Without a doubt, one of my favorite things we did during our entire two weeks in Italy was spend a few nights in Siena, rent a car, and take a few days to drive through some of Tuscany’s most scenic landscapes.
It was something I’ve always wanted it do, and it was even more stunning than I could’ve ever imagined. If seeing Cinque Terre was number one on my Bucket List, this was definitely number two!
On Friday afternoon, we rented a car from Europcar in Siena. If you’re staying in Siena and looking to rent a car, I highly recommend these guys. It would probably also be a good idea to call (or have your hotel call) a few days in advance to make sure they can reserve the type of car you want — which is probably a small car with automatic transmission if you just want to drive around a site-see. We just showed up that Friday looking to rent a car and it worked out fine, we just had to get a medium-sized car instead of a small one, which was just a little more expensive. If we’d called ahead, we could’ve reserved a small car and saved a little bit. So there! I’m passing on our learning experience to you. :)
We stopped for lunch here in Asciano, then continued south to Montepulciano.
I wasn’t sophisticated enough to get the GPS coordinates for all of these photos, but I’ve got a map below that shows you our driving routes through Tuscany, plus a few other routes that were suggested as the “Most Scenic Drives in Tuscany.” As I’m going through these photos, I’ll tell you where we are, and if you like, you can follow along on the map to get an idea of where we were.
The photos are in the order in which I took them, so for instance, the first four photos in this series were taken along the Red route from Siena to Asciano, and this beautiful blooming poppy field was found on the Pink route from Asicano to Montepulciano.
The Red route was absolutely fabulous — probably my favorite — and we ended up driving it three times on our way to and from Siena. The Pink route wasn’t my favorite, but it was the only place we ever saw poppies, so I’m definitely glad we came this way.
This was taken after we arrived in the incredibly charming hilltown of Montepulciano.
We stayed here exploring and shopping and grabbed dinner at the top of the hill. Oh! There’s also this amazing little pastry cafe, you have to stop here for some delicious Nutella-stuffed sweets. I’ve marked it on the map for you. :)
On the way up there is this perfect overlook.
It’s near a church, and there’s a break in the buildings, and the view just opens up to this gorgeous panoramic view of the Tuscan countryside.
Sun flare in Tuscany.
It’s also the best spot to watch the sunset.
If you continue up the hill a bit, and cross to the other side of town, you’ll see the moon view in the opposite direction.
View Tuscany in a larger map
Here’s a map of some of the routes we drove along during our two-day itinerary in Tuscany. On Day 1, we got a late start around lunchtime in Siena, and took the Red Route to Asciano. We grabbed lunch in Asciano (be sure to get there before 2 pm, or everything will be closed!) then took the Pink route to Montepulciano.
Next up I’ve got our Day 2 itinerary. We took the Orange, Yellow, Green, and Blue routes. Can’t wait to show you those photos!
Thanks so much for looking! :)
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Filed Under: Travel • Italy 2012 • Sunsets • Tuscany
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43 Comments
Gorgeousness!
Thank you, thank you, thank you for sharing these amazing photos! I’ve been following your vacation along….what a dream! I haven’t had the oportunity to travel much, yet, and look forward to seeing places like this one day. We have an 11 year old son with autism that we cannot leave and before he came along we couldn’t afford such trips. We’ve been saving our pennies for years now. When Christopher is old enough, we will go see the world! :)
I’m so in love with your photos!!!! I’m going to Rome and Tuscany next month and this post makes me want to go today!
i am enjoying your pics! the scenery is beautiful! I have always wanted to travel to italy. but I don’t know if I will ever make it over.
on another note, 2 was ago, I adopted a beautiful, darling Boston!! he is definitely a character. his antics remind me of your Howie!! never a dull moment with him!!
WOW – Absolutely breathtaking photos. Thanks for the rental car tip.
Absolutely beautiful pics!
So was it nerve wracking driving in Italy? I wanted to rent car when I was there in 2010 but I was too chicken. So I missed driving in Tuscany and now I really regret that.
Hey girl! From Siena, there was hardly any traffic at all, and in Italy they drive on the right side of the road, so fortunately we did not have those two things to worry about! :) In Tuscany there was hardly any other cars on the road and the roads were good — wide, paved, no blind spots, and plenty of spots to pull off for photos. I would totally recommend it, even to someone who may not be as experienced driving big cities / heavy traffic. It was very easy! There were, however, about a billion round-abouts in the cities, which are always a pain, lol! But we brought our Garmin GPS with us and we had downloaded Italian maps onto it — it was a lifesaver. Navigating was a cinch with that thing. So, I would totally recommend doing it — with a GPS! :)
Hi Amanda! How do you get the colors in your pictures to be so vibrant? I was told post-processing is a big factor in some photographer’s lives, do you agree? All my pictures come out dull but yours really pop! How do you do it? :)
Alex
Hi Alex!
