Planning to travel from Florence to Siena via public transport? Here’s everything you need to know about how to get to Siena from Florence via bus or train.
If you’re traveling through Tuscany, chances are you’ll find yourself in Florence. But there’s another city you must add to your list – Siena. Siena is a medieval town on the UNESCO World Heritage list that’s full of incredible history and architecture. I highly recommend spending at least one day in Siena during your time in Tuscany.
And luckily, traveling between the two cities is quite easy. There are several ways to get from Florence to Siena, with the cheapest and most popular options being via bus and train.
Last summer, I spent eight days traveling around Tuscany using public transport, mainly trains, and buses. Traveling by car in Tuscany is easier, but in my case, it wasn’t possible. In this post, you will learn how to travel from Florence to Siena and vice versa by bus and by train and which is the best option.
A great way to get around Europe is the Eurail Pass. Learn more in this guide to Eurail Pass train travel.
Table of Contents
What’s The Best Way To Get From Florence To Siena?
There are two main ways to get to Siena from Florence – via bus and via train. While both are good options, you may be surprised to find that the bus is the best way to get from Florence to Siena.
The bus from Florence to Siena is cheap, frequent, and sometimes direct. Plus, it takes you straight to the city center.
Read on below for more details on taking the bus from Florence to Siena vs. taking the train.
How Far Is Siena From Florence?
Siena is about 78 kilometers from Florence. By car, the journey takes just over an hour. Luckily, it’s not much longer on public transportation. If you’re able to catch the direct bus, your journey from Florence to Siena will take just an hour and 15 minutes.
By train, you’re looking at 1 and a half to two hours to get to Siena from Florence.
Is The Train Ride From Florence To Siena Scenic?
Yes, it is! In fact, the scenery is one of the best things about the train ride from Florence to Siena. You’ll go straight through the Tuscan countryside and get to see some incredible views.
How to get from Florence to Siena by bus:
The bus station in Florence is exactly next to the Santa Maria Novela train station. The exact address of the train station is Via Santa Caterina da Siena 15 in case you want to put it on google maps.
There are two bus options to Siena the rapida (fast bus) that goes non-stop to Siena in 1 hour and 15 minutes, and the ordinaria (ordinary bus) that makes a stop to Poggibonsi and Colle Val d’Elsa. The journey time from Florence to Siena with a regular bus is 1 hour and 30 minutes. Sometimes it might take longer depending on the traffic.
Both buses run regularly, and you can buy tickets from the bus station or on board (there are 3 -4 buses leaving every hour). Please note that it is cheaper to buy tickets at the bus station. One-way tickets (bought from the train station) between Firenze and Siena cost 7,80 €. For more information on the bus schedule, you can check here.
Now if you are traveling to Siena with your luggage and you want to leave it at the bus station and then catch a later bus to another place like we did, you can.
To leave your luggage and buy tickets from the point the bus leaves you, you have to cross the street and take some stairs to a level below. The counter for the luggage is open until 6 p.m, and the cost for the luggage is 7 euros.
The bus terminal in Siena is 5 minutes away on foot from the historical center.
How to get from Florence to Siena by train
Although it is usually faster and cheaper to travel around Italy by train, in this case, it isn’t.
First of all, a direct train from Florence to Siena takes 1 hour and a half. Sometimes you even have to change trains at Empoli, and then the journey will take around two hours. The direct train from Florence to Siena leaves once per hour, and tickets cost 9,10 € one way. For more information, check here.
The main reason why you shouldn’t take the train to Siena is that the train station is located 2km away from the city center and that there is no storage for your luggage there. If you want to get from the train station to the city center you need to either take a bus or walk uphill for more than 20 minutes.
The only advantage of taking the train to Siena is the better views of the countryside.
Check out my other posts:
How to get from Florence to San Gimignano by bus and by train.
My 10-day Italy itinerary for first-time visitors.
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I hope I helped you find out how to get from Florence to Siena.
If you have any questions, leave a comment below.
Do you know if the bus runs from Siena to Florence on Sundays? Thank you!
As far as I know it does.
DONT GO BY BUS!!!!
The bus company are thieves, extorting tourists. Trust me. Get the train unles you want a 63euro fine for not having the right tickets.
I am sorry you had a bad experience. I personally took the bus and it was very easy. I went to the bus station and bought the train ticket from an employer at the station. I did the same on the way back. Actually I used a lot the busses to travel around Tuscany.
I need to get to Villa Catignano, Tuscany from Rome. How would i do this?
Hello Karen,
I suppose you want to go there by public transport? I would take the train from Rome Termine to Firenze and from there the train or bus to Siena and take a taxi from there or request someone to pick you up from the hotel. There are a couple of buses that get close from Siena but you will still need to walk at least 2 km to get there.
