When on holiday in Tuscany, you’re unlikely to want to limit yourself to staying in just one town, so information on travelling and transport around Tuscany will come in handy.

Thanks to good public transport and a relatively dense road network, you’ll have plenty of options to choose from.

Train

Travelling by train in Tuscany is the most comfortable, fastest and most frequent means of transport. At least if you’re travelling between the larger towns, which is what the vast majority of tourists will be doing.

In fact, you can reach virtually all of Tuscany’s major tourist destinations by train.

When travelling exclusively within Tuscany, you’ll use the services of a single operator: the state-owned railway company Trenitalia.

Tickets and route finder

You can easily search for connections and buy tickets straight away online on the official trenitalia.com website; if you’ve used the popular search engine thetrainline.com when travelling around Europe, you can also buy Trenitalia train tickets there at no extra cost.

You can also use the user-friendly Trenitalia mobile app (Google Play / App Store), which is also available in English. Once you’ve bought your ticket, simply show the QR code on your mobile to the conductor.

If you don’t want to sort out your tickets in advance, that’s no problem at all. To get around Tuscany, the local Regionale (R) or Regionale Veloce (RV) services are always sufficient, and you don’t need to buy tickets in advance (there are no reserved seats) and the price when buying at the station is the same as when buying in advance via the website or app.

The easiest way to pay for a ticket on regional services is with your own contactless card. Simply tap it against the green-and-white reader on the platform before boarding the train and again after alighting.

There are ticket machines at all stations where you can pay by cash or card; at main stations, you can also use the ticket offices.

Please note! Remember thatyou mustalwaysvalidateyour ticket from a ticket machine or ticket officebefore boardingusing the green-and-white ticket validators located on the platforms.

Bus

In smaller towns, the bus is often the only transport option, but you’ll also find extensive bus networks in cities with public transport systems, as well as for commuter services between major cities, which complement train services well.

It is very easy to find information and timetables, as all urban, regional and intercity routes throughout Tuscany are operated by a single company,Autolinee Toscane.

Bus tickets – prices

The same rules apply and tickets cost the same on all routes throughout Tuscany when travelling by bus.

City routes

Everywhere, only single-journey tickets valid for a specific number of minutes are available. Within the validity period, you can change between buses or trams (in the case of Florence) as often as you like.

No all-day or multi-day tickets are available in any Tuscan city.

Public transport in towns and cities is divided into two categories with different fares.

• Capoluogo– provincial capitals: Florence, Pisa, Arezzo, Carrara, Grosseto, Livorno, Lucca, Massa; and the MIV system – the Pisa, Valdarno, Prato, Pistoia and Siena areas
  • 1,70 eur – valid for 70 minutes (90 minutes in Florence); must be purchased in advance at a tobacconist’s, using your own contactless card on board the bus, or via a mobile app
  • 15,50 eur – a discounted price is available for a book of 10 tickets valid for 70 minutes, or 90 minutes in Florence. These can only be purchased in advance at a tobacconist’s or via the mobile app
  • 3 eur – Single-journey ticket (no transfers permitted) purchased in cash from the driver
• Maggiore– other towns with their own public transport systems, i.e. Cecina, Certaldo, Chianciano, Chiusi, Colle Val d’Elsa, Empoli, Follonica, Montecatini Terme, Montepulciano, Pescia, Piombino, Poggibonsi, Pontedera, Portoferraio, Rosignano, San Gimignano, Viareggio, Volterra
  • 1,30 eur – valid for 70 minutes, 90 minutes in Florence; must be purchased in advance at a newsagent’s, using your own contactless card on board the bus or via the mobile app
  • 12,20 eur – discounted price for a book of 10 tickets valid for 70 minutes, or 90 minutes in Florence. Can only be purchased in advance at a tobacconist’s or via the mobile app
  • 3 eur – Single-journey ticket (no transfers permitted) purchased in cash from the driver

Intercity routes

On routes between towns and regional services, fares are calculated based on the distance travelled. Prices are set precisely according to the number of kilometres, for example:

• 1,70 eur – 0 to 10 km
• 2,90 eur – 10 to 20 km
• 3,90 eur – 20 to 30 km
• 5 eur – 30 to 40 km
• Full list: at-bus.it/suburban

Where to buy a ticket

There are many ways to buy bus tickets.

With your own contactless card

The easiest way is to pay by contactless card, mobile phone or smartwatch using the ‘Tap & Go ’ service.

