The Hill-Top Towns of Tuscany

The Tuscan countryside was beautiful and more varied than expected. The hill top towns had different characters, all interesting in their own way. We particularly enjoyed being able to explore knowing that the routes and accommodation had all been well researched.

Our first holiday with Inntravel exceeded our expectations. The highlights included the city trail around Siena, the Veranaccia di San Gimignano Wine Experience in San Gimignano (buy a card for the wine tasing and admire the fabulous view). The view from our hotel room (Bel Soggiorno) in San Gimignano was great as is the food at the hotel. Also try the bar in the Hotel Garden in Siena. Great atmosphere on the terrace and free snacks.

We really enjoyed walking through this lovely countryside with great views. It was our fourth Inntravel holiday. Volterra was a very charming town to explore and less touristy than San Gimignano or Siena. The evening meals at the hotel Bel Soggiorno were very good. The Pensione Palazzo Ravizza in Siena was especially delightful, with its garden terrance and wonderful views from our room.

This was our first experience of a holiday of this type and Inntravel was recommended to us by friends. We were last minute bookers and wanted to travel by train which must have presented some challenges. We had a couple of anxieties during the booking period eg proposed alteration to train route had been booked before we'd confirmed that we wanted to do it but the end result worked perfectly. We were impressed that even the Paris metro tickets were included in our folder.

The holiday was really enjoyable, the walk instructions were so good that we hardly needed the map let alone the GPS. We are slow ramblers who go on every detour to viewpoints etc so were pleasantly surprised to be well ahead of schedule on the walks. We stopped at several cities en route and were pleased to find walking instructions for them as well which were excellent.

All the hotels were fine and the included dinners very good. The best hotel was Palazzo Ravizza in Siena where there was an included breakfast we weren't expecting featuring the best coffee of the entire holiday! NB on the website it just gives this as an alternative to Hotel Garden but it is actually significantly more expensive - we thought we'd been overcharged and queried the bill! However, after staying there we would say it was well worth it for the lovely garden and proximity to the city centre to visit the sights after the day tripppers have gone. Also in San Gimignano an early evening visit found us to be the only people in the museum and with very few folk up the tower.

Overall the organisation was great and everything went like clockwork. Have already recommended Inntravel to friends. 

We enjoyed the walks through wonderful countryside and stayed in lovely hotels. Each hill top town had its own character. Our favourite was Volterra which was slightly less touristy than the others. Hotel Garden in Siena was excellent and a nice place to finish the holiday. We tried travelling out by train and would certainly do it again, perhaps spending an extra night on route to explore more.

This was our second Inntravel holiday and we enjoyed it immensely. Superb scenery and clear walking notes. We were lucky with warm and dry weather throughout. Although the final 18k day is quite a stretch, the overall grading felt right. Favourite days probably the walk to San Gimignano and arrival at the Hotel Bel Soggiorno with its incredible views and superb dinners, and also the subsequent walk to Colle Val d'Elsa (we enjoyed a short detour to visit the mentioned 14th century abbey just outside SG; the friendly guide there showed us the "natural mediaeval fridge"). Accommodation everywhere was excellent, as always. Would recommend the alternative hotel in Siena, the well-located Palazzo Ravizza with its beautiful terrace overlooking the hills. We loved the friendly stop-off at Marcello's resting point on the final long day with welcome cold drinks and home-made cakes. We didn't have time to do the full walking route in Siena (as we'd booked a roof tour of the fabulous cathedral) but we much enjoyed what we did and appreciated being taken to places we wouldn't have found ourselves. Quick note on navigation: we found Google maps helpful in Siena when we were uncertain at some points. Recommended restaurants: the excellent plant-based Life bistro in Volterra, and Trattoria Stalloreggi in Siena, near the Palazzo Ravizza. A lovely holiday and unlikely to be our last with Inntravel.

This was our 2^nd walking holiday with Inntravel and won’t be our last!

Tuscany was beautiful, with stunning scenery – even on the one rainy day we had. The hotels were all comfortable and welcoming, and we loved staying in the town centres, which gave us the opportunity to easily explore. It also had the added benefit of having the towns to ourselves - after all of the tourists had left for the day!

The dinners that were included were excellent and we were only restricted in the number of courses (3 rather than the 4 on the Italian menu) from the main menu, and not the choices of dishes.

