annieoscott

I am traveling to Rome for one week in August.My time in Rome is planned out, now I am looking for short day trips to take. I am interested in going to Southern Tuscany or Umbria. Any ideas ? I would like to take a wine tour that will give me a real flavor for italian wineries...small family run. I am also interested in a beach trip near Rome. Can anyone help with this or any other ideas for day trips.

gplusg

We went to Anzio one time.

* short local commuter train trip

* very nice beaches with a few Roman ruins

* non-touristy

StCirq

Anzio is actually quite touristy - we stayed a bit north of there on the shore for two weeks a few years ago, and though we loved it, it would not be fair to call it non-touristy. For one thing, it was the site of the Italian version of the D-Day landings in Normandy, and consequently a kind of pilgrimage town for lots of people.

If you want great beach towns, you need to go just a bit farther south - to Sperlonga and Gatea.

Be forewarned any beach in Italy will be absolutely overrun in August.

For Umbria day trips, I'd recommend Orvieto and Bagno di Reggio, maybe Perugia or Assisi if you want to go a bit farther afield.

However, if this is your first time in Rome, just stay there. You could easily occupy yourself for a month or more right there. Take a half-day trip to Ostia Antica.

Steve_James

Hi Annie - I'd second StCirq's suggestions - Orvieto and Assisi make excellent day-trips.

Both are easy train rides. For details see:
http://www.trenitalia.com/en/index.html

Sperlonga is a lovely beach but a bit time-consuming to get to.

An easier trip would be Santa Marinella - about 45 mins from Rome.

Hope this helps ...

Steve

annieoscott

Thank you for your help. We plan to skip the beach and head to Ovrieto for a day trip. We will go by train and rent a car when we get there. I have also been reading good things about visiting Spello and Montefalco.

scrb

I'm thinking of going during Thanksgiving week.

Weather permitting, do a lot of day trip locations stay open during that time?

I'm thinking of Tivoli, Hadrian's Villa, Villa D'Este, Pompeii, Capri, Ostia.

Also how are Tuscany and Umbria in the winter months, barring rain?

SuzieCII

We'll be there as well during Thanksgiving. We only are planning Orvietto and Ostia Antica so I'm taking layers.

kaneda

Why not take a Ryanair flight to Venice? They are a budget airline and it's about an hour by plane. You can be there at 07:50 and return on the 18:55 flight so spend a full day there.

http://www.ryanair.com/site/EN/

Steve_James

Hi Scrb -

Pompeii is open 7 days a week, as is Hadrian's Villa.

Villa d'Este and Ostia Antica are closed on Mondays.

Hope this helps ...

Steve

mr_go

I'll just throw out Spoleto as one more option. It's easy to get to by train, and worth seeing.

scrb

Thanks Steve.

So no winter closures?

SuzieCII

Interesting. The site on Ryan Air has "fares" roundtrip at 9.08E's...the taxes and whatnot on each is almost 46Es...the total would be about $109.
My DH has not been to Venice yet. I would imagine (could be totally wrong) that November would have fewer tour boats docking... mmmm... worthing thinking about.

msdotliz

We docked in Rome on our recent cruise and our friend, who lives there, picked us up. We drove up the coast to Tuscania, which is a lovely little town, and from what I have read, Romeo and Juliet was filmed there. Our friend has a home in Viterbo, which is north of Rome and a very nice place to visit also. Another place to visit in Tuscany is Capalbio which is on the Mediterrean. Gosh, this makes me want to go back right now!!! Have fun!

SuzieCII

So I posted and then went back to Ryan. The day I first chose was a Monday and my brain kicked-in... about Monday's some things are closed. So? I dated the request for Tuesday...TADA
total round trip, for two 44E's...
wohoo.... gonna go write DH an email ...

Steve_James

Hi Suzie - Be aware that Ryanair don't fly to Venice.

They fly to Treviso.

Steve

Steve_James

Srcb - Winter closures are normally Christmas Day and New Years Day.

For opening hours it's best to refer to each site's own website.

POMPEII:

http://www2.pompeiisites.org/databas...B?OpenDocument

OSTIA ANTICA:

http://www.itnw.roma.it/ostia/scavi/...&fldAuto=3

Hope this helps ...

Steve

scrb

Thanks again.

SuzieCII

Treviso...lets see. It appears the flight would be a couple of hours, getting to the Rome airport, easy enough but lets say another hour? Then 2 hours to get to and from Venice.
In one day? And people do this? MMMM...not us methinks. We'll go back someday.