I've just returned from this trip and had a lovely time.
The trips were really good:
Pisa - most of the sights aren't too far apart. I got a ticket for €9 which enabled me to visit the baptistry, 2 museums, and the monumental cemetery-to visit each individually would have cost €5 each so it was good value for money if you want to go into these places. I didn't pay to go up the leaning tower, but others may be braver than me!
Siena & San Gimignano - had guided tour for an hour round Siena and it's beautiful. The cathedral is amazing inside, though we paid for a fast track entry for an extra €1, we could have got in just as fast paying the normal price of €4. It was still definately worth seeing. Visited San Gimignano which is nice too, but most of the people on the tour, me included, thought it was a bit too long a day, we left the hotel at 8am and didn't get back till around 6.30pm. Perhaps doing Siena on it's own and putting Pisa & San Gimignano, or Lucca & San Gimignano together may be a better option?
Marina de Cecina - lovely little town next to the sea. Can be a bit blustery and you get the odd storm, but that's probably not normal for this time of year (but we had hailstorms back home which wasn't really normal either, so just the weather in general I'm afraid). You can walk around the streets nearby no bother at all, sit by the sea, though it's not very good sand for sitting on, but lovely views. Some people on my tour went for bike rides (the hotel has some bikes you can use, or there's plenty of bike hire places nearby), or went for a walk in the nearby pine woods which looked beautiful from what I saw of them.
Elba - thought the boat trip was going to be worse than it was when we saw the sea outside the hotel on the morning of our trip, but when we got to the departure point it was much calmer, the ferry is quite big too, as the coach drives onto it, so that made me feel a bit better! A few of us sat out on deck in the sunshine, but then we got a bit of rain and had to go inside, there's plenty of seats though. Trip takes roughly an hour each way so isn't too long. Elba itself if beautiful, we stopped at Marciana Marina for 1/2 an hour for coffee, this is a nice little harbour but not very big so didn't really need any longer than the 1/2 hour we were there. Next moved onto Marina De Campo which is a nice little town. We had lunch here and there are some nice little shops and the beach is nice. Lastly went to Porto Azzurro which is lovely too. This is a bigger harbour and has nice sea views. Lovely to walk round. Plus enjoyed the scenery as the coach drove us between locations. Got a good map of Elba from the tourist information, and now I've read it (didn't have time to read it properly in Italy) there's loads to do in Elba from scuba diving, boat trips, to golf, and there are various lovely beaches.
Florence - although I've been here before, there's so much to do and it's a beautiful place to visit. We had a guided tour for an hour and a half, then went to a rooftop cafe in a local department store for lunch - it had fabulous views over Florence. I had a lovely time looking around and visiting the odd cathedral along the way. Some did a bit of shopping or visited the Pitti Palace and gardens, which they said were lovely and away from the crowds of Florence.
Lucca - again another lovely town. Enclosed by town walls which you can walk/ride round. Lovely views and plenty of places to visit/shop/eat.
Jonathan Clarke was our tour rep and was brilliant, providing maps for us and advising us of the best places to visit, and giving us his mobile number in case we got lost.
The hotel was lovely. It's a small family run hotel, and it's much better than the bigger hotels. You can tell it's family run as all the staff take great pride in their work, and can't do enough to please. They were there to greet us into the hotel on the first day (the first time I've ever seen this), and were there each day when we came back from our trips, and waved us off when we left. They had a great sense of humour. Although my room and balcony were quite small, my room was immaculately clean and the bedding/towels were changed daily. If I went up a flight of stairs I was on the roof terrace anyway, so my small balcony wasn't a problem for me. The food was delicious, and homemade, with four courses at night (with a choice of 3 dishes for starter and main courses daily). The drinks were very reasonable, I had a few bottles of wine and paid the bill before I left. Others got drinks at the bar and they were more like doubles, but still very reasonable.
All in all a lovely holiday.
