Siena and San Gimignano in a day

Siena and San Gimignano are the two hill towns every first visit to Tuscany wants, and they sit close enough together to share a day from Florence. The catch is the connection between them: easy on a tour, awkward by bus. Here is how the day works both ways.

The two towns

Siena, about 70 km south of Florence, was its great medieval rival and still looks the part: a Gothic city of brick lanes and 17 contrade (neighbourhoods) running downhill to the Piazza del Campo, the sloping, shell-shaped square where the Palio horse race is run on 2 July and 16 August. The striped Duomo is the other must; its inlaid marble floor is uncovered from 27 June to 31 July and from 18 August to 15 November 2026, when a walk-in ticket costs €8 instead of €5 (the small-group tour sells entry with a guided visit for €15). San Gimignano, 40 minutes north-west by road, is smaller and more vertical: 14 surviving tower houses, the Piazza della Cisterna with its famous gelato, and views over vineyards producing the white Vernaccia wine.

On a tour

Almost every full-day Tuscany tour from Florence includes both. The best-seller, the classic day trip (4.9 from over 24,000 reviews, from about $100), adds a Chianti farm lunch and Pisa; expect about two hours in Siena with a local guide and 1.5 hours free in San Gimignano. The small-group version (max. 25, from about $174) drops Pisa for a sit-down winery lunch and a slower pace. The cheapest option, from about $76, adds walled Monteriggioni and a Chianti tasting but no lunch. One honest warning from reviewers: an hour in San Gimignano goes fast.

On your own

Doing both by public transport is possible but tight. Take the 131R bus from Florence to Siena (about 75 minutes, arriving near the centre), then a bus to Poggibonsi and bus 130 or 133 up to San Gimignano, and a train back to Florence from Poggibonsi. Allow four to five hours of travel in total and check the last departures on at-bus.it. For one town only, it is simple: Siena by bus, or San Gimignano by train to Poggibonsi plus the bus, about €10.50 each way. Full routes are in Tuscany without a car.