They just added this tour this week so if anyone had already booked any tours around this time they might check the website again.

Well it is in the hi-end but it is an all-day tour with a 6 person limit in a mini-bus with an Archaeologist guide.

It's 250e p/p and it visits both Cerveteri and Tarquinia with possible museum visits at both sites.
Here's the link http://tinyurl.com/kmf5e

I *assume* with a mini-bus, driver and guide that this tour must be full or very close to full for it not to be cancelled?
And so far I'm the only one signed-up and I hoping it will book-up . Regards, Walter

Darn!I'd love to be there!

Walter, you've made a good choice. Of the several daytrip destinations from Rome that I had researched, our Roman friends picked Cerveteri and Tarquinia and one of the "must-do" trips during our October visit. Fortunately, we won't have to hire a guide!

Looks like fun! I went to Tarquinia solo in May 2004 and LOVED it. It was mid-May, a beautiful day, and there was no one else around at the necropolis, so I had it all to myself. The tombs are amazing and very atmospheric (even if you are forced to look through plexiglass at the paintings). Take a deep sniff when you're underground--the air even smells ancient!

Tarquinia itself is a charming hilltown, and there are some lovely views out across the countryside. I enjoyed my day very much.

I find it strange that they say the museums are "if there is time." For that price, you should definitely be going to at least the Tarquinia museum. The Tarquinia museum is AMAZING. I spent over 2 hrs there looking at everything and even then felt rushed. If you do go to the museum, on the top floor there are reconstructed tomb chambers: the original paintings were taken out of their tombs for conservation reasons and then were installed in the museum. And the famous terracotta horses, also on the top floor, are gorgeous. Very fine collection of 6th and 5th c BC Athenian vases found in local tombs as well.

Tarquinia and Cerveteri, incidentally, are easily visited by public transport. Both are on the same train line (it's the line to Pisa, or at least it was in 2004). I ran out of time and couldn't do both in one day, so I only went to Tarquinia. I can provide info on how to get from Tarquinia train station up to the town if anyone is interested, someone who wants to go on their own.

DejaVu, Thanks for the info and if you could post those Tarquinia directions I'd like to have them.
If this tour doesn't get enough people I will need a 'Plan B'.

I've been meaning to visit those sites but never got around to it.
I figured on my own I could probably only see one site via public transportation and I had also thought of 1 day car rental in order to see both.
So I held off in the past but now with this tour I could see both and with a guide.

If it doesn't come together I will probably go out on my own.

massagediva; Pity, if we were both in Rome in Oct we could hitch a ride with Howard .

Howard; Oct sounds like a great time to go, you'll probably have the sites pretty much to yourselves.
Regards, Walter

Sure, Walter, here you go. You'll just love Tarquinia, seeing how you're such a history buff! I think it was about an hour from Rome to Tarquinia on the train line, and then you have to take a short bus ride to the town. Some departure times require a change at Civitavecchia. I took a direct departure; that one was on the Rome-Pisa line. It was confusing because somewhere I had read it was on the Genoa line, but it's not.

Apparently you can also take a COTRAL bus to Tarquinia, but I prefer the train.

Two different buses come to the train station at Tarquinia: one for the beach (Lido) which you don't want, and one for the town, which you do. I think I paid the driver the cheap fare up to the town. The bus lets you off at the gates to the town. That's where you come back to in order to get the bus back down to the station. If I remember correctly, it runs approximately every half hour (??). They can tell you in the museum or else ask the bus driver on the way up. The museum is just inside the gates and to the left. Oh, it's great, much bigger than I expected and such a nice collection.

You can buy a combo ticket for the museum and the necropolis at the museum, and they'll give you a map to get to the necropolis. There is no shuttle service, so you either have to walk or take a taxi. It's about a 20 minute walk (as I remember), uphill through town, then you take a right and head out of town (the necropolis is outside the city walls). At one point you'll think you're not heading the right direction (or at least I did), but you probably are. The necropolis will be on your left as you walk along the road that leads out from the town. I distinctly remember seeing one of those signs that says "Tarquinia" and has the line drawn through it (showing that you're leaving the town) and thinking I had done something wrong, but I hadn't, the necropolis wasn't far past that. I walked both ways myself because it was such a pretty day.

There's a bookshop at the necropolis and there's one at the museum too. The labels in the museum are all in Italian, but you can buy an English guide at the bookshop, and also they have in each room laminated handouts in English for people to look at.

Not all the tombs in the necropolis are open all the time. About twelve were open the day I visited, all the best ones.