We shouldn’t have been surprised, given the title of the holiday (hill top towns!) but each day finished with a climb for the last stretch to reach the hotel – sometimes long and sometimes steep, but definitely worth the effort 😊

We added the Pisa city add on for 2 nights after our walking week, taking the train from Siena – which was very easy. The hotel Alessandro della Spina is perfectly placed for the city centre, train station and airport.

Overall, we all thoroughly enjoyed our experience with Inntravel. The walking was sensational, the scenery breath taking, would not hesitate to do it all again. A couple of incidences which can easily be resolved that I've already mentioned. But overall it was a fantastic holiday and we will be planning the next one shortly. 

Good trip. As expected. No complaints. Well organized. Fav. hotel Alessandro Della Spina. Least favourite Palazzo San Lorenzo. Room at Hotel Bel Soggiorno small for two people and suitcase, but it was fine.

INNTRAVEL NOTE: These customers combined our walk Hill-Top Towns Of Tuscany with our Pisa City add-on at Hotel Alessandro Della Spina

A lovely holiday arranged at short notice. Full marks to Inntravel.  

Inntravel provide an excellent self walking package with well chosen hotels in prime locations and the invaluable service of transporting luggage to each hotel so we could travel light with just day packs. Duomo ( Cathedral) in Siena is well worth a visit. We also booked a small group skip the line tour in Florence to see Uffizi & Accademia before we travelled which, although not cheap, was well worth the cost. We felt 2 nights was sufficient for Florence and would not have bothered staying overnight in Pisa with its tacky gift shops and poor restaurants if we could have organised a suitable flight time after Florence. Pisa airport is to be avoided if possible! 

Our 5th Inntravel trip did not disappoint. The walks were well described and accurate. We particularly enjoyed the walk to San Gimignano and the spacious room with a fantastic view when we got there. We had some great meals. In particular the plant based restaurant within the walls in Volterra, now called Life, was very good. We spent an extra night in Volterra and an extra night in Sienna to allow more time exploring the towns and were glad of some time to relax. The outdoor pool at Palazzo San Lorenzo had just opened and was a lovely peaceful spot to rest in. After our walking trip we added on a couple of nights in Florence and a night in Luca which was only 30 mins by train from Pisa for our flight home. Thanks to all at Inntravel for another great holiday.

The Apennines: This was a great holiday. We enjoyed the remoteness of the walking (rarely met anybody on the trails), the hospitality of the hotels and friendliness of the locals. We read the book Apennines Love and War by Eric Newby and that added a special understanding of the WW2 memorials we saw and the atmostphere when we were walking through the heavily wooded landscape.

Tuscany: Volterra was a delight and worth extra nights. It was quiet and less touristy than the other towns. We enjoyed the walking.

INNTRAVEL NOTE: These customers combined our walks The Secret Apennines and Hill-Top Towns Of Tuscany

Our first time with Inntravel and we would definitely use again. Great walks, amazing countryside, fabulous hotels (and breakfasts)! The walk guides are very accurate so when in doubt, go with it, especially on the tricky stream section between San Gimignano and Colle Val d'Elsa.

On the Siena walk, you absolutely have to stop at Marcello's rest area. You are able to get food and drink, a rest and an experience not to be missed.

Do take time to stop and just take in the walks, they are nothing like we have in UK.

Finally,  do take more water than you think you'll need, we took 1 litre each and still could have had more.

This was a great holiday experience and a fantastic introduction to Tuscany and indeed Italy. The walks were great and very accurately described. Be prepared for a few hills, walking poles were very useful, even though I had to pack them diagonally in my suitcase! We added extra days in Volterra, San Gimignano and Siena and this allowed us to do every single walk suggested in a relaxed manner. Every page of the guide was used! For us this made the holiday a perfect length and pace, with a good combination of walking and sightseeing.

Our highlight was the walk to and from San Gimignano.  Perfect to have a day off in between to explore the town, and we can't recommend the Hotel Bel Soggiorno too highly.  We felt we made a wise decision to add a day extra in Volterra at the start and and another day in Siena at the end. If the pool is open a day of rest in Hotel San Lorenzo would also be appealing!  Don't underestimate the distances you can walk in larger towns like Volterra and Siena.

Lovely holiday very well organised all the hotels had wonderful breakfasts and evening meals when included, definitely will book another self guided walking holiday.

