Rome and Naples vs. Rome and Perugia--thoughts?
 

I am doing last minute trip planning and want a 3 or 4 day destination (not too far away and easily reachable by train) to compliment our 10 day stay in Rome. I've read a lot about both locales and am torn. Perugia would probably include a side trip to Assisi and Naples a side trip to Pompeii/Herculaneum. This is over New Year's in the dead of winter, so I am focusing on cities where there are things to do even if the weather is crummy. Thoughts? Thanks.

Oh, really a very happy problem !
I'd suggest Perugia, anyway.

Ciao.

Vincenzo

Hi julies, I would chose Perugia also. I have only been there by car however so I have no idea about the train situation..say between Perugia and Assisi for example.
Have fun planning your trip!

Much as I liked Pompeii I too would choose Perugia/Umbria over Naples.

I went to Perugia by train recently and on to Assisi also by train and while there may be a connection here or there it was quite doable. You'll need a taxi from Perugia station if you stay in the central town area (about 10 euro or so). There's probably a bus, I just didn't look into it.

In Assisi as well most of the town/interesting sights/lodging are up the hill from the train station in the main town area, though you likely will want to stop at the church near the train station, Santa Maria Degli Angeli, I believe it is called (which has St. Francis' original tiny church inside).

You can easily take a bus or a taxi up to the town center ; if you want to leave your bags there's a shop right at the train station to do so.

From Perugia to Assisi, it will be more convenient to take bus instead of train, as bus directly ends near Assisi town centre up the hill. From perugia town centre, you could easily walk down the escalators to bus terminal. There are frequent buses from train station to town centre.

Spello,Terni,Gubbio and Spoleto are all easy daytrip destinations by bus/train as I have done few years ago.

Perugia/Assisi definitely would be more picturesque, but my suspicion is that there will be more stuff to do in Naples. Googlize New Year's Day and (city) to get an idea of what, if anything, will be going on.

I'm still trying to get a straight answer as to what, if anything, will be happening in Lisbon next week. I land at LIS on Christmas Day and am there through the 30th. But that's for the Portugal forum....

I am not actually looking for great New Year's festivities as we are middle-aged and will be jet lagged at that point. I am just looking fan an intersting area to spend a few days.

Perugia has excellent extra-urban bus service to points throughout Umbria. Go to www.perugiaonline.com for lots of info on visiting Perugia and links to transportation info. Some of the links are in Italian only but are easy to navigate for general route and schedule info.

I think you'll find more than enough to see/do while based in Perugia for 3-4 days.

why not head up to Venice or Florence? Its not a long train ride.

I personally dont think small town Tuscany would be ideal in the dead of winter - apart from the Basilica and the Santa Chiara church there are about 0 indoor sights in Assisi - and the daylight window for viewing these dark churches is slight. I cant speak about Perugia - there may be more to do there.

There is definitely more to do in Naples and the temperature (coastal rather than inland) would be more moderate than either Umbria or Florence. There are many interesting churches, several fine museums (see other thread), as well as shopping, eating, people watching, many archeological sites (the excavation under the San Lorenzo church of a greek market, for example) You could go out to and enjoy a relatively quiet Pompeii (for a comparable, we've visited Ostia Antica and the Appian Way over Christmas/New Years trips to Rome very enjoyably) Temp is an issue in Italy in winter - Rome is considerably warmer than Florence, for example and Venice can also get north winds, snow and rain - we had acqua alta on one trip, but with all the mist it was beautiful. You might catch a rainy day in the south, but it tends not to last too long - bring your brolly. If you go north of Rome, you will want some warm clothes - they tend to go unused Rome and south.

Well, weather predictions are problemmatic. Friends of ours visited Italy early this year and had very pleasant weather in Venice and then snow(!) in Rome about a week later.

I agree there's lots to see and do in Naples and the surrounding area, but I like the contrast of Perugia/Assisi to Rome, rather than Rome to Naples, another large city.