Hi Chrissy, I saw your in your reply to another person that the bus travels from Siena to Florence on Sunday, is it possible to find a bus schedule? I tried using this website
http://www.trenitalia.com/tcom-en but Japan comes up? not sure if you can help?? Also do have any info re renting a car once we get to Siena, we will need to return it on Sunday. Thank you so much! Debbie
Hello Debbie,
You can find bus timetables here http://www.tiemmespa.it/?utm_source=discovertuscany.com&utm_campaign=DiscoverTuscany&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=/moving-around-tuscany/by-bus.html Just enter Firenze to Siena and the date.Unfortunately, I didn’t rent a car but your hotel will be able to help you rent one.
I’ve gotten the message that we should take the bus to Siena, BUT how about if we take the train back so we get the better views? also, if we want to see more of Tuscany, does it make sense to get out at any of the train stops? thanks!
I am afraid there is no interesting stop with the train between Siena and Florence. What I recommend is that you leave your things at the Siena bus station and take a bus to San Gimignano. Another option is to do a guided tour from either Siena or Florence to Pienza, Montepulciano, and Montalcino. We didn’t have a car in Tuscany so we took the bus to San Gimignano Volterra and col de val d’elsa and did a guided tour with a bus to the above villages mentioned.
Thank you for the tip it was very helpful!
Happy to have helped you!
Great simple advice, we are heading to Siena from Firenze tomorrow morning. Thanks for the straightforward insights.
Happy to have helped enjoy your trip.
Can you advise how often are the buses from the train station in Siena into town and vice versa? Is there a schedule? I am using Siena as a base to go to some nearby towns. Thank you.
The buses from the train station to the city centre are often. You can check here http://www.tiemmespa.it/
Put Ferrovia Siena which is the train station to Piazza del Sale for the city centre.
Hi
thanks for the relevant and great inputs on travel within tuscany. we are a couple and we are travelling to italy in september. we would in florence for 5 nights and we want to see tuscany( pisa, lucca, siena, san gimignano, chianti). i checked a lot of guided tour options bu most of them either have a half days tour to 1-2 places or a full day tour covering pisa, siena, san gimignano and chianti. i feel that in both the cases we would not be able to really explore the places and would be merely touching these. hence we have thought of doing pisa and lucca on our own in 1 day from florence, then siena and san gimignano in 1 day from florence and check if we can get a guided of the chianti region( since i have read that it is not possible to do this without your own vehicle). now my question to you is:
1. does this itinerary look doable?
2. is there any guided tour that you can recommend for the chainti region?
3. how can we travel from pisa to lucca and then from lucca to florence?
4. how can we trael from siena to san gimignano and then to florence from san gimignano?
5. how early in the morning should we leave from florence for these places?
6. any other tips.
thanks a lot in advance
Hello thanks for your comment. Let me answer your questions:
1. As far as I can see you can spend 2 days in Florence (book skip the line tickets to save time), 1 days in Lucca- Pisa, 1 day Siena and San Gimignano and 1 day in Chianti.
2 I totally suggest that you do a guided tour to Siena and San Gimignano you will lose a lot of time with the public transport.
3 From Pisa Centrale to Lucca you can travel by train, you will need only 30 min to get there non stop. and from Lucca to Firenze S. M. Novella by train, it takes around 1 hour and 45 minutes with a change in Pisa train station. You can check the trains here http://www.trenitalia.com/tcom-en
4. From Siena to San Gimignano you can take the bus 130 from the Siena bus station. It takes an hour to get to San Gimignano as the bus makes many stops. For the time schedule see here http://www.tiemmespa.it/ enter Siena Bus station to San Gimignano Puerta San Marco. Then to get from San Gimignano to Florence. You need to take the bus to Poggibonsi and then another bus or train to Florence. I suggest that you do a guided tour https://www.getyourguide.com/florence-l32/san-gimignano-siena-and-chianti-full-day-tour-t7679/
5. I suggest that you leave as early as possible so that you get to enjoy the places.
I also did this tour and loved it.
Generally, keep in mind that the public transport takes time, roads are small and sometimes buses aren’t always on time. I am talking from personal experience. The only one i would do on my own is the Lucca Pisa part. Any other questions let me know.
I actually have a question about transportation from Florence to Cinque Terre. There are 3 of us traveling in October. We fly into Florence and then need to go to Cinque Terre for 3 nights. Because we have not traveled by train in Italy before and connections by train have 5 minutes to connect from one train to another…would you just suggest splurging on a private driver?
If you lose the first connection you can always take the next one. Traveling around Italy by train is easy.
Great advise ???
Thank you!
Thank you, Madam ! Very romantic towns !