Very well organised and no problems in navigation.

This was a time to celebrate our 50th wedding anniversary and it turned out to be a fitting holiday.  The weather during the first week was perfect; not too hot but sunny and clear which made the walking pleasant. Some of the tracks and ascents/descents were quite enough for us so we wouldn't go beyond grade 2. The second week was too close to the area covered by the first week on reflection but still good and different. The choice of hotels, the information pack, walking notes and feel of it all were superb.  Well done Inntravel. 

INNTRAVEL NOTE: These customers did our self-guided walking holiday 'Hill-Top Towns of Tuscany' followed by our discovery walking holiday 'Timeless Tuscany'.

We really enjoyed our celebratory journey to Italy with Inntravel. Our trip combined a Bologna visit then the Hill-Top Towns of Tuscany, Siena followed by the Quiet Mountains of the Apennines self guided walking style. The holiday was wonderful - we recommend booking early for the best rooms and hotels since the towns are very busy and the second choice hotels are not the same experience (out of historic town or with no balcony or view). The walking directions are always a fun scavenger hunt for us with a bit of culture and history to appreciate the walk. The notes for the Apennines were not up to Inntravel standards and incorrect - I hope they correct these for future travellers. We also appreciated the excellent seamless travel arrangements to and from hikes so that we could get to our starting points easily. We will be on other adventures with Inntravel in the near future - with our invisible guiding hand - leading us.

The walking was excellent and a nice variety of scenery. Room upgrade  at the Bel Soggiorno if this means rooms overlooking the town walls and countryside, and a balcony for be a real plus. The dinners at Bel Soggirno were, as stated in the information excellent, and views from the windows outstanding. All the towns are very interesting and enjoyable to look around. Siena is fantastic and the guided walk was excellent. We added a day in Bologna and this is also very interesting (and different). 

We really enjoyed our holiday - we were very lucky with the weather which helped!  Everything organised by Inntravel worked like clockwork, especially the walk notes assisted by GPS - we used Outdooractive and Komoot.  We never had a moment's query about which path to take. Bacci travel was also excellent. We especially enjoyed staying at Hotel Bel Soggiorno in San Gimiginano. The view from the rooms and dining room was just breathtaking.  The staff were very friendly and the included dinner was one of the best meals we had in the week - assisted by the excellent advice given by the wine waiter!

Fantastic holiday. Totally relaxing way to enjoy Tuscany.

Hotel San Lino and staff provided an excellent introduction to our walking tour of Hill-Top Towns of Tuscany! They were engaging, friendly and offered many tips on restuaurants and where to get snacks for our walk/hike. We enjoyed our walking tour to each town and the accomodations were wonderful! The walk from Colle di Val d'Elsa/Monteriggioni was a bit too long for us (18km), but we made it and were grateful to have dinner at Hotel Garden where we stayed for 2 nights. Overall, the walking tour was fabulous with fantastic scenery and history along the way! 

This was our first walking holiday like this and in many ways we didn't know quite what to expect, but it surpassed expectations in terms of ease and enjoyment. Tuscany in Autumn is beautiful and not too hot either. The average of 12 miles per day all-in was about right for us - some days longer, others shorter - there has be some exercise to offset all the eating. All arrangements worked very well and everyone friendly. Food and wine great. What's not to like? Inntravel were efficient and helpful. So good we are booked on a south of Spain walking trip in a few months time already, to give it a go again. 

Our first experience with Inntravel, and it was excellent. Easy and pleasant to arrange, even though very last minute; the walks were great, and the mix of walks and seeing the towns, museums etc suited us brilliantly. We would have liked  more of the evening meals to be provided at the hotels, but that's a personal preference. We will hope to have another Inntravel walking holiday next year.

Extraordinary 'Room with the View' at BeL Soggiorno . Wikiloc makes navigation a breeze.

Holiday went without a hitch and thoroughly enjoyed the experience.

We had a great holiday, incorporating some lovely walks (on which we hardly met anyone!) with comprehensive walk notes, amazing views, comfortable accommodation and excellent food (& drink!) served by the ever friendly Italians. The terrain was somewhat steeper than we had expected (the clue was in the holiday title: Hill Top Towns!!) but the views were worth the climbs. The weather was still warm & we did get bitten quite badly, so would definitely recommend ensuring others don't leave the insect repellant on the bathroom shelf, as we did! I don't think there is one particular highlight; it was a super experience all round, as we've come to expect from Inntravel, from start to finish. Roll on the next holiday!

