Best Day Trips from Lucca

Tuscany is dotted with medieval villages, magical landscapes and towns full of art and history. Lucca is a great base from which to discover many of the region's treasures.

If you plan to spend several days in the city, once you've discovered all there is to see and do in Lucca I recommend you let yourself be carried away by the magic of Tuscany and embark on an excursion to the surrounding area. You'll discover some amazing places, and the ones I show you below are just a few possibilities.

Pisa is one of those cities that, once visited, remains forever in your memory. The experience of seeing its leaning tower up close and personal is reason enough to take a trip from Lucca.

But there are many other architectural treasures in Pisa that you will love. For example, its magnificent cathedral, which when you see it will surely remind you of the Duomo in Lucca or the Church of San Michele in Foro, also in this town. There is a reason for this: they were built at the same time.

The Baptistery, the Monumental Cemetery and the Piazza dei Cavalieri are some of the other jewels that make Pisa a unique city. And the best thing is that this city is only 20 kilometres from Lucca, so you can visit it in a morning or an afternoon.

Pisa is only 20 kilometres from Lucca. So if you are sporty and the weather is good, you can take a self-guided tour on a trekking or electric bicycle if you don't want to get too tired. You will visit a unique city and, at the same time, you will see the typical landscapes of Tuscany.

One of the most typical and enchanting images of Tuscany is that of its hills dotted with vines. Fabulous wines are produced here, the best known perhaps being those of the Chianti area, but much closer to Lucca there are fantastic vineyards and wineries to visit.

Not only the wineries, but guided tours also give you the chance to visit some of these vineyards. If you like everything related to oenology, I recommend this experience. You'll learn all about the winemaking process and you'll be able to taste some of the best wines in the area.

These are usually half-day excursions, so if you don't mind the time of day, I recommend you do the tour in the afternoon. If you are lucky enough to see the sunset over the fields, you will be able to capture in your mind one of the most beautiful views of Tuscany.

The Cinque Terre make up one of the most spectacular postcards of Italy. It is less than an hour and a half's drive from Lucca, so this excursion is not to be missed. You'll discover charming villages overlooking the sea from the cliffs of the Ligurian coast. Its colourful houses and steep streets are enchanting at first sight.

Riomaggiore, Corniglia, Vernazza, Manarola and Monterosso are the towns that make up the Cinque Terre, which are World Heritage Sites for their unique beauty. If you make the journey by land, don't miss the Via dell'amore, a romantic walk along the sea between Riomaggiore and Manarola.

But my recommendation is that, in addition to strolling through these villages, you can see them from the sea by joining one of the boat trips in the Cinque Terre that you can choose from. The experience is sure to be unforgettable.

Make a stop in La Spezia

Some of the excursions to Cinque Terre make a stop in La Spezia, which is the prelude to this uniquely beautiful stretch of coastline. Here I recommend you visit the castle of San Giorgio, the cathedral, the abbey of Santa Maria Assunta or the Naval Museum, the largest in Italy.

But, in addition to all this, you can admire the gulf of La Spezia, or the gulf of the Poets, as it is also called. As you can imagine from the nickname, this stretch of coastline is extremely beautiful. Tip: for both the Cinque Terre and La Spezia, take your mobile phone or camera battery well charged.

Many of the world's most famous monuments and sculptures are clad in or carved from Carrara marble. You can visit the quarries from which the stone has been extracted for centuries and go deep into the bowels of the earth to see the extraction process less than 60 kilometres from Lucca.

Guided tours take place in all-terrain vehicles that allow you to climb the ramps of the open-air quarries. The scenery that awaits you is spectacular: huge white wounds in the mountains that contrast with the green of the unexploited areas. You will also see how the quarries are worked to extract this treasure in stone.

But you will not only visit the open-air quarries, on a trip to the quarries of Carrara you can also go deep into the earth to visit an underground quarry. It is spectacular, especially considering that marble has been quarried here for two thousand years.

This city is much more than the capital of Tuscany, it is a city where you can breathe art in every corner. That is why it is worth travelling the 80 kilometres from Lucca to discover everything there is to see in Florence. You'll need a whole day.

Admiring the beauty of the Duomo and the Campanille, strolling through Signoria Square, visiting the Palazzo Vecchio or crossing Ponte Vecchio are experiences not to be missed. And if you like art, the Uffizi Gallery is a must. And if you do all this with an expert guide, you will have the most complete view of the city.

But in Florence you will discover much more, for example, the best of Tuscan gastronomy: the ribollita, which is a soup with beans; the polpettone alla fiorentina, which is a huge meatball eaten in slices; or the bistec a la florentina, a grilled local veal. Try the gelatos too, they will make you sigh with pleasure.

Do you have an exquisite palate and are you a true gourmet? Then you will know that truffles have an enormous gastronomic value for the unique flavour they add to dishes. In fact, its price is exorbitant. For this reason, the experience of hunting truffles is an activity that you are going to love.

Not far from Lucca there are ideal places for this kind of treasure hunt, one of them is San Miniato, which is less than 50 kilometres away. Not only will you have fun while searching for truffles, you will also wander through woods full of charm during the exploration.

