Traveling in Le Marche and on to Budapest
 

Hello fellow Fodorites,
I am onto planning our next adventure.
We are flying into Rome in late August, spending 4-5 days in the city, planning on renting a car and driving into Le Marche Region.
My first dilemma was when to go - I don't do well in the heat but my research leads me to believe it could be quite cold in October ...
So, any suggestions on how to best to divide my 15 days in Le Marche? Should we find a few places to base ourselves for 4-5 days each (south, central, north?).
I am interested in visiting towns, architecture, history, scenery. I love the beach but only to walk it and check it out. Don't sunbathe ,,, People and Food of course.
We would love to visit Budapest for 3-4 days before going to Slovenia and Croatia.
What is the best way to get from Le Marche to Budapest?
Thank you!

Fly with wizzair from Bologna to Budapest.

It's not always cold in October; it's often pleasantly warm, although rain is definitely a possibility. Rome is usually considerably warmer than Le Marche. In the higher elevations of Le Marche, you almost always need a sweater or jacket in the evenings, even in August. However, it's sometimes unpleasantly hot in Rome at that time of year.

Le Marche is a long and somewhat narrow region on the Adriatic coast. The Apennine range is on the western side, and the land between the mountains and the sea is characterized by ridges and river valleys running down to the coast. This makes north-south travel rather slow, and often the quickest way to get from one interior town to another is to drive to the coast, take the autostrada to a different river valley and then head inland again. This is almost never the most scenic route, however. Because of this geography, it's a good idea to have several bases.

The area near Ascoli Piceno, in southern Le Marche, is one possible base, giving easy access to the scenic Sibilline range. If you like hiking, there are plenty of opportunities. One of my favorite spots is the Gola dell'Infernaccio.

https://get.google.com/albumarchive/...UZF-LD-QeSRZDK

In northern Le Marche, the area around Urbino is ideal. Urbino was one of Italy's prominent Renaissance cities, and there is plenty of history to be seen, many attractive small towns, and great scenery.

For a central base, the area around Fabriano might suit. Or, perhaps you'd like this base to be nearer the coast. In that case, I can recommend someplace on or near the Riviera del Conero; the most scenic town is Portonovo. The beaches here are small and pebbly, but the backdrop of Mount Conero, with little bays in the foreground, is very scenic. Another possibility would be Senigallia, which has several excellent restaurants, including two that have two Michelin stars. In August, parking at any of the beach towns is very tight, especially on weekends, so unless you stay very near the beach, in a hotel with parking, you should plan to arrive very early to find parking along the shore. Senigallia is the beach town nearest to our home, and we go there often, not just for the beach, which isn't really our preferred destination, but also for cultural events and dining.

Here are some other photos of places I like, mostly in central Le Marche:

https://get.google.com/albumarchive/...UnwmHEG5G7R_jx

https://get.google.com/albumarchive/...TTqorVQZ0zD2b9

https://get.google.com/albumarchive/...xSLrSjcUXWiBiH

https://get.google.com/albumarchive/...WrB4q0wl9rKSxC

https://get.google.com/albumarchive/...4W6rGBfwxanS_p

If you plan to fly from Bologna, you should start your visit in the south and work your way north.

Lovely photos bvlenci!!!!! And great advice as always!

Coming from you, Jamikins, the compliment to my photos is very gratifying. I don't consider myself a photographer at all, but a lot of places in Le Marche make a hack photographer look good.

Thanks for sharing those photos bvlenci, the advice you give for Le Marche is invaluable.

bvlenci, grazie mille! The fotos are great! Photos always make me even more excited about the planning.
I think I will stick with the earlier timetable (unless DH says differently) and hoping for the best in Rome. I have been there a few times and love the city - but we can take it in slowly if it proves too warm.
So I will take your advice and go South to North for obvious reasons.
Is it reasonable to divide our time equally among the 3 regions?
Any festivals we can take in from 8/28 to 9/12?
Now I will go back to reading your other threads. Thank you!

neckervd -
Thank you for the tip. I have never heard of wizzair nor had it shown up on my google searches!
Is it like Ryan Air??

I would suggest giving equal time to the three areas. There are lots of excursions you can make from any of these bases, more than enough to fill four or five days. Once you've decided on your bases, I'll try to help you make more specific decisions.

In the southern part of Le Marche, there are lots of little town festivals in August. There are fewer in September. Just driving around on a weekend, you'll run across some. These are usually "sagre", or food festivals. Typically, they start on a Friday and end on the Sunday. There are also these "sagre" in other parts of Le Marche, but they seem to me to be thicker on the ground in the southern part of the region. Southern Le Marche is an area where many Italians (including us) have summer homes, and the food fairs are a way of attracting summer visitors. There are also lots of outdoor antique (and flea) markets. It's too early to find specific dates.

Le Marche is thought by many Italians to have the best food in Italy, or at least on a par with Emilia Romagna just to the north. I myself think it beats Tuscany and Umbria, just to the west for the variety of distinctive regional specialties.

Wizzair is a Hungarian low-cost airline.

Bvlenci, don't underestimate yourself, those pics are gorgeous! I do agree that the countryside is gorgeous!

Nanael, we have spent over a month in northern Le Marche and absolutely love it. This summer we will be spending a week in The area around macerata to see if we like it as much.

You can see our pics here

https://www.flickr.com/photos/pug_gi...57634528008046

You can. See how much we live food! We always stay at an agriturismo called La Tavola Marche and would highly recommend it

http://www.latavolamarche.com

Happy planning!

jamikins, your pictures are wonderful! A whole month just in the North -- am I spreading myself thin with 2 weeks only for all of Le Marche?
I could conceivably eliminate Budapest from this trip...
I will definitely look into La Tavola Marche. Do you stay there there whole time?

The weeks were spread out over 3 years - but we spent two whole weeks at La Tavola Marche in Aug 2014 and didn't run out of things to occupy us :)

Tell them Jamie and Scott recommended them!

You may be interested in our trip reports as well for ideas:

A week in Le Marche in 2012 (and an additional week in Puglia):
http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...t-do-italy.cfm

5 days in Le Marche as part of a bigger trip (including Bologna, and Lucca):
http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...rche-lucca.cfm

A week in Le Marche in 2013 (and an additional week in the Dolomites):
http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...-dolomites.cfm

Two weeks in Le Marche in 2014:
http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...-le-marche.cfm

We have spent each one at La Tavola Marche and done day trips. We just love it there.

You can tell from our trip reports that we are pretty chilled on vacation. We like to putter about, spend time reading by the pool and drinking wine, and we love food.

I am happy to answer any questions you may have!

bvlenci, many thanks!
We have opted to add extra days to this region so will have 18 days in the region.
We are planning to start our stay in or around Ascoli-Piceno (South) and end in Urbino (North) maybe at La Tavola Marche for 2-3 nights.
What suggestions do you all have for a base in "Central" Marche? I think closer to the coast would be nice for this section as the other 2 are more inland.
jamikins, enjoying all your trip reports.