A most enjoyable holiday in an area we had not previously visited. Volterra and San Gimignano were delightful. Siena is a stunning city and, on reflection, we were too tired after the long walk the previous day, to make the most of it. Adding on an extra one or two days would have been more sensible.

Brilliant walking notes in a very comprehensive pack of information, we really enjoyed taking what seemed to be less-explored routes between towns and around cities when we often felt like we had the place to ourselves. The downloadable GPX directions also worked brilliantly in our walking app.

Some fantastic accommodation in great locations ( we added Florence and Turin) that put us very close to the action and some really sound recommendations on places to eat though hotels are also good to ask.

Your telephone support was much appreciated and we really appreciated you putting together what felt like such a personalised itinerary.

Restaurants we particularly enjoyed (sorry if these were already recommended):

Ristorante Accademia, Piazza San Marco, Florence - the best pasta dish we had in Italy, really great service, we went back twice

Dal Toscano - Sapori & Tradizione, San Gimignano - beautifully made panini and other lunch goodies, really lovely service.

Trattoria La Tellina, Siena - small place, awesome home-cooked food, really lovely service, has previously it seems been recommended by Rick Stein

For what it's worth in some of these places we really felt like we got along better for using Italian. Be prepared for a lot of bread. So much bread.

My highlights were having a few days to spend with my daughter irrespective of the walking. Strolling the towns, art galleries, chatting with the locals, eating good food and surrounded by such beautiful landscape.  The storms, injuries, illnesses, a strange late night altercation on an empty bus with the driver and finally the rail strike added a bit of colour.

This was my second walking holiday with Inntravel, and both were outstanding. (Madeira-Waterways & Flower '18 and The Hilltop Towns of Tuscany '22) It is difficult to distinguish particular highlights of our walk through Tuscany...the whole trip was spectacular and exceeded our expectations. The walking notes were easy-to-follow, and the routes were so lovely and peaceful. It was unseasonably warm this past June, so we started our walks earlier than suggested on the itinerary. A big thank you to Inntravel for being flexible in rearranging for transfers, and the hotels packed us picnics for our hikes since we left before breakfast was served.

All of the accommodation were first-rate, unique, and again, exceeded our expectations. The staff at Hotel San Lino (Volterra) and Hotel Bel Soggiorno (San Gimignano) were extremely friendly and helpful. You are provided a dinner at Hotel Bel Soggiorno, and the restaurant is beautiful and food is incredible! We chose the alternative hotels in both Colle Val d'Elsa and Siena. Relais della Rovere (Colle Val d'Elsa) was a great retreat to relax between exploring San Gimignano and the longest hike to Siena. It is a gorgeous hotel with beautiful grounds/pool and on-site restaurant. Hotel Palazzo Ravizza is inside the walls of Siena. When my husband and I were ready to take a break from site-seeing, we would bring meat/cheese/bread from a nearby shop (Antica Pizzicheria al Palazzo della Chigiana) and enjoy a glass wine on the hotel's beautiful patio/gardens with an unbelievable view of the Tuscan countryside. It was hard to leave the hotel.

In addition to the wonderful walking routes and accommodation, Inntravel arranged for our transportation from the airport and train tickets to our next destination post walking trip. We just had the BEST time in Tuscany and can't wait to book our next walking holiday with Inntravel. 

First dedicated walking holiday and it didn't disappoint. Great route & accomodation. The holiday was booked for 2020 & when the pandemic struck Inntravel were excellent. 

Wonderful holiday, great walking and great food.

This was a wonderful holiday - amazing vistas, birdsong (heard several nightingales), flowers and wonderful hilltop towns to explore. I would also commend your customer service for trying to help me out with the issues I had trying to fly back home.