Moreover, you will not be alone in the adventure, you will be accompanied by a tartufaio, an expert in the collection of these precious mushrooms. And you'll see those dogs specially trained to find them in action.

And, to round off this unique activity, there's nothing like a little lunch where you'll try some typical dishes seasoned with these gastronomic treasures. A tasty treat, don't you think?

Tuscany is the aroma of wine, but it is also the taste of the liquid gold that is oil. Vineyards and olive groves can be found all over the region, including in the area around Lucca. If you want to discover one of its age-old traditions, there are excursions that will take you along the so-called wine, oil and flavour trails.

Along the route you will visit small farms and oil mills dedicated to the production of the oils that give flavour to the rich Tuscan gastronomy. You will also learn how in some of them the process is entirely handmade. Of course, you will also be able to taste these extraordinary oils.

In some cases, the excursions include a small aperitif or a light meal so that you can also enjoy some of the typical delicacies of this region, such as Tuscan bread with oil or focaccia with tomato.

Lucca is known as the "city of a hundred towers and a hundred churches". San Gimignano has been called the "medieval Manhattan". When you see its silhouette as you approach this town you will understand why. It once had more than 70 towers, of which only 15 remain today.

Why so many towers? Because it was the medieval nobles' way of demonstrating their power. The higher the tower, the more powerful the lord. The tallest of the surviving towers is the which is 54 metres high. Don't forget that we are talking about the Middle Ages and that this tower is already 800 years old.

But these medieval skyscrapers are not the only treasure of San Gimignano. In fact, strolling through its historic centre is almost like stepping back in time. Its cobbled streets, squares and small palaces are simply enchanting. And it is less than 90 kilometres from Lucca.

Including an extension to Siena

Some of the excursions organised to see San Gimignano extend their route to get to know one of the most charming medieval towns in Tuscany. Without a doubt, I recommend a visit because Siena has a lot to see and enjoy.

The unique fan-shaped Piazza del Campo and the magnificent Palazzo Publico will surprise you. But there is still much more to see: the Duomo of Siena, the Baptistery, the belvedere of what was to be a large extension of the cathedral or the Piazza Salimbeni are other places not to be missed.

Take the opportunity to get to know Volterra

Another possibility offered by some excursions is to visit San Gimignano and then Volterra. This is a very different town from others in Tuscany. The reason? Its Etruscan past, of which there are still countless remains, including its urban layout. If you like history, I recommend a visit.

But this is also a medieval town, so you will see high towers, palaces, a cathedral of great beauty and streets and squares that will take you back in time. A tip, if you can, set aside time to visit the Museo Etrusco Guarnacci, it's spectacular.

If you don't have time to stray far from Lucca, a visit to the Villa Reale di Marilia is a perfect choice. Here you can take in some of the history of the region and enjoy the magnificent gardens that will make you forget time.

The villa was built in the 17th century, but before that there was already a fortress and a medieval estate in the grounds. The property has passed through different noble families throughout its history. It even belonged for a time to Elisa Bonaparte, Napoleon's sister.

But what is really spectacular are the gardens that surround the villa. Water is the backbone of the gardens. You will stroll among fountains, ponds and waterfalls. You will also see tree-lined avenues, sculptures, an open-air vegetable theatre where the composer Niccolò Paganini starred in musical evenings with Elisa Bonaparte as hostess.

Garfagnana is a mountainous region that hides some really beautiful villages. Visiting it will allow you to enjoy a completely different view from the one you might have of Tuscany. Here it is the mountains and forests that dominate the landscape.

Along the route, you will also be able to see places as unique as the Maddalena Bridge, curious for its shape and the legend that surrounds it. It is said that it was the devil himself who built it, in exchange for the soul of the builder who asked him for help. The story ends well, but it is well worth discovering when you visit it.

During the excursion you will also visit a village that is included in the list of the most beautiful in Italy: Barga. You will love it because it is situated on top of a hill overlooking a mountain amphitheatre. But there are also interesting places to visit, such as its millenary cathedral, the Palazzo del Podestà or the Casa Pascoli.

Both the price and the duration of the excursions will depend largely on the distances and the number of stops you make on the excursions. If you want to make the most of your time, the half-day tours are perfect because you can combine two in one day.

To give you an idea, Florence, Cinque Terre or San Gimignano take about nine hours. Others, such as a visit to a wine cellar or a tour of the Carrara quarries, last between two and a half and five hours.

In terms of prices, the most expensive excursions are obviously the longer ones, but also those that include food or, as in the case of the Cinque Terre, a small cruise. The price for these starts at around 160 euros. Shorter excursions cost, on average, around €70.

It is true that you can visit the treasures around Luccaon your own or even organise some of the experiences independently. However, you may miss some of those attractions that only expert guides know about.

With these guided tours you will enjoy the best-known side of a part of Tuscany: medieval villages full of charm, picture-postcard landscapes and a capital that is art in its purest form. But you will also discover another lesser-known side where you will discover secret corners and some very curious legends.

And, of course, these excursions are perfectly planned to enjoy every second without being overwhelming. It's the best way to get a great taste of Lucca and, of course, of the idyllic region of Tuscany.