us.
    The price panel shows the supplement for a single room and also the single traveller charge (this covers (luggage) transfers and other costs which are usually shared between two people).
  • Once you’ve decided on your exact itinerary (our travel experts will be happy to offer advice), you need to provide us with your party’s details, either by phone or via our booking form. At this point we also ask you to pay a deposit so that we can secure a room for you immediately on confirming availability with the hotel(s). If it turns out that we can’t secure the accommodation for the holiday you’ve requested, or offer an acceptable alternative, we’ll refund your deposit promptly and in full. After booking your accommodation and other key elements, we'll then book your travel (or you can do so if you’re making your own arrangements) and send you a Booking Confirmation and Invoice.

    More information about the booking process >
    Information about accommodation, general practicalities and more >
    Booking conditions >
  • Yes, it’s something we insist on, even for holidays in the UK. The vast majority of holidays go smoothly, but when things go wrong, it can be expensive to put them right. Buying a new pair of walking boots after your suitcase is stolen mightn’t seem so bad, but the bill for being airlifted down from a mountain with a broken leg or flown home while still recovering from an illness or accident can incur a five or six-figure bill.

    Many insurers offer travel insurance (you can find details on our insurance page of a policy that you may like to consider if you are a UK resident), but you do need to make sure that you’re covered for medical emergencies – including falling ill with Covid-19 while on holiday – and repatriation. We also recommend that you are covered for other eventualities, such as cancellation and loss of luggage and passports.

    When you purchase a policy, be sure to check that it covers the activities you'll be doing on holiday and that it is adequate for your own individual needs.
  • It is your responsibility to ensure you are in possession of the correct travel documents, with the correct validity. If you’re a UK citizen, you need a full British passport to travel to Italy, but not a visa (please note, however, that a new travel authorisation system is being introduced). If you are a citizen of another country, you’ll need to check requirements with the national embassy or your own consulate.

    Current information regarding vaccinations and travel health advice for UK citizens can be found through the Travel Health Pro website. You must make sure you have adequate insurance cover for illness, accidents and repatriation (see the insurance question). You should also apply for a Global Health Insurance Card (GHIC) if your EHIC has expired (if you have a still-valid EHIC, you can use this until it expires).
  • The principal official language is Italian, though some regions have a second official language, such as South Tyrol, where German is widely spoken. The currency is the Euro. Italian time is GMT/UTC + 1. It uses Daylight Saving Time, so in summer is on BST + 1.
  • For information on the practicalities of travel now that the UK is no longer part of the European Union, visit www.gov.uk/visit-eu-switzerland-norway-iceland-liechtenstein.
  • The UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) provides up-to-date, country-by-country travel advice, as well as information on security, local laws, passports and visas for UK citizens.

    If you live outside the UK, see our essential travel information page for a list of relevant websites.
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