Siena: the best and tastiest travel tips
Siena is an ancient Tuscan city in Italy where you can wander around all day. With its numerous sights, magnificent cathedrals and historic buildings, the city is one big open-air museum, and has been on the Unesco World Heritage List since 1995 for good reason. If you are in Tuscany then we definitely recommend visiting this city.
In this article
- To do
- Hotspots
- Travel time
- Budget
- Practical information
- The nicest accommodations
- How do I get there?
- Our opinion
What to do in Siena
You can wander around Siena for hours without running out of things to see. There is so much beauty to see. We have collected the best tips for Siena for you.
Piazza del Campo
You can’t avoid it, the heart of Siena: Piazza del Campo. This is the city’s main square and perhaps one of the most beautiful squares in Europe. From Piazza del Campo you can easily walk into the different streets of the city where you can find the nicest hotspots and boutiques.
More great tips for Siena
If you visit the city with the dog, you are a little more limited in your options. So we walked around the city a lot everywhere and grabbed quite a few sidewalk cafes, which we can recommend to everyone. If you still don’t want to see a little more of the city, then of course we have collected more tips for Siena for you:
- Visit the Duomo Santa Maria, the jewel of Siena. This magnificent cathedral is a beauty on the outside as much as on the inside.
- Admire the Torre del Mangia: an 88-meter-high mid-14th-century building
- Go to Museo dell’opera Metropolitana: in this museum find works of art from the 13th century, 14th and 15th centuries
- Visit the Basilica di San Domenico: a magnificent church just outside the city
- Orto Botanico: a beautiful botanical garden just outside the city measuring a whopping 25,000 square meters.
- Fonte di Fontebranda: a unique water basin
- Libreria Piccolomini: an ancient library once established for Pope Pius II
- Discover Tuscany’s surroundings and tastiest wines with a
Wine Tour
- Take a
road trip through the area with a fiat500
- Discover the city’s food and fun hotspots with a
food tour
Hotspots & food in
Best time to travel to Siena
The best travel time for Siena is in spring or summer. During high season, it can be quite crowded, though. In spring, Tuscany is at its most beautiful and greenest. Everything is in beautiful bloom then. We visited Siena in late September and even then the city was beautiful, but unfortunately the surrounding area was no longer so green.
Transportation in Siena
The center of Siena is car-free and parking can be quite pricey. Also, there are environmental zones in Siena where you can’t go with certain cars therefore. Therefore, we recommend that you park outside the city and take the bus into town.
Which budget do i need in Siena?
- Motorhome spot: 20 euros per night
- Hotels: average 75 – 150 euros (from basic – luxury).
- Food and drink:15 -20 per meal for 2 people
- Activities: for a museum you pay about 8 – 10 euros and most churches and cathedrals are free
- Groceries are similar to the Netherlands.
- Gasoline prices are also similar to the Netherlands.
- Public transportation: about 2 euros per person for a one-way ticket (30 minutes)
On average, we spent about 60 – 80 euros per day. Most of the budget went into groceries and eating out.
Practical information about Siena
- Parking in Siena can be quite tricky and pricey. You can catch the bus or train to the city from several places. The connections are very good and affordable.
- With an ACSI discount card, you often get discounts at campsites in the off-season.
- If you take the dog with you, you are required to carry a muzzle. Dogs must wear this in public places. Yet we almost never saw dogs with a muzzle and never did it with our dog. Although we do have a stick old pug with epilepsy who was in backpack most of the time so expect most people were understanding of this. With a larger dog, this may be different anyway.
- For the nicest camping spot, we always use the app Park4night & camper contact
- The same obligations apply in the car as in the Netherlands. So bring safety jacket and warning triangle!
- In Italy, many stores, restaurants and supermarkets are often closed at noon. Something we forgot almost every day.
What are nice places to stay in Siena?
Campsites in Siena
About a half-hour drive from Siena, we found the Montagnola Roberto Corsini campground. Although from the campground, you are right in Siena, we found the campground itself a bit disappointing. The plumbing was outdated and the campground a little atmospheric. But for a night combined with Siena, it was fine.
For an RV with 2 adults, you pay about 18 euros per night.
Hotels in Siena
No camper, caravan or tent? No Worries. We have collected the nicest accommodations in Siena for you:
How to get to Siena?
In Tuscany, we took a little road trip. This is how we drove from Montepulciano to Siena. We took about 1.5 hours by bus. From Siena, we drove on to Volterra, a romantic town in the middle of Tuscany.
From the Netherlands, it is about a 14-hour drive to Tuscany, without stopping. Most people combine the drive with a stop in France, Germany or Switzerland. It is also possible to fly to Florence or Pisa. From both places it is about a 1.5 drive. We definitely recommend you to rent a car so you can properly explore the surroundings of Tuscany.