I ran out of time for Cerveteri, but I did enough homework to know it's on the same train line as Tarquinia; get off at the Cerveteri-Ladispoli stop, and apparently there's a bus to Cerveteri proper. There's more walking involved in order to get to the Banditaccia necropolis, which lies outside of town. You can also take a COTRAL bus from Rome, I believe.

Here are couple of useful websites:
www.tarquinia.net [town's official site]
and
www.caere.it for Cerveteri

Buon viaggio! Be sure to post an Etruria trip report if you go, because I'd enjoy knowing how you liked Tarquinia.

--DejaVu

Here are some helpful urls for both destinations.
CERVETERI
http://www.italyheaven.co.uk/cerveteri.html
http://oncampus.richmond.edu/academi...cerveteri.html
htto://www.mysterioustruscans.com/caisra.html
http://bstorage/com/Photo/Italy/Cerveteri/index.htm (Excellent photos on this one.)
TARQUINIA
http://oncampus.richmond.edu/academi...tarquinia.html
http://www.mysterioustruscans.com/tarchna.html
http://bstorage.com/Photo/Italy/Tarquinia/index.htm (Excellent photos of the artwork in the tombs.)

DejaVu; Thanks! Excellent detailed directions.
And I might end up using them if the tour doesn't book-up, so far it's just lonely me .

Howard; Thanks for all those links! I probably would not have had time to do much searching on my own, as I'm leaving in 2 weeks and as usual 'Murphy's Law' is kicking-in and I'm behind in getting ready. So those links will make things alot easier.
Thanks Again to Both of You!
Regards, Walter

You're welcome, Walter. All I ask in return is your usual thoroughness and helpfulness in a followup trip report!
Have a great trip!

You're welcome!! It'll be worth the journey, I promise!

We just returned from 3 weeks in Italy, and our day trip to Tarquinia was one of our favorites! Easy to do from Rome. We took 50 minute train trip from San Pietro station because it was most convenient to our hotel, but you can also get the same train from Termini, Ostiense, or Trastevere stations. Check the Trenitalia site for times. Buses meet trains and go to town center (buy tickets on board) and leave same place for return to station. The walled town is a charming medieval one. The museum is in a 15th century villa and is outstanding--full of Etruscan treasures and the winged horses alone are well worth the trip. The walk to the necropolis is easy (about 15-20 mins) and the museum will give you easy and excellent directions.

Angelyn; Thanks for the info!
I'm leaving in a couple of days and I've printed-out this Thread as my Plan-B. As I don't know if his tour will book out, the last I checked I'm the only one .
Regards, Walter

Sigh...would love to be there for the Etruscan Excursion.

Enjoy, sounds like a great tour. And what wonderful info here from Walter, DejaVu and HowardR!

Well the tour did go with myself and another couple on its maiden voyage .

The tour was great! Our Docent/guide Elisabeth Fuhrmann-Schembri was excellent and this is her area of expertise.
She has advanced degrees in Archaeology and Classical studies and a bunch of other stuff .
She wrote her Dissertation on Etruscan musical instruments and is currently researching the Etruscan Culture.
Plus she lives in the general area.

We took a new comfortable minivan with a professional driver in a suit. I'm a truckdriver and I really don't like other people driving me but their driver was very safe and I felt very much at ease.

Elisabeth starts the tour before you even get into the van by explaining about the Etruscans and Rome and continues it right to Cerveteri. So you pretty much know the Etruscan history before you even get to the 1st site.

We toured Cerveteri (my favorite) and then visited their museum.
Lunch was our choice either a nice restaurant with local wine or a quick bite in the piazza.
We choose the quick bite but it was relaxing and this give us more time at Tarquinia.

Then onward to Tarquinia with Elisabeth explaining their history and the tomb art we would be seeing.

After Tarquinia we visited their museum.

Both museum visits because of our time limitations were highlight tours. But they weren't rushed and we actually toured the entire museum at both sites with Elisabeth guiding us to the main objects of interest but also stopping and answering our questions about objects that caught our interest.

The ride back was nice with questions about what we had seen but mainly just chit-chat among ourselves.

250e is alot of money for me to drop on a single tour but it was worth it to me and I'm very glad I went.

I wanted to see both sites and museums and I know I couldn't see both in a single day by public transportation. So 2 seperate daytrips?

My other option would have been to rent a car for a day in order to see both sites and museums.

So looking at my options I think it was money well spent.
Regards, Walter

It sure sounds like a day well spent!
Foitunately (hopefully?), our Roman friend will be available to take us there in October!
When I showed a list of possible day trips, Cerverteri/Tarquinia and Tivoli topped his list fo recommendations.
After your report, the excursion sure remains on top of the list!

Context Rome strikes again!Sounds great.