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Best time to visit Tuscany: Tuscany in Central Italy is known for its remarkable landscapes, world-class art, wonderful countryside, and distinguished cities. And apart from these astounding features, Tuscany also prides itself in having over 12 protected nature reserves.
All this explains why Tuscany has been a major tourist attraction for years with a record of up to 14 million tourists every year. With the famous Michelangelo photos, Ponte Vecchio, Uffizi Museum and more, a visit to Italy without Tuscany is incomplete. Specifically, Tuscany’s capital city, Florence is such a popular tourist destination that it was ranked 89th most visited city in the world in 2012 with more than 1.5 million arrivals.
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Seasons in Tuscany
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The climate in Tuscany is generally mild. However, the weather usually varies depending on the area you decide to visit. From the seaside, the mountains and hilly hinterland, each region will experience different temperatures. Nevertheless, Tuscany is dependent upon each season and all the seasons have various activities throughout the year.
Summer: Summer in Tuscany is experienced in June, July and August. The temperature is usually high during the three months and usually ranges from 27-30C / 80-86F. However, it’s not unusual for June to experience some rainstorms while you rarely get any rainfall in July. Nonetheless, August is known to exceed the 30C / 86F and reach up to 40C / 104F making it the hottest month of the year.
Fall: September, October and November make up the Fall season. September’s weather is stable and pleasant with an average temperature of 25C / 77F. October has slightly low temperatures with the daytime temperature being 22C / 71F and nights being 11C / 52F. November is usually the wettest month of the year with temperatures ranging between 10-12C / 50-54F.
Winter: Winter in Tuscany comprises of December, January, and February. The season is very cold and sometimes accompanied by snow. Having very low temperatures, January and February is usually 11-13C / 52-55F in the daytime and 3C / 37F at night. Although it is usually cold, the two months of January and February experiences little rainfall. That’s because the Apennines in central Italy protects Tuscany from the icy winds from the north.
Spring: Spring is made up of March, April, and May. March is unpredictable with pleasantly warm weather in some days while other days bring showers of rain. April and May experience longer warm hours during the day and brief periods of coldness during the night. The average temperature of the three months is 20C / 68F.
Best Month(s) to Visit Tuscany
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Although Tuscany tourism season is from mid-April to the end of September, the best months to visit Tuscany are in the mid months season. That is from April to June and from September to October.
From April to June, the weather is pleasant with warm sunny days and cool nights. On the other hand, September to October, the weather is also quite pleasant with agreeable temperatures during the day and night.
Bottom line, in these months, there will be fewer visitors in most hotels and shorter lines in the tourist attraction sites.
How to Get to Tuscany
With Tuscany being a popular tourist destination, there are many ways to get there. You can choose to travel by air, bus/coach, train or car. If you decide to travel by air, Tuscany has two international airports located only 80 kilometers apart.
Located in Pisa and Florence, Pisa is the larger of the two airports.
The two airports handle flights to major European cities. Therefore, if you decide to travel by air from Rome to Tuscany, the journey will take you 2 hours 36 minutes to land at Pisa airport and 2 hours and 48 minutes to land at Florence airport.
If you are traveling by car Florence will take 28 minutes if you take the SS67 road, 16 minutes via Ghibellina and 35 minutes via ss67 and Viale Francesco Petrarca. If you are coming from Rome, it will take you 3 hours and 9 minutes via A1/E35, 3 hours and 50 minutes via SS3bis and A1/E35, and 4 hours and 4 minutes via E80.
Another traveling option is rideshare which will take you 3 hours 12 minutes.
If you take the bus from Rome, the journey will take 3 hours and 55 minutes. However, a train from Rome is the fastest means of transport since you will only take 1 hour and 31 minutes.
However, if you are traveling from Pisa to Tuscany, the fastest means of transport is the train which will take one hour. A bus will take I hour and 39 minutes, rideshare will take 1 hour 34 minutes while driving will take 1 hour 2 minutes.
Note that, if you are driving to Tuscany from outside Italy, there are only three entry points. The first one is Mont Blanc tunnel from France, Brenner Pass from Australia and Grand St. Bernard tunnel from Switzerland.
How to Get Around Tuscany
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Tuscany being a medium-sized region only takes a few hours to travel from one side of the region to the other. There is an efficient public transport system that enables the locals and visitors to move around easily. If you are headed to the smaller villages of Tuscany you can take a bus or rental car. Trains are also available but only in the main towns of Tuscany.
Buses/Coaches
Tuscany has several bus companies that move locals as well as tourists around. With many passing through Florence as a central connecting point, tourists have a chance to visit the major attractions in Florence. Moreover, the buses have their terminals and stop close to the main train station in Florence.
Train
Traveling by train in Tuscany still remains the easiest way to get around the city center. Having its main train station in Firenze Santa Maria Novella, tourists can easily connect to other cities within Tuscany.
Rental Cars
Rental cars are the best way to get around Tuscany with the exception of the historical centers of the cities and access to smaller towns. However, rental cars have no rights to enter limited traffic zones within the inner city areas of Tuscany.
Bikes
Tuscany has various bike paths and scenic routes ideal for every type of cyclist. There are many companies that rent out bikes and also organize bike to tourists. The best part is that even if you are traveling by train, you can carry your bike from one place to another. That’s because many trains have a carriage set aside for bicycles.
Tuscany is truly a great place to spend your holiday. It has spectacular panoramic places to visit as well as various activities ideal for all ages. Since the weather usually varies in different areas, the information above will guide you in choosing best time to visit Tuscany.