Would love to hear from someone that has been there what they would reccomend on a day trip from Rome?

I'd be happy to answer that, but I already have, as have dozens of others here. If you enter Orvieto or Orvieto Day Trip into the search function, you'll find many lengthy and specific posts about doing Orvieto as a day trip from Rome, right down to the transporatation issues, times and types of local tours, what to see, where to eat, and everything else you might want to know. It's a neat town with plenty to do.

To aid in your search, note the correct spelling is Orvieto.

sorry......I did do that search but will go further back as I did not find the answer to that general question.

"I did not find the answer to that general question."

??? What general guestion? What to do in Orvieto???

Go by train, then take the funicular up to the village. Walk or take the bus to the center.

Underground Tour
The Duomo
shopping and looking at craft shops
Lunch (I Sette Consoli is wonderful)
The ancient well you walk down and up.

We did exactly what Neo said and really enjoyed ourselves. Go, go, go!

I agree with NeoPatrick. Take the train and spend the day. I Do Not recommend taking a group bus tour. In April, we took the day long Orvieto/Assisi offered by Carani bus tours and we spend a total of 25 minutes in Orvieto. Just long enough to see the interior of the Duomo and get back on the bus. Fortunately for us, we had made a prior day long stop in Orvieto on the way to Florence in 2004 and on this trip was more interested in seeing something of Assisi. So take the train and spend the day, Orvieto is well worth it. If shopping, you might want to consider waiting until you are away from the Duomo. It seemed to me that the further away we got, the less expensive it became. (at least in 2004).
Have a great trip.

Search this forum for hagan's recently posted trip report. I know she and her family visited Orvieto.

If that will be your only trip to Tuscany/Umbria, then I would go. I liked it the least of the Tusc/Umbrian towns that we stayed in. Assisi was much nicer.

And I liked Orvieto much better than Assissi...which just goes to show that, because everybody has different experiences/reactions, it's not fair to say "X" is better than "Y"!

If you are absolutely unable to make Orvieto anything more than a day trip, I would encourage you to make a point of either getting to Orvieto very early in the morning, or staying as late at night as possible. Simply so that you can get more of a feel for the place when it's not quite so full of tourists.

Above all, do not miss the Duomo. Imho, it is one of the most beautiful works of art anywhere.

If I am picking up my car in Orvieto (after the train from Rome), would I need to walk or bus it to the center and leave my car ??where??

Why don't you pick up the car after you visit the town?

Get off the train. Cross the street to the funicular. Pay .90E. Ride to the top. Walk to the duomo. Take a picture. Walk to I Sette Consoli. Eat the best food in Italy. Pay .90E. Take the funicular to the train station. Walk around the corner. Hertz is right there.

I think you can buy a RT funicular ticket for a bit less than two OW tickets.

And, the bus meets the funicular if you do not want to walk--price is included.

Hi Passing,

We really enjoyed Orvieto, staying there 3 nights and doing day trips from there. We got a good feel for the town and it is very nice in the evening.

There is a large multi-level car park at the opposite end of town from the train station and funiculare if you want to pick up the rental first and then park. You take an interesting series of underground escalators up to town from the parking garage.

Highly recommend the underground tour. There are lots of very interesting shops, galleries, the well, and Etruscan tomb excavation site too.

Civita di Bagnoreggio is a short drive and a nice, short photo op and visit.
Buon viaggio!