This post is also available in: French
I’ve spent one week in Italy with my man in April. We left cloudy rainy France in exchange for a sunny Italian week.
The main objective of this trip was to hike the Cinque Terre. We were going to do it on a 3 or 4 days weekend. But knowing Tuscany is so close, we couldn’t resist. We extended our stay in Italy to visit again this beautiful region.
We did camping during this trip. I mean real camping, in a tent. Not a camper, not a mobile home nor trailer. We are probably the last ones of our kinds, lol.
Roadtrip and camping, our favourite way of traveling. That way, you are entirely independent and can reach the most remote places. We don’t rely on public transportation and their late schedules. Camping is also a mean to sleep for the most competitive prices ever. To me, it is utterly nonsense to spend over 100€ for a hotel night. I don’t understand the concept. At the Italian lakes, I couldn’t find anything below 120€, and this price excluded the car parking. That’s why we opted for camping. I’ve been going on family vacations doing camping during my childhood and I still enjoy it. Another advantage is that you do not stress about parking your car anymore. Most hotels do not have a private parking or garage, we never know where to park our car and how much it will cost us. We camped in Sienne, Volterra, the Cinque Terre and were able to leave our car at the camping and reach the town centre by foot, bus or train without any problem.
Enough talking. I’m joining you the map of our itinerary. Do not hesitate to zoom in to see the Cinque Terre in details, including the hiking trails that link the villages to each other. I marked all campings we stayed at and also marked some activities such as the wine tasting in the Chianti.
Itinerary : Levanto – Cinque Terre – Pisa – Volterra – Monteriggioni – Siena – Radda in Chianti – Volpaia – Greve in Chianti – Firenze
This roadtrip is easy and voluntarily not exhausting. The maximum traveling time between two towns is one hour fifteen minutes. As we only had one week, I made sure not to drive too far in the South towards Rome. We had to think about the return journey to France. For this reason, we did not visit Montepulciano and South Tuscany. But no regrets, I’ve discovered lesser known villages but still awesomely beautiful.
I think we had a very nice overview of Tuscany: big historical cities, rural areas, wine, castles, cathedrals, good food… What more could you ask ? The beach. No problem, Liguria is on your way down to Tuscany. Stay two days at the Cinque Terre, on the Italian Riviera, and you will find in your trip everything that you could wish for.
Some prices to know when budgeting your Italian roadtrip :
Frejus Tunnel (toll for the tunnel between France and Italy) : 54,60€ return trip (return journey to be done within 7 days)
Restaurant : dishes are generally cheaper than in France , but you have to pay for “il coperto” (fork, knife and bread) 1.5 to 3€/person. So on the final bill, it’s pretty much the same.
Camping : from 28 to 35€/night for 2 persons + small tent + car. We unexpectedly paid only 14€/night in the Chianti, in a huge camping village with three swimming pools but that was exceptional. You should plan around 30€ per night.
Visits : from 2€ to 18€ for Tuscan cathedrald and towers
Prices for gas: a lot more expensive than in France. We currently pay 1,39€/L in France whereas we had to pay 1,69€/L in Italy. Diesel is slightly cheaper.
Now you probably want to learn more about what we did. Below are the articles for each step of this roadtrip:
What to do in the Cinque Terre ?
Personal feedback about the Cinque Terre
Volterra + Pise (coming soon)
Tuscany’s hidden gem: Monteriggioni
Sienne Vs Florence (coming soon)
The Chianti wine route: Castello di Verrazzano, wine tasting
Best villages in the Chianti region: Volpaia and Radda In Chianti
Do not hesitate to ask all your questions in the comments section. It will be my pleasure to answer and give you some advice. If you have already roadtripped around Liguria and Tuscany, do you have a secret destination, an unmissable place that you would like to share ?
