Best Day Trips from Lucca

Tuscany is dotted with medieval villages, magical landscapes and cities full of art and history. Lucca is a great base of operations to discover many of the treasures that this region holds.

If you plan to spend several days in the city, once you have discovered all there is to see and do in Lucca I recommend you to let yourself be carried away by the magic of Tuscany and embark on an excursion in the surrounding area. You will discover 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. By itself, the experience of seeing its leaning tower up close is reason enough to take an excursion from Lucca.

But in Pisa there are many other architectural treasures that you will love. For example, its magnificent cathedral, which 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 or 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 just 20 kilometers from Lucca, so you can visit it in a morning or an afternoon.

Pisa is just 20 kilometers from Lucca. So, if you are sporty and the weather is good, you can take a self-guided tour on a trekking or electric bike, if you don't want to get too tired. You will visit a unique city and, by the way, you will see the typical Tuscan landscapes.

One of the most typical and most charming images of Tuscany is that of its hills planted 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 that you can visit.

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

They are usually half-day excursions, so if you have no inconvenience in terms of time, I advise you to do the tour in the afternoon. If you are lucky and you can watch the sunset over the fields, you will have in your mind one of the most beautiful pictures of Tuscany.

The Cinque Terre give shape to one of the most spectacular postcards of Italy. It is less than an hour and a half drive from Lucca, so you can't miss this excursion. You will discover charming villages overlooking the sea from the cliffs of the Ligurian coast. Its colorful 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, do not 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 from which you can choose. The experience will surely 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 coastal strip of unique beauty. Here I suggest 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 Poets, as it is also called. As you can imagine from the nickname, this stretch of coastline is of enormous beauty. Tip: for both Cinque Terre and La Spezia, take your cell phone or camera battery well charged.

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

Guided tours are conducted in all-terrain vehicles that allow you to climb the ramps of the open-pit quarries. The scenery that awaits you is spectacular: huge white wounds in the mountains that contrast with the green of the unmined areas. You will also see how they work 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 a subway quarry. It's 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 art is breathed in every corner. For this reason, it is worth traveling the 80 kilometers that separate it from Lucca to discover everything there is to see in Florence. So much that you will need a full day.

Admiring the beauty of the Duomo and the Campanille, walking through the 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. Moreover, if you do all this with an expert guide, you will have the most complete vision 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 that is eaten in slices; or the Florentine steak, a grilled native veal. Try also the gelatos, they will make you sigh with pleasure.

Do you have an exquisite palate and are you a true gourmet? Then you will know that the truffle has an enormous gastronomic value for the unique flavor it brings to dishes. In fact, its price is exorbitant. Therefore, the experience of hunting truffles is an activity that you will 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 kilometers 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 will see in action those dogs specially trained to find them.

And, as a finishing touch to this unique activity, nothing like a small lunch where you will taste some typical dishes seasoned with these gastronomic treasures. Appetizing, don't you think?

Tuscany is the aroma of wine, but it is also the taste of that liquid gold that is oil. Vineyards and olive groves follow one after the other throughout the region, also in the surroundings of Lucca. If you want to discover one of its millenary traditions, there are excursions that will take you along the so-called paths of wine, oil and flavors.

During the tour you will visit small farms and mills dedicated to the production of those oils that give flavor to the rich Tuscan gastronomy. You will also learn how in some of them this process is completely handmade. Of course, you can also do a tasting of 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 way the medieval nobles had to demonstrate their power. The higher the tower, the more powerful the lord. The tallest of the surviving towers is the which is 54 meters high. Don't forget that we are talking about the Middle Ages and that this tower is already 800 years old.

But those medieval skyscrapers are not the only treasure of San Gimignano. In fact, strolling through its historic center is almost like stepping back in time. Its cobblestone streets, piazzas and palazzi are simply enchanting. And it is less than 90 kilometers from Lucca.

Includes an extension to Siena

Some of the excursions that are organized 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 the 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 you will still have much to see: the Duomo of Siena, the Baptistery, the viewpoint 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 visit 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 many traces, including its urban layout. If you like history, I recommend a visit.

But this is also a medieval village, so you will see high towers, palaces, a cathedral of great beauty and streets and squares that will make you travel back in time. A tip, if you can, set aside time to visit the Museo Etrusco Guarnacci, it is 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 will be able to explore part of the history of this region and also 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 on 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 surrounding the villa. Water is the backbone of the gardens. You will walk among fountains, ponds and waterfalls. You will also see tree-lined avenues, sculptures, an open-air vegetable theater where the composer Niccolò Paganini starred in musical evenings with Elisa Bonaparte as hostess.

Garfagnana is a mountainous region that hides 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 way, you can also see such unique places as the Maddalena Bridge, curious for its shape and for 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 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 located on top of a hill overlooking a mountain amphitheater. 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 will depend largely on the distances and the number of stops 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 last about nine hours. Others, such as the visit to a winery or the tour of the Carrara quarries last between two and a half and five hours.

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

It is true that you can visit the treasures around Luccaon your own or even organize 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, postcard landscapes and a capital that is art in its purest form. But you will also discover another lesser-known side where you will get to know secret corners and some very curious legends.

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