3 days in Umbria
 

We are planning a trip to Italy for mid-September. Most of the plans for where we will stay are made, many of them with the help of this forum. After a night in Pisa (too late to go directly to Florence)and three nights in Florence, we have six nights before we head up to Bologna and Venice. We are close to booking a stay near Pienza for three nights, but we have three nights between Florence and Pienza. We thought of going to Umbria, but we are very unfamiliar with that part of Italy. Can anyone suggest a base from which we can visit several towns?

We have been to Tuscany before and have been to many of the hill towns that we all like so much. Would we be better off staying in another area in Tuscany and traveling from there to Umbria or ????

Also, we do not want to do an excessive amount of driving.

Advice would be appreciated.
Grandot

Umbria is wonderful and if you enjoy exploring hilltowns, there are plenty in Umbria to interest you. Since you will be in Florence and then need to head north, I suggest sticking to northern Umbria. Two years ago, we stayed at a great place, Villa Monte Solare, near Panicale. From there, we easily drove to Perugia, Gubbio, Assisi, Montefalco and Citta della Pieve as well as many smaller towns in between.

Hi Grandot,

I visited Umbria on my last trip and loved it! It's quite a bit less touristed than Tuscany with a little less English spoken - good.

I visited Cortona on the way, stayed in Gubbio, Assisi and Spello. Visted a couple of other hilltowns, especially Montefalco where I discovered their fabulous local wine, Sagrantino di Montefalco. Just sprung for a bottle of it last night at the wine store!

If you would like to read about my trip, search for Dayle's Solo Trip to Italy". The last part is Tuscany and Umbria.

Buon viaggio!

We were scheduled to stay in Spoleto for 3 nights but didn't care for the town...a little busier than we like. We moved to Spello for the next two nights and just loved it. Much more quiet and laid back.

We really enjoyed visiting the neighboring towns of Assisi, Trevi, Montefalco and Brevegna.

We also spent a night in Orvieto and wish we had more time to explore the area. So many wonderful place and so little time.

Good luck with your planning.

Have a look to this thread: http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34792839

Topping since Fodor's doesn't work as it should today.

Topping again since the site now finally seems to be working again.

You're looking for a base from which to explore towns in Umbria and you "do not want to do an excessive amount of driving."

I suggest you do some research to find out which towns you'd like to see and then pick a geographically central base. Umbria isn't a small area, and some of the more interesting and beautiful spots (like Gubbio, Orvieto, the Marmore falls) are in opposite directions from the usual destinations (like Assisi, Spello, Trevi).

You can see a lot in three days, but only you can decide how much driving is excessive.

Just back from Umbria and Venice, and greatly enjoyed seeing Perugia and Assisi. Sorry to have missed Spello which was highly recommended. I loved the Umbrian cuisine, the reasonable prices, and the lower density and intensity relative to Tuscany.

Thank you all for your input.
Grinisa, I looked up Villa Monte Solare, and it's beautiful, but it's a little more than we wanted to spend.
Dayle and CRAZY4TRAVEL, where did you stay in Spello and do you recommend it?

If anyone else stayed in a town or hotel or B&B that they really liked, please tell about it. We know we can't see everything. We plan to see Gubbio on our way from Florence to Umbria, and other than that we're collecting ideas on people's favorite towns.

Our interests are the food, wine, scenery, and ambiance of the area. The churches and art are important, but not the priority.

>>We plan to see Gubbio on our way from Florence to Umbria<<

Gubbio is IN Umbria. As a matter of fact, it's on the far east side of Umbria, about the furthest from Florence of any town mentioned in this thread.

I, too, would suggest you do some research - with a map.

Thanks, Zerlina. I did know that Gubbio is in Umbria. I guess I just said Umbria because I didn't know where we want to base.
I need to use a better map of Tuscany and Umbria. On my map, Gubbio seems pretty west, and it's a little north of Perugia and Assisi.
Will get a better map and be more knowledgeable when I come back on.

My recommendation for something that would not require a lot of driving to stay on the north side of Lake Trasimeno, allowing easy to moderately-difficult train travel between Arezzo, Cortona, Perugia, Assisi, and ultimately Spoleto.

Towns like Tuoro sul Trasimeno, Passignano del Trasimeno, etc.

Grandot,

I stayed at Plazzo Bocci, a 4* and rearranged my schedule in order to take an availability. This, even booking 8 months in advance. Very lovely place and Spello is a very tiny, peaceful and beautiful village. Not a lot of sites or shops, just very authentic Umbrian hilltown with great views. Assisi in the distance at night is very pretty.

Dinner at their restaurant, Il Mulino, was a highlight. Dinner at La Cantina a bit disappointing both in service and food.

I had a single room in Sept 05 for 95E/night. Wonderful breakfast buffet.

Buon viaggio!

Grandot,

If you haven't been there yet, the Bella Umbria web site at http://www.bellaumbria.net/
gives a very in depth description of the area, covering all the towns and their main sites, and itineraries around them. We found it very helpful in our search for info during our first visit to Umbria as well as planning for this upcoming August's trip there.

And like other posters, we loved the area!

Toni _g_b
We had not been to the www.bellaumbria.net site until you mentioned it. We are now totally immersed in it and will have more specific questions later.
Dayle, my husband found Plazzo Bocci on one of the sites he was browsing and was very interested in it. He thinks it is booked for our dates, but we may call and be sure.
Thanks very much.

We stayed at the Del Teatro and very much enjoyed our stay there. It's really central and the terrace that overlooks the vale is a wonderful place to have breakfast or an evening drink.

We loved Umbria! We spent five nights there last year and Spello as a favorite of ours. A beautiful hilltown and a good base for exploring the surrounding area. Also liked Bevagna and Montefalco, and definitely try the Sagrantino di Montefalco!

Tracy

I spent 5 weeks in Umbria last year and absolutely fell in love with the place. I was around the Paciano/Panicale area, not far from Chiusi and Lago Trasimeno, and found it a great area for getting all over the area. But I do love driving in Italy........