Chianti useful information to help you plan your vacation
By Category
Chianti country layout and the best ways to get around
Tourist information, guidebooks, maps, tips for niche groups (students, LGBT, seniors, disabled, etc.), and more in Italy
Keeping in touch while traveling—Cellphones and Skype, mail and roaming fees, and how to call to, from, and within Italy
From credit cards, cash, and ATMS to VAT refunds, travelers checks, and customs limits in Italy
All those boring but necessary travel details: passports, entry visas, trip insurance, health insurance, customs regulations, and all the other super-fun pre-trip preparations
Local tourism info links
- Firenzeturismo.it - Florentine (Northern) Chianti tourism
- Terresiena.it - Sienese (Southern) Chianti tourism
- Comune.greve-in-chianti.fi.it - Greve civic site
- Chiantiradda.it - Radda tourist office
- Comune.radda-in-chianti.si.it - Radda civic site
- Comune.gaiole.si.it - Gaiole civic site
- Gazzettinodelchianti.it - Chianti local news
- Comune.castellina.si.it - Castellina civic site
- Comune.poggibonsi.si.it - Poggibonsi civic site
- Barberinovaldelsa.net - Barberino civic site
- Chianti.com - Handy private Chianti site
- Chianti.it - Handy private Chianti site
- Visittuscany.com - official site
- Regione.toscana.it - regional government site
- Toscana.beniculturali.it - regional cultural department (major museums & monuments)
- italia.it - Official tourism site for Italy. Great for links to local sites, but light on info.
- Beniculturali.it - official site for major sights across Italy
- italiantourism.com - This site, set up by the North American office of Italian tourism, is not as handy as the general one.
- Culturaitalia.it - Italy cultural patrimony
- Coopculture.it - Handles the online presence for major archaeological areas, monuments, and museums in most of Italy's major cities and surrounds.
- Vivaticket.it - tickets to about 75 sights across Italy
Activities, walks, & excursions links
- Viator.com - Best one-stop shopping site for all sorts of activities, walking tours, bus tours, escorted day trips, and other excursions. It is actually a clearinghouse for many local tour companies and outfitters, and since it gets a bulk-rate deal on pricing (and takes only a token fee for itself), you can actually sometimes book an activity through Viator for less than it would cost to buy the same exact tour from the tour company itself. (I once booked a Dublin pub crawl via Viator and later discovered that I saved about $1.50; also, the tour turned out to be sold-out, and they were turning away the folks in front of me in line, but since I had a pre-booked voucher I got in.)Partner
- Contexttravel.com - This bespoke walking tour company doesn't even call its 200 tour leaders "guides." It calls them "docents"—perhaps because most guides are academics and specialists in their fields: history professors, archeologists, PhDs, art historians, artists, etc. Groups are miniscule (often six people maximum), and most docents can be booked for private guiding sessions as well. They aren't always the cheapest tours, but they are invariably the best. People rave about Context.Partner
- Veltra.com - Chief rival to Viator, representing fewer tours but also offering some you won't find on Viator.Partner
- Freewalkingtouritalia.com - Basic walking tours that cost... "name your own price." The guides work for "tips," much of which is turned over to their boss, so you end up "tipping" them €15 to €20 per person anyway, meaning the tours aren't actually free (though, given their incentive, most guides put on a good show and give a good tour) .
Public transit links
- Tiemmespa.it - connecting S and W Tuscany
- Ataf.net - Florence to Greve, Impruneta, San Casciano
- Acvbus.it - Florence to Greve, Barberino Valdelsa, San Casciano
- Capautolinee.it - Prato to Impruneta, Strada, and San Casciano
- Moovitapp.com - Finds all public transit options.
- Fsbusitalia.it - public buses in Tuscany
