Where to stay in Siena

Siena inside the walls is small enough to cross entirely on foot. The three terzi — Città, Camollia and San Martino — meet about a hundred metres from the Campo, so every address in town is roughly the same distance from the square; what separates them is the terrain and the neighbourhood. There is no dorm bed here, none: every budget option is a room in a B&B or small hotel.

Three terzi meet at the Campo

Since the twelfth century Siena has been split into three terzi — Città, Camollia and San Martino — which join about a hundred metres from the Piazza del Campo and spread out uphill and down from there. There is no fourth part of town, and the furthest address inside the walls is a twenty-minute walk from the square. The terzi differ in the slope you walk and in what stands along the way.

Terzo di Città is the south-western part of town, around the Duomo and Santa Maria della Scala — Siena's oldest core. The streets are narrow and climb away from the Campo, so this is the terzo for anyone coming for the cathedral who wants to be first through the door at opening. The price is the climb: a suitcase doesn't roll here the way it does on flat ground, and it goes quiet as soon as the last day-trippers leave the Duomo.

1 dayWhen the cathedral opens, and what a day starting there looks like:Siena in 1 day →

Terzo di Camollia is the northern part of town, towards Porta Camollia, and takes in the Fontebranda valley with the Santuario Casa di Santa Caterina and the Fortezza Medicea. The ground here is flat, and the Via Tozzi stop, where the 131R bus from Florence pulls in, sits in the same terzo, so arriving and leaving with luggage means no climb at all. The Campo is a walk downhill.

Hidden gemsWhat this part of town holds besides the bus stop:Siena beyond the Campo: a saint's head, a fortress and a city full of students →

Terzo di San Martino: the other side of the Campo

Terzo di San Martino lies to the south-east, behind the Logge del Papa, on the old Via Francigena towards Porta Romana. The restaurants and bars here run cheaper than the ones right off the square, and in the evening a drumbeat carries up from the streets — the contrade training for the Palio.

If your days in Siena land on the Palio, the street of that year's racing contrada is loudest for all four days, from the morning trial to the evening one. The terzo not racing that year sleeps quieter.

When to goWhich two dates are the Palio, and what they mean for the rest of the town:The best time to visit Siena →

For one night or two

For a short stay, Camollia makes the most sense, close to the bus stop, since you don't climb with your case on either the way in or the way out. For two nights or more, Città pays back the climb with a quiet lane and a morning free of crowds outside the cathedral.

• A rental car won't make the room any closer. Driving into the centre is restricted, and everything inside the walls is a walk anyway.

Day tripsWhat lies outside the walls, for a spare day:Day trips from Siena →