Tuscany - The Basics - Part 1

Tuscany - The Basics - Part 1

Tuscany – the Basics could also easily be titled ‘Italy the basics’ as most of what I have tried to include here applies throughout the country. I should, of course, add a health warning at this point. No; not about the country but about this article. We took an extended (6 week) tour of Italy and much of what we learned is included here. I have tried to be accurate and have included the Italian terms to help you recognise them in everyday situations. You should note that this is ‘my’ Italian and while I have tried to be accurate some errors may have slipped in. The Italian words should be in bold. This trip took place two years ago (2013) so some things may have changed. A good example of this is the recent changes for driving licenses when hiring a car. However overall this should be a helpful guide to overcome some of the common pitfalls.

Getting there

Although I have used the next paragraphs to talk about air travel from the UK most of the lessons here apply worldwide.

Airfares of course depend on the season you want to travel and the popularity of your destination. The highest fares here being around Easter, June to August, and Christmas to New Year. The fares drop a little during the “shoulder” seasons, September to October and April to May with the weather still good this may be the best option. The best prices are during the November-to-March low season, minus of course Christmas and New Year. However the weather can be more of a lottery depending on where you are going.

It is normally more expensive to fly a weekends as these have a price supplement added. The prices quoted below are for midweek travel in 2013. You can often reduce these by going through a special agent who deals with just the part of Italy to which you are going. It may be that by adding in some other services such as travel insurance, car rentals or ticket for attractions a special package fare can be used.

The most common budget airlines serving Pisa from the UK are Ryanair who fly from Stansted, Bournemouth, East Midlands, Liverpool, Edinburgh and Glasgow, and EasyJet who fly from Gatwick, Luton and Bristol. In the summer, Jet2 flies from Manchester, Leeds, Newcastle and Bradford, and Thomson fly from Gatwick, Coventry, Leeds and Manchester.

The normal caveat applies here which is to check which actual airport you will be arriving at. Budget airlines can have an interesting view of what is a local airport, so factor in the cost of getting where you want to go.

Continued in Part 2