Overnight in Siena or press on to Perugia?
 

Dear Fodorites. We will arrive in Siena on May 2, 2010 just in time for dinner and to check into our hotel (inside the wall - Campo Regio Relais). We plan to tour Siena all the next day being May 3 which is a Monday. Our next destination will be Perugia and then onto Assisi and Spello. My question is this. After touring Siena on May 3, are we better off staying the night and starting out fresh in the morning to Perugia. Or, since we have a car, does it make better sense to leave Siena to find hotel closer to Perugia for the night? If pressing on towards Perugia makes sense, where would be a good place to stop for the night on the way to Perugia? We will only be staying the one night in that hotel as we will only spend the day in Perugia before pressing on to our next location. As much as I don't like changing hotels that often, I am concerned that the 1 1/2 hour drive to Perugia in the morning is a bit much and will limit our time in Perugia as we will need to leave by around 5pm. Suggestions?

I would relax, stay two nights in Siena, avoiding the inevitable waste of time finding and checking in to a new hotel. Then set out early the next morning, feeling fresh and ready for the day trip to Perugia.

Stay 2 nites somewhere---I hate one niters.

Siena is a cool place to spend the night. After the tour buses leave and night falls you get the feeling of being in a medieval town.
You can also enjoy a nice dinner at one of the restaurants on the campo.

I don't like finding my way to an unfamiliar place in the dark, especially a larger town like Perugia. And moving an hour closer to Perugia hardly saves you time because of checking in/out of the hotels. I'd just leave Siena an hour earlier.

Do you know where you will park in Perugia? Will you have GPS and a good map of the town? Although Perugia is a very visitor-friendly town in terms of information and services, it's not particularly easy to visit by car.

http://www.perugiaonline.com/parchepgus.html

The vote seems to be 3 all for staying an additional night in Siena. I too hate one niters but was tempted to press on to get an early start in Perugia. I will now resist the temptation. Thanks All for the advice.

Jean, thanks for alerting me to the parking issues in Perugia and the helpful link. I had no idea it is similar to Siena in that respect. I would have hated having to deal with that late at night. We will have a GPS and now I will make sure we have a good map of the town. Do you have a recommended parking strategy?

You'll see signs for parking after you've left the highway. I'm pretty sure we've used the P1 lot and possibly the P6 lot. It's been a few years, but we were coming from the east one time and south the other, so we reached those lots first.

We found leaving Perugia a little more confusing than arriving, and it's an experience that convinced me we don't do well making our way in the dark unless we already know where/how we're going. With luck, the signage has improved.

You mentioned you're later heading to Assisi and Spello. You should figure out your approach and parking to both towns before you get there.

http://www.assisionline.com/parchepgus.html

I'm one more voting for spending the night in Siena. I've been there several times on day trips, and if I ever go back, I'm going to spend the night. The town really seems to come alive in a different way in the evening.

I would spend the evening shopping and then dining.

Four Votes for Siena...I have now confirmed my 2 night reservation. Thanks All!

Jean, I think you may have helped save my marriage with your parking advice. I will now spend some time figuring all that out in advance for all of our destinations just in case.

Carol2010, you're bound to have one of Those Moments on a driving trip. You'll be all prepared with parking info, and then a road will be closed for construction or something else won't go as planned. Other times, you'll feel like your car is being directed by some divine being as it seems to know exactly where to go. Just keep a sense of humor, watch out for ZTL (zona traffico limitato) signs and stay within the speed limit.

http://www.slowtrav.com/italy/drivin...s_speeding.htm

http://current.newsweek.com/budgettr...lcar_driv.html

One thing about Perugia also is there's a little mini-tram that takes you right up to the center of the old town. It's down in the lower area, by the train station. FYI. Works great and cute little red cars! (love Italian design). There are also a couple of stops in more outlying areas for people commuting in, so worth a look if parking's an issue (we took trains so I don't have first hand info about parking, sorry).