How do you get around Siena?

Walking — the centre is closed to cars and built on three ridges. Bus — Florence in 1h 15 by the rapida coach, faster than the train. Train — slow and the station is below the city, with escalators up. Hire car — only for the countryside, and park outside the walls. Airport: Florence (FLR) or Pisa (PSA), both around ninety minutes

How fast is the internet in Siena?

The median fixed broadband speed in Italy as a whole is 109 Mbps down and 50 Mbps up, with 13 ms latency. Mobile data runs at a median of 85 Mbps. Measured by Ookla's Speedtest Global Index, June 2026.

Siena Travel Tips & Guide — Weather, Costs, Safety

Q: When is the best time to visit Siena?

The best months to visit Siena are April to June, and September to October — the two Palio days in high summer fill the city completely and rooms triple.

Q: What currency is used in Siena?

Siena uses the Euro (EUR). Euro, and cards are taken almost everywhere, contactless included on the buses. Cash still matters at the market stall, the small bar and the church that asks a coin for the lights. Never change money at a station booth; the rate there is the worst in the country.

Q: Is Siena safe for tourists?

Siena rates 5 out of 5 for safety. Very comfortable and small enough to cross in twenty minutes. The city is built on ridges, so almost every street is a hill and the cobbles are slick in the rain. On Palio days the Campo is packed solid from the afternoon and there is no leaving it until the race is over.

Photo by Lex Brogan on Unsplash

A view of a city from a high point of view — Siena, Italy

Piazza del campo in siena, italy with historic buildings

Siena cathedral dominates historic italian city skyline at sunset

Pigeons drinking water from a stone wolf fountain — Siena, Italy

Photos by Martti Salmi, mana5280, Rainhard Wiesinger and Nicola Quartullo on Unsplash

I have been here

Getting aroundWorkable

Things to doWeeks of it

FoodVery good

PricesMid-range

SafetyVery safe

Best time to visit all of Italy

April to June, and September to October — the two Palio days in high summer fill the city completely and rooms triple

Climate month by month

Average high and low · °C

10°

2°Jan

11°

2°Feb

14°

4°Mar

18°

7°Apr

23°

11°May

28°

15°Jun

31°

17°Jul

31°

17°Aug

Now26°

14°Sep

20°

10°Oct

14°

6°Nov

10°

3°Dec

Rainfall · mm per month

Jan

Feb

Mar

Apr

May

Jun

Jul

Aug

Sep

Oct

110

Nov

Dec

Best months to visit This month · wettest 110mm in Nov

Where it is

43.32°N, 11.33°E Open in Google Maps

Things to do

Weeks of it

Lie down on the Campo in the late afternoon
Climb the Torre del Mangia
See the cathedral floor when it is uncovered
Walk out to a contrada fountain in a district that is not yours
Eat pici with wild boar

Siena travel tipsthe general rules

Currency budget Italy

Mid-range

Local currencyEuro (EUR)

Exchange rate1 EUR = 1.15 USD1 EUR = 0.86 GBP

Euro, and cards are taken almost everywhere, contactless included on the buses. Cash still matters at the market stall, the small bar and the church that asks a coin for the lights. Never change money at a station booth; the rate there is the worst in the country.

Been there? Something changed

ATMs & cards

Use a bank’s own machine — Intesa Sanpaolo, UniCredit, BPER, Banco BPM — rather than the Euronet ones beside the sights, which charge a fee and push their own conversion. Always decline the conversion and let your bank do it.

Avoid these

Euronet
the machines beside the sights and in the station halls

Use these instead

Intesa Sanpaolo
UniCredit
BPER Banca
Banco BPM

Decline the conversion and let your own bank do it. Draw in the town rather than at the monument, where the independent machines cluster.

Wherever you are: if the machine offers to charge you in your home currency, decline. That is dynamic currency conversion and the rate is set by the ATM's operator, not your bank.

Been there? Something changed

Safety all of Italy

Very safe

Very comfortable and small enough to cross in twenty minutes. The city is built on ridges, so almost every street is a hill and the cobbles are slick in the rain. On Palio days the Campo is packed solid from the afternoon and there is no leaving it until the race is over.

Where to walk, and where to pay attention (5 areas)

Comfortable, including after dark

Worth more attention

the cobbled ridges in the rain — every street is a hill and the stone is polished smooth
the Campo on a Palio afternoon — packed solid for hours with no way out until the race ends

Our own assessment, not a sourced index.

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Entry & visa Italy visa rules

Passport

No visa needed

Freedom of movement — no time limit, and no visa. Bring a passport or national ID card.

Other passports

No visa neededup to 90 days

90 days within any 180-day period, counted across the whole Schengen area, not per country. ETIAS, a paid online authorisation, is being introduced for these passports — check the official link for whether it applies to your travel dates.

Visa required in advance€90 (Schengen short-stay visa)

A Schengen short-stay visa is applied for before travel, at the consulate of your main destination.

How to get it: Apply at the consulate or visa centre of the country you will spend most time in, typically 15 working days ahead and no more than six months before travel.

Official government source · checked 2026-08-09

Entry rules change often and depend on your passport, not where you live — the official page above is the authority, and the airline checks before you board.

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Health & emergencies all of Italy

Excellent and cheap

Emergency number112

Required to enter

No vaccinations are required for entry from Europe or North America.

