Six great day-trips

1. San Gimignano via Florence. San Gimignano is a little town about an hour’s bus ride from Florence and is most famous for its thirteen towers, which were built to store grain during times of war during the Middle Ages. Because the city is remarkably well preserved it is a magnet for tourists, most of them on day-trips from Florence. I advise just the opposite: stay in San Gimignano and take the bus into Florence for the day. Your quiet evenings here will make the twenty-first century seem like a memory.

2. Oxford via London. The most well-known of all British universities is just an hour by bus from London, and has enough student and budget accommodations to house an army. Oxford University is actually made up of a number of individual “colleges,” most of which are centuries old, and housed in truly beautiful old buildings. While the buildings are ancient, the students are not, and you will find a rocking good time if you visit during a festival or as the term ends.