• City routes – you only need to tap your card on the reader inside the bus when boarding
• Intercity and regional services – you must tap your card on the reader both when boarding and before alighting

Via the mobile app

Autolinee Toscane have a very user-friendly mobile app for buying tickets.

You can either select a city ticket for 1,70 eur or 1,30 eur, or, for an intercity journey, select your departure point and destination.

Download the AT BUS mobile app.

• Google Play
• App Store

Tickets for Tuscan buses can also be purchased via the Tabnet app, although it is slightly less user-friendly.

Paper tickets

Traditional paper tickets for both local and intercity services can be purchased from many outlets, usually at newsagents, pubs, restaurants or grocery shops.

You can find a full list of outlets on this page:at-bus.it/en/retailers.

From the driver

You can also buy a ticket directly from the driver, but payment is by cash only.

On intercity and regional routes, the fare is the same as when purchasing a ticket using your own contactless card or via a mobile app; however, on city routes, the fare is higher at 3 eur per journey.

Book your hotel in advance

Timetables and routes

You can find clear timetables on the at-bus.it website. You can search either by route number (please note that the same number may refer to several routes operating in different areas – particularly in the case of city routes) or by region.

How can you find out which route stops at a specific bus stop? Google Maps does not show bus stops for Autolinee Toscane intercity services, but our favourite website, mapy.cz, for example, displays all the route numbers that pass through a given stop when you click on the bus icon.

On the at-bus.it website, you’ll always find different categories of routes:

• Urbano = city routes
  • Capoluogo – major towns with higher fares
  • Maggiore – small towns with cheaper fares
• Extraurbano = inter-city routes
• Regionali = long-distance routes between major cities

How to read timetables?

On theat-bus.itwebsite, you can select a specific stop on a given route from the list, and the nearest departure times, along with the destination, will then be displayed.

You can also view the timetable in PDF format.

• Feriale = working day, which in Italy means Monday to Saturday
• Feriale escluso Sabato = working day excluding Saturdays; a timetable marked in this way is therefore valid only from Monday to Friday
• Sabato = the timetable applies only to Saturdays
• Festivo = the timetable applies only to Sundays and public holidays

Please note that on Sundays and public holidays, buses to rural areas in particular run very infrequently or not at all. Many routes only operate from Monday to Saturday.

However, city buses and services to major tourist towns do run on Sundays.

By car

If you want to head out into the Tuscan countryside to small villages, where buses run rather irregularly, consider travelling by car. Particularly on Sundays and public holidays, there are very few, if any, buses to smaller villages.

If you’re not travelling in your own car, there’s nothing easier than hiring a car from a car hire company upon arrival.

Detailed information on car hire prices, as well as traffic regulations and motorway tolls, is provided in the chapter – Car Hire in Tuscany.

Ferries to the Tuscan islands

Regular ferry services from Tuscany to other countries or other Italian regions are described in the chapter ‘How to get here’.

In this chapter, you’ll find out everything about ferries from the mainland to the other Tuscan islands.

Elba

Many large ferries sail to the largest island, carrying both foot passengers and cars.

Route	Price – foot passengers	Fare – car	Frequency	Journey time
Piombino – Portoferraio	from 14 eur	from 47 eur	2–4 times an hour	40 to 60 minutes
Piombino – Rio Marina	from 20 eur	from 69 eur	4–8 times a day	45 minutes
Piombino – Cavo	from 24 eur	from 67 eur	5 times a day	15 minutes

Book a ferry on directferries.com

Giglio

You can reach the island of Giglio – infamous for the Costa Concordia disaster – by ferry from the Monte Argentario peninsula.

Ferries depart only from the port of Porto Santo Stefano.

• Price: 20 eur for pedestrians (one way) / 83 eur for cars
• Journey time: 1 hour
• The ferry runs 4–5 times a day
• Book at directferries.com

Capraia

You can reach the beautiful island of Capraia by ferry from the port of Livorno.

• 30 eur, one-way fare for pedestrians
• Journey time: 2 hours 45 minutes
• The ferry runs 1–2 times a day
• Book at directferries.com

Giannutri

This small, roadless islet is particularly appealing for its easy walking trails and uncrowded beaches.

A one-way ticket costs between 13 eur and 15 eur depending on the season, and the ferry sails three times a day during the high season from the port of Porto Santo Stefano.

Timetable and online ticket booking:maregiglio.it/orari.

Gorgona

Regular ferries sail from the port of Livorno to this picturesque, hilly islet.

A one-way ticket costs 15 eur depending on the season, and the ferry runs twice a day during the peak season.

Timetable and online ticket booking:toscanaminicrociere.it.