We loved this holiday and the attention to detail on the part of Inntravel was commendable. In May the wild flowers and birdsong (nightingales!) add to the pleasure of beautiful walks. Walking poles are very useful up and down hills. We generally booked restaurants in advance and this was a good idea in popular places. Prices vary a lot but there are some very good and afforable osterias and trattorias. The gelaterias are often very good indeed: Pistacchio is almost always excellent and if you are a chocoholic, look out for the dark chocolate options: fabulous. The Pastinaca vegetarian restaurant just outside the town walls in Volterra and a short walk from the San Lino in Volterra was very good, but a bit expensive. We enjoyed the Porgi L'Altra Pancia (but beware - their wine shelves are very full and they will recommend something expensive - stick to what you can afford) and the Osteria Fornelli was very good and in a great location (panaoramic views). Note that the Etrsucan musuem is covered in scaffolding and the top floors are closed and under repair following flood damage but they hope to reopen soon-maybe August? The best part of the collection is there but we couldn't see it, in May. The gelateria on the right just inside the gateway into the Piazza del Cisterno in San Gimignano is fantastic and the queues are shorter than for the more famous one further up on the left. Get into the back streets to avoid the hordes of tourists during the day. The climb to the top of the central tower (part of the Palazzo Popolo) is very worthwhile for the views. An after dinner stroll when the streets are empty is very pleasant. The Antica Trattoria in Colle seemed good as far as meat dishes are concerend and the green rissotto was excellent but our friend had a seafood dish she found inedible. The management is very confident of its offering and didn't respond sympatheticaly when the seafood dish was left. It was therefore a very mixed experience. This restaurant is in fact open on a Tuesday but closed on a Wednesday (N.B. the nortes say it is closed on a Tuesday). In Siena the Taverna di San Giuseppe does 2 sittings - at 7 pm or 9 pm. Always pre-book. The food and service is excellent and it had a great ambience - the staff love their job and work hard and it shows. The portions at the Nonna Gina (just 1 minute from the Palazzo Ravizza) are big and the service warm and friendly - a great place to go if you are really hungry. Reasonably priced.

Hill Top Towns of Tuscany was a really enjoyable holiday. The weather was hotter than expected but we managed to set off early on several of the walks to avoid the hottest times of day. The walk routes were really easy to follow either Map reading or using the explanatory notes. The Hotels chosen were either good or great. Hotel Bel Soggiorno had a beautiful dining room with amazing panoramic views and the dinner menu was exceptionally good. All the staff we met were friendly and helpful. The taxis were on time and of very good standard, they were also happy to take any non walkers with the luggage if required. I would have no hesitation in recomending this holiday to other walkers.

This was our first holiday with Inntravel and we will definitely use them again. The flexibility allowed us to add on Pisa and Lucca before the walk. All the hotels were good and the walking instructions were accurate and easy to follow. We enjoyed all the walks and found that our walking time was consistently faster than the timings provided. We can highly recommend the cafe in the Museo dell'Opera del Duomo in Pisa for a drink or lunch as the view was fantastic and the prices reasonable.

INNTRAVEL NOTE: These customers combined our walk Hill-Top Towns Of Tuscany with our city add-ons in Pisa and Lucca

Overall the holiday met expectactions and we had a great time - we suspect the pandemic has resulted in a lack of investment in the hotels which slightly impacted on the experience - the walking was generally good though the extent of walking on quite busy and potentially hazardous roads into Siena was a little dispiriting (we are surprised the Sienese authorities have been unable to create a better route for walkers)

We travelled independtly by train from Pisa to Cecina and then bus to Volterra. This worked seamlessly with no problems.

In Volterra we would recommend Osteria Fornelli on Piazzetta dei Fornelli a great place for a drink with fabulous views and good food.

In Siena we particularly enjoyed Osteri del Gusto on Via Fusari.

This was my seventh trip with Inntravel, so I consider myself an enthusiastic return customer. The walking experience in Tuscany is a bit different than some of the other areas I have visited as one is crossing a landscape that reflects over two thousand years of human development and cultivation, which indeed is perhaps its primary attraction. It is largely a man made landscape as pretty as anywhere else on the planet, and most of the walking is along strade bianche  (white gravel tracks) rather than true paths across woods and fields as one might find in other areas. On most of the walking days there were very few, if any, fellow walkers, and I consider myself very fortunate to have been able to wander through the postcard perfect Tuscan landscapes I had fantasized about. Each of the towns was unique, and even though some like San Gimignano and Siena were a bit crowded during the day, in the evening and early morning when the day trippers weren't making their appearance, it was easy to gain a real sense of place.

The holiday was a good combination of easy walking through lovely Tuscan countryside - olive groves and vineyards etc - and very good sightseeing. Weather was mainly sunny and warm.