My husband and I will be in Italy for a week in early May. We will be flying into Rome from Newark, New Jersey. We want to stay in a town that is quaint and not overwhelming. We are not worried about checking off big "to-see" items like David, etc. Do you think 5 nights in Orvieto is too much? We don't really want to travel too far from Rome on a train. Any recommendations would be great. Thanks!

not if you have a car.

Actually if you are going by train and or bus you can easily day trip by rail to places like Assisi, Perugia, Spoleto and several smaller hill towns by bus - the SITA bus system is very dense and provides excellent service to any town of importance. But five days in Orvieto itself - a bit too much for my likes at least.

I think a Orvieto is a half day visit at most.

Rent a car & enjoy the beautiful countryside & small villages in Tuscany & Umbria. As a base, I would choose the Pienza area - just 1 hr north of Orvieto.

Stu Dudley

I agree with the above. Orvieto is a great town but you could easily see everything in a day or so. I would use it as a base, rent a car and explore other towns in Umbria or Tuscany.

Tracy

We spent 2 nights in Orvieto as part of our 3 week trip. It was near the end so we were tired but I found by fairly early of the 2nd day we had run out of things "to do". This wasn't necessarily a bad thing as we ended up sitting on a bench pondering life for a long time, enjoying a ridiculously long lunch, taking yet anther look at the fascinating Duomo, having a nap etc. but I think we had become accustomed to the rest of our trip where there were SO MANY things to do, see, eat, view etc that it was a little disconcerting.

Granted, as I said, it was near the end of our trip and we were gearing up for 3 days in rome and were a bit museum-ed out - so we didn't visit many museums in Orvieto, nor did we drive anywhere nearby to seek out additional activities.

I still think 5 nights might be too long - I'd suggest sticking to 2, maxiumum 3 and maybe adding in 2 nights somewhere else - perhaps in Tuscany between Orvieto and Florence.

One night in Orvieto is perfect. Two nights at most, unless you're really in need of meditation time!

I disagree w/those who say to just do a day visit. You then miss two of the best things about Orvieto: evening after the crowds are gone, &amp; morning before they arrive! Seriously. If you just see some of these smaller towns on a day-trip, you miss so much (and you never find out why they're <i>really</i> such magnets for visitors!)

Hi J,

I agree that Orvieto is good for 2 nights.

It would make a good base for visiting other places by train or bus.

It's about 1:30 hr to Florence, 2 hr to Assisi or Siena.....

See www.trenitalia.com

Orvieto is the perfect place to be based if you think to visit Tuscany or Rome....in one hour you can easily reach the main towns.
Don't forget to visit Civita di Bagnoregio, Bolsena Lake, Todi, Amelia.
And if you are always in Orvieto don't miss the restaurant Grotte de Funaro ( a sort of underground caves) the Champagneria Orvieto for the best happy hour and L'asino Doro REstaurant for the most tradional meal.