Tuscany self catering

[reluctantbrit]

Any recommendations where to base ourselves for a week in Tuscany next August/September? 3 adults, DD will be 19.

We plan to fly into Pisa, the only other plan is to spend 4 days at the end in Florence. But we want a week somewhere based and do day trips.

One idea was to go near Siena but I just don't know what to do in the area. Or going more north, or stay at the coast or Lucca and then add Siena as an extra day from Florence.

We love history, walking around towns, nature, beach.

Budget is healthy, I would say we normally spend around £6-7k for us three. But without knowing where to look for a villa I don't know what the price levels are.

La Spezia is on the border between Liguria and Tuscany not far from Cinque Terre. You can use the local train to visit the five towns. We got a Cinque Terre train card which gave us unlimited travel between the towns and La Spezia. Boat tours also operate from La Spezia and stop at most of the towns. We also did a day trip to Carrara.

We stayed just outside San Gimignano. Pretty decent central town. Sienna has trains and again you can drive to other towns and explore. We get a place with a pool and go out after lunch. Don’t need beaches. Nearly every town is fantastic.