day trips from Rome
 

I am looking for help on a potential day trip out of Rome. My family (includes 11 yr old daughter), will be there the first week in June for 6 nites. We will not have a car. Will have already spent 3 nites in Venice and 3 nites in Florence. Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated. thanks

Orvieto is an easy train ride from Rome. You catch the funicular up to the hill town across the street from the Orvieto train station. Your daughter would probably enjoy the underground tour.
http://www.orvietounderground.it/

You could go to Assisi as a day trip via train. The Basilica of St Francis was interesting. St Francis is buried there.

Ostia Antica is great for ruins but not sure an 11 year old would enjoy it so much.

Perhaps having another day in Florence would give you time for a couple of day trips. You can go on a day trip to Pisa from Florence. We enjoyed a day trip from Florence to San Gimignano - the city of towers.

Hello mike, although my first choice for a day trip from Rome would be to Orvieto if for some reason that doesn't appeal to you, or if you want another day to see a part of Rome that most visitors don't tend to go to here is a website regarding Ostia Antica.
http://www.eurocheapo.com/blog/rome-...pt-secret.html
If you Google Ostia Antica you will of course find many other websites also.
Another daytrip just east of Rome is to go to Tivoli and visit Villa d'Este. Here is a good website and of course Google will have more websites you can review.
http://goeurope.about.com/cs/italy/p/villa_deste.htm

Have a beautiful time, I wish my daughter was that age again, and I sure hope your daughter loves Rome as much as our daughter did and does! P.S. Just a warning, she ended up marrying a Roman! No complaints from me however.

Mike - There are numerous day-trips from Rome. Pick any from:

Florence
Assisi
Orvieto
Tivoli (Hadrian's Villa, Villa d'Este (fountain gardens)
Ostia Antica
Pompeii/Herculaneum/Vesuvius
Naples
Capri
Amalfi Coast/ Positano
Sorrento
Castel Gandolfo/ Lake Albano/ Colli Albani
Spoleto
Cortona
Lake Bracciano
Anzio
Montecassino
Caserta
Viterbo
Tarquinia
Subiaco
Lake Bolsena
Sperlonga

... to name a few :)

Hope this helps ...

Steve

Another vote for Ostia Antica, if the 11yr old is outdoorsy she will love it.

Orvieto is a wonderful place. You cant go wrong with it.

I also recommend the ancient port city of Ostia Antica--much easier to reach than Pompeii and Herculaneum.

I think you will find that Rome itself has so much to do it is hard to tear yourself away.

Not really a day trip but a trip to the outskirts of Rome just beyond the Aurelian Wall: see the catacombs, the Via Appia Antica and the aqueducts leading into the city. There are bicycle rentals which your daughter might enjoy for a change of pace. We took the tourist office(hop on/off) archeobus which links the sites and worked well for us, but other posters have complained it gets too crowded at times.

Fully agree with Ostia Antica and Orvieto.

Your daughter will get a thrill out of the Funicular ride up and down the hill. When going up, get her to stand near the front (up-hill side) and the reverse when going down (stand on the down hill side).

if it is a hot day ( June!), I would stay away from Ostia Antica - all outside, no shade, not that much to see.

The royal palace at Caserta. But not on the weekend. Very easy by train.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palace_of_Caserta

My vote would be for Sperlonga, as it will give you a taste of a lovely seaside town, totally different from Rome. A day at the beach and sampling a small town would be a nice change. And I assume an 11-year-old would enjoy a beach day.

Next best, IMO, is Ostia Antica. My daughter was about 13 when we visited and she had a ball there. It's an easy ride out there, and it will keep you busy for at least half a day.

I vote for Ostia Antica, especially with kids. After lots of museums, history, buses, metros, etc. they can run at will. The biggest pluses are that there are usually very few people there (about 20-25 when we were there), and it is an easy non-tiring commute, 25 minutes by train. I think the travel time to & from your final destination is important with children - "are we there yet?"! There are bathrooms & an inexpensive cafeteria on site with good food. At O.A. the young ones can act like miniture Indiana Jones'. They can climb up, over, & under the ruins - no restrictions - not a day of "don't touch!". There are "secret" (really just off of the main paths) areas with no one else in sight & they can look for secret unexplored spaces & treasures (little rocks that surely are thousands of years old! :-D - good show & tell object for school). Our son (adult Indiana Jones!) found an overgrown area with hidden burial crypts. The next time we went, he took a flashlite & climbed in! Your daughter, if she is so inclined, can stand on stage in the ancient ampitheatre & give a speech or skit to mom & dad in the audience (maybe the only audience, but that is ok!). Plus, O.A. is a great site for moms & dads; great historical site; such a favorite with us that we visit it everytime we are in Rome (6 times). However....if it is a hot day - judge your family's stamina. But then it will be a hot day at the other places also. There is plenty of shade, but that doesn't help if it is a heat with no breeze.

Enjoy your trip, Julie

I watched tv while composing, therefore I missed StCirq's post. The beach with an 11 year old sounds great! I don't know anything about the beaches, but, in my opinion, if the commute is not too long & is an easy commute, like a train ride, sounds good if the day is hot & you packed swim suits.