Tuscany
| country: | Italy |
| location: | Tuscany |
| trip type: | Moderate walking holidays |
| departures: | This trip no longer operates |
| price: | From £769-£859 (8 days) including flights, from £599 excluding flights. Local payment Euro 150 (food kitty) |
| vouchers: | Gift vouchers can be used with this holiday |
introduction to Tuscany
Centre-based day walks in the Tuscan hills.
Apuane Alps & Appennines
From Pisa you head into Garfagnana, a little-known region of northern Tuscany and the location of your accommodation at a private villa - complete with small swimming pool and mountain views. During the day you’ll walk into the surrounding hills and mountains while the evenings allow for sampling Tuscany’s renowned cuisine. Florence is not far away and can be reached by train. You’ll also walk along the famous ‘Cinque Terre’ and enjoy panoramic views of precipitous coastline and dazzling blue sea.
Historic Pisa & Lucca
After a visit to a bustling local market, you explore the beautiful and atmospheric medieval city of Lucca. In Pisa the famous Leaning Tower is just one of many places of interest standing alongside the glorious Baptistery and dazzling white marble cathedral.
Gourmet Delights
One of the joys of Tuscany is its delicious food. The freshness of locally grown produce shines through in dishes which are generally simple and wholesome. Home made pasta, pancetta, olives, chestnuts, fava beans, tomatoes and of course wine, are key ingredients of the Tuscan diet. Italians take great pride in their cooking so high quality meals are served everywhere.
Apuane Alps & Appennines
From Pisa you head into Garfagnana, a little-known region of northern Tuscany and the location of your accommodation at a private villa - complete with small swimming pool and mountain views. During the day you’ll walk into the surrounding hills and mountains while the evenings allow for sampling Tuscany’s renowned cuisine. Florence is not far away and can be reached by train. You’ll also walk along the famous ‘Cinque Terre’ and enjoy panoramic views of precipitous coastline and dazzling blue sea.
Historic Pisa & Lucca
After a visit to a bustling local market, you explore the beautiful and atmospheric medieval city of Lucca. In Pisa the famous Leaning Tower is just one of many places of interest standing alongside the glorious Baptistery and dazzling white marble cathedral.
Gourmet Delights
One of the joys of Tuscany is its delicious food. The freshness of locally grown produce shines through in dishes which are generally simple and wholesome. Home made pasta, pancetta, olives, chestnuts, fava beans, tomatoes and of course wine, are key ingredients of the Tuscan diet. Italians take great pride in their cooking so high quality meals are served everywhere.
day-by-day itinerary
| Day 1: | Fly to Pisa; drive to our base at San Romano in Garfagnana |
| Day 2-3: | Day walks; Valle Sotto/Campocatino and Orecchiella NP |
| Day 4: | Full day excursion by train to Cinque Terre, with day walk |
| Day 5: | Castelnuovo di Garfagnana market & visit Lucca |
| Day 6: | Free – optional trip to Florence by train (unaccompanied) |
| Day 7: | Day walk to Pania di Corfino |
| Day 8: | Pisa visit; fly to London |
how this holiday makes a difference
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When travelling to popular tourist destinations such as Tuscany it's easy to forget the impact we can have on the local people, their towns and villages. On this trip we aim to support the local economy by eating all our evening meals at local trattorias - they of course use locally produced vegetables in their traditional dishes (so helping the region's farmers) and the trattorias are all family owned (unlike many of the larger hotels). By hiring our transport from a neighbouring garage, rather than a large rental company, and employing a local man to drive our support vehicle we inject money directly into the local economy. We are even conscious about where we buy our breakfast and lunch supplies, which come from local shops rather than national supermarkets.
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Tourism can be good and bad for destinations & local people. We carefully screen every holiday against our criteria for responsible travel. 'Look behind the brochure' to find how each holiday makes a difference (see left). We don't claim to be perfect - there is no global accreditation - but we've led the way since 2001 and screened 1000's of holidays. We invite every traveller to write a review about their experiences and responsible tourism. This valuable feedback is sent to the people who run the holidays. We keep a very close eye on it and take off holidays that don't live up to our standards. |