I love post processing and playing around with photos :) Here’s what I did to these photos: If you look at the Peacock photo in my Lightroom tutorial, that’s pretty much exactly what I did here too, since my lighting was kinda uneven here as well (bright sky, darker landscapes) I adjusted for:
Recovery
Fill Light
Vibrance
Saturation
In that order. Not all photos needed Recovery/Fill Light, and the ones that did, I went easy on it because you kind of want that difference in the sun/shade as it dances across the landscapes like in the first two photos. But almost all photos get a little Vibrance and Saturation boost! :)
Finally I opened them in Photoshop and used the Batch Editing process to add my favorite action before resizing and saving for web.
Hope this helps! :)
Absolutely glorious! What a fantastic place to visit. Breathtaking.
I am floored. The first few pics don’t even look real. Now that I know this exists, I must put it on my bucket list. This post is getting bookmarked for sure!
This is going on my bucket list!
Amazing pictures and colors. Those photos almost look like paintings.
These pictures look more like paintings that pictures…I can see why italians are inspires to paint!
Your pictures are simply beautiful! It is such a lovely place.
That is ridiculously gorgeous! Count your blessings girl, that is one cool trip you went on!!!
Been there too. Your pics really captured Tuscany’s beauty.
Gorgeous, gorgeous landscape shots. Thanks for sharing. Really breathtaking views! Tuscany is just beautiful countryside, for sure.
Those landscapes look like they’re draped in velvet! Unbelievable!
They’re here! We have pictures from a lot of the same exact spots, but yours look way better. :) I can’t wait for the second set of Tuscany pictures! And wow, you covered a lot of territory in two days. Impressive!
We did this same drive from Siena to Montepulciano, and picked up some wine there! It’s just such a beautiful countryside, we were in awe :)
So darn pretty! I, like Alexandra, am curious what post processing you may be using.
Ack clearly I need to refresh my page before commenting – oh well. Thanks for answering it above even if I am a do-do.
Wow…..this is some breath-taking scenary! I hope to go see it one day~
Beautiful pictures. They are so breath taking. Thanks for sharing!
I am absolutely IN LOVE with your blog, you seem like such a fantastic person leading a happy life. I wish you all the best, from the bottom of my heart.
Don’t change! xo
I just heard about the massive earthquakes in Italy. I’m so glad you guysarehome safe and sound!
The pictures are fantabulous! It makes me want to go there even more! I wish my photos were as sharp and stunning! Did you do them all in manual mode?
Beautifully breathtaking…if you could capture this in photos…it must have been stunning in person! I would love to visit Italy! ONE DAY! :) Until then I will live through your pictures! :)
I absolutely loved the Red route pictures. That picture with the sunlight flare was gorgeous.
You always have THE most beautiful photos on your blog! These shots are amazing!
Beautiful pictures of Italy. I haven’t visited Italy yet but would love to go one day. Thank you for sharing.
Beautiful Pictures! What type of camera where they all taken with? Italy is on my bucket list too..My No. 2. I did my No. one last fall-Ireland. It was beautiful, but wish I had a better camera. My pics didn’t turn out as awesome as yours!
Kristine
I love all your photos! I’m always in awe whenever I read your posts. may I just know the camera and lense you used on these photos and the setting? Thanks a lot :)
What incredible photos of the whole trip, but these are particularly spectacular.
Oh my goodness! I would LOVE a hi-res version of the 2nd picture in this post to have printed and framed! Beautiful, beautiful pictures!
Looks amazing. Looking to go there for a possible honeymoon!! Cant wait for more photos.
Your photos are simply stunning. I don’t know how you were able to narrow them down. Even with two posts full of photos, I could look at them all day!
I absolutely agree with all the other comments that the photos are gorgeous! I am still hoping you will comment on what camera/lens/settings you used? Also, I am wanting to purchase a new GPS-type memory card, is that how you are able to “map” the exact spot where the photos were taken?
WOW! I am amazed at the beauty God has created….and now I definitely want to go to Italy ;) I am blown away by your photos-thank-you for sharing!! The clouds are to die for. Wish we had those in Texas!
My heart actually stopped when I looked at your photos…they are exquisite! I love the tree shadows, it’s like they’re making a statement!
Amanda, love the blog and the photos are gorgeous. As a photographer myself, I really appreciate a great image and all of your are spectacular.
I am curious, what time of the year were you in Tuscany? Spring of 2012?
We are going to be traveling out of Siena the first full week of September and we are going to do the same type of thing you all did.
Anything you’d add or change?
Thanks Dave! We were there the first week of May 2012 :) Hope this helps, and have so much fun!! :)