*POST UPDATED OCTOBER 2026
Friends, hi! Welcome to the second post in my five-part segment about all things Tuscany: 24 Hours in San Gimignano! Last month, I shared An Ode to Florence and today I’m sharing everything we loved about the hilltop town of San Gimignano.
The Historic Centre of San Gimignano is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and it’s easy to see why. Walking through the gates into the walled town you find yourself surrounded by the remaining 14 medieval towers, not to mention the rolling hills. It’s beautiful, charming, and so quaint.
This was our first time visiting San Gimignano together & we loved it. One major draw for us was how ideally located it is; it’s the perfect pit-stop en route from Florence to Siena! Another big draw was the gelato scene – some of the best in the world, literally. Apart from a brief nap, we spent all our time eating, drinking, and exploring the winding side streets.
Below is a comprehensive list of everything you might need to know about visiting San Gimignano. I’ve included recommendations on where to stay, eat, drink, and what to do. I’ve also included some details to take into consideration before your trip, as well as information about how to get there.
Enjoy!
before you visit
These are a few of the things we had to take into consideration before we finalized our trip to San Gimignano. I would highly recommend you think over some of these factors, too, as they could have a big impact:
we decided to spend one night in town to avoid the vast majority of tourists. Most of the large tour groups arrive around 11am and clear off around 5pm, after which time the town mostly empties out. Would highly recommend.
relying solely on public transport, we planned our trip to San Gimignano to fall on a Friday because there are significantly more options on the weekend. Be sure to check out all the timetables on SITA before planning your journey.
if you are traveling by car, be aware of the rules surrounding driving through the town, as well as parking locations. They are strict about where you can access/park and they fine heavily.
all of the good restaurants in town book up super early! In order to avoid disappointment, be sure to book your dinner reservation in advance. We had to go with our third choice of restaurant, even though we booked a month in advance. You have been warned.
getting there
This is not the most straightforward place to get to using public transport — you really need to plan your route in advance. I found the whole experience extremely confusing, but that appears to be the norm with public transport in Italy. These are the steps we took to get from Florence to San Gimignano:
from the SITA bus station in Florence, we bought tickets to San Gimignano. The ticket clerk pointed out the platform for us to wait at. The bus we boarded only brought us as far as Poggibonsi train station, where we had to get off and wait for another bus. This first leg of the journey took about 50-minutes.
in Poggibonsi, I began to panic after we’d been waiting for over 20-minutes & there was still no sign of the bus. Eventually, a notice appeared on one of the screens at a stop nearby announcing a bus due in 5-minutes. Using the same bus ticket as before, we boarded bus #130 towards San Gimignano. This journey took about 15-minutes.
the bus dropped us at the main gate into San Gimignano & we followed the mass of people up into the main square.
For more detailed instructions with pictures, I found this guide to be so incredibly helpful.