Jabs worth having, and what happens if you need a doctor

Worth having

Routine vaccinations up to date

Getting treated

EU/EEA and Swiss visitors are treated on the same terms as residents with an EHIC or GHIC card; UK visitors use a GHIC. Everyone else pays, and travel insurance is worth having for the repatriation cover rather than the treatment. Pharmacies handle a lot of minor problems directly and are the fastest route to advice.

Orientation, not medical advice — entry rules change and what you need depends on your own history. Check with a travel clinic four to six weeks before you go.

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Food tip

Very good

Pici, a thick hand-rolled pasta, with garlic or with wild boar; ribollita, the bread and bean soup; and panforte, which is a Christmas cake eaten all year. The wine is Chianti Classico from the hills north of the city, and Brunello from Montalcino to the south.

Getting around

Workable

Ride-hailing

UberWorks here
BoltWorks here
FREE NOWWorks here
IT TaxiWorks here

FREE NOW taxis, which is what Italy allows · IT Taxi the national taxi app · Uber Black and Taxi only — no UberX anywhere in Italy · Bolt taxis, in Rome and Milan

Pricey€12–20 across town

Against a taxi: The app is the taxi. Uber Black is a different, dearer category.

There is no cheap ride-hailing tier in Italy — the law reserves the work for licensed taxis and NCC hire cars.

Walking — the centre is closed to cars and built on three ridges
Bus — Florence in 1h 15 by the rapida coach, faster than the train
Train — slow and the station is below the city, with escalators up
Hire car — only for the countryside, and park outside the walls
Airport: Florence (FLR) or Pisa (PSA), both around ninety minutes

Been there? Something changed

Time zone and your working day

07:18Wednesday in Siena

Offices closed

Europe/Rome — 6 hours ahead of you

2 hours of overlap with a 09:00–17:00 day where you are — 09:00–11:00 your time, 15:00–17:00 theirs.

No overlap with a 09:00–17:00 day where you are. Working from here means one of you keeps odd hours — their day starts at 03:00 on your clock.

Siena

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You

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office hours both at once night

Their 09:00–17:00 is 03:00–11:00 on yours.

The difference from the UK, Europe, the US and ten more

Worked out against America/New York, which is where this request looks like it came from.

Internet speedall of Italy

Home broadband109 Mbpsmedian download in Italy as a whole0world median 130300+Good50 Mbps upload · 13 ms latency

Mobile data85 Mbpsmedian download in Italy as a whole0world median 109300+Fair11 Mbps upload · 32 ms latency

Why these are Italy's numbers and not Siena's

Home broadband — Good. Comfortable for two people working, streaming in the evening, large downloads. Broadband here runs at 84% of the global median of 130 Mbps.

Mobile data — Fair. Maps, calls and streaming; tethering a laptop works for an hour, not a day. Mobile runs at 78% of the global median of 109 Mbps.

Ookla publishes no separate figure for Siena, so these are medians for all of Italy. Cities usually beat the national number and remote islands and national parks fall well below it — treat this as the country's shape, not as a measurement of the street you will be staying on.

A median is the middle of every connection tested there, old copper and new fibre together — so in a country part-way through laying fibre it sits well below what a fibre line actually delivers, and a rental on one can run several times this number. Half of the connections are slower; a fibre flat is rarely one of them. It says what a place can do, not what your rental does, so every listing on Holistay carries its own measured speed and the date it was tested.

Getting online: Airalo or Holafly — a data eSIM for Italy, installed before you fly and working the moment you land.

Source: Ookla Speedtest Global Index · measured June 2026

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Must-see

The Piazza del Campo, and lying down on itThe cathedral’s striped marble and its inlaid floorThe Torre del Mangia, 400 stepsThe Palio, if the dates work — 2 July and 16 AugustSanta Maria della Scala, the old hospital opposite the duomo

Nearby day trips

San GimignanoMontalcinoChiantiVal d’Orcia

Say a few words

Italian

HelloBuongiornobwon-JOR-no
PleasePer favoreper fa-VO-reh
Thank youGrazieGRAT-tsyeh
Yes / NoSì / Nosee / no

4 more phrases

Excuse meScusiSKOO-zee
How much is it?Quanto costa?KWAN-to KOS-ta
The bill, pleaseIl conto, per favoreeel KON-to
Cheers!Salute! / Cin cin!sa-LOO-teh / chin chin

Ciao is for people you know. With shopkeepers and waiters, buongiorno until evening, then buonasera.

Religion

Catholic

The Vatican is a sovereign state inside Rome. Dress codes are enforced at St Peter’s and most major churches: shoulders and knees covered, and they will turn you away.

Do's and don'ts

Do

Say buongiorno rather than ciao to anyone you do not know
Drink cappuccino only before about 11:00; after a meal it is an espresso
Cover shoulders and knees to enter churches, including the major basilicas
Validate regional train tickets before boarding or risk a fine

Don't

Do not ask for parmesan on seafood pasta — it is a genuine culinary offence here
Do not sit on monument steps in Rome or Florence; both cities fine it
Do not order a coffee "to go" and expect it to be normal
Do not tip beyond rounding up; coperto already covers the cover charge

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Where to stay in Siena

No Holistay rentals in Siena yet — the platform is just opening up. Every listing here will have a video tour and the option to negotiate the nightly price directly with the host.

In the meantime, here is Siena on the sites that do have the inventory — each search is already filled in:

Booking.com hotels, guesthouses and apartments — the widest coverage almost everywhere
Airbnb whole homes and apartments, and the better option for a week or more

List your Siena property

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