Which is the easiest? How is the parking? Originally planned to drop our car rental and do a day trip by train to Perugia the following day. Rethinking that plan...if we drive to Perugia we wouldn't have to worry about train times if we wanted to have dinner there.

The drive is easy, probably 30 minutes or so if I remember correctly - it was 8 or 9 years ago that we made this trip.

Do not, under any circumstances, try to drive into the old town - park in one of several garages on the outskirts. We made the mistake of taking our 9-person Fiat Ducato van into the old city, and got hopelessly wedged into a miniscule 90' corner, on a steep hill. If it hadn't been for the efforts of a local young man who came to our rescue by personally jumping into our vehicle and expertly maneuvering it out of harm's way, and then leading us to a parking garage, I fear we'd still be stuck there.

... plus, I should add that you would likely be subject to the huge fines associated with driving in the limited traffic zone (ZTL) within the old city. This was not a factor at the time of my visit.

Train seems to be 30 minutes and 3€. We had trouble finding parking when we visited and I'm sure it cost more than the train. I haven't used the train for Perugia, but I know there multiple stations so make sure you get the one you need. I believe the main station has escalators up, but so did the parking lot. It appears the last train back is about 10pm.

Yes, this seems like a six of one, half dozen of another situation to me. We drove to Perugia from Spello. It was easy and locating a parking garage right near the center, but outside of it, was no problem. On the other hand, the train is a good option, and you'd save a day's car rental fee.

There are two train stations that make sense for Perugia. The long distance train would most likely stop at large "Perugia" without any other modifier. From there take unmanned mini metro up hill, which looks like an amusement park ride and at the station actually goes over the track at the Northend of the station, to the last stop from which you either walk up or take an elevator to the plateau level.

The other station, "Perugia Sant'Anna" gets you closer to the center. From the Santa'Anna train station, follow "Rocca Paolina" escalator sign which gets you to Piazza Partigiani bus station practically around the corner from the train station. The escalator to the upper level starts at Piazza Partigiani.