I'm still having trouble deciding between the countrside (Umbria) or the coast (Sorrento/Capri). We are going to visit Pompeii - would it make more sense for our side trip from Rome to be AC? BTW - we're going in November.

Are you talking about a daytrip or do you have some more time?

IMO, the perfect day trip from Rome is Orvieto. One hour by train and my favorite restaurant in all of Italy, I Sette Consoli, for lunch.

I did a daytrip to Assisi from Rome three weeks ago and it was great.

I took the 8.14 train, arrived at the train station at 10.24 and finally took the bus to Assisi. I was already in Assisi by 11am.

Assisi is gorgeous and small. The Basilica di San Francesco is beautiful and the view from the city castle (Rocca Maggiore) is wonderful.

Around 6pm I took the train back to Rome and arrived around 8pm.

I'd recommend Umbria too, although there are some nice places in Lazio to visit as well. Viterbo is a really beautiful town, and I've heard that the towns around the Albano hills are quite nice too.

Orvieto is beautiful, though, as well as Assisi. You could easily go to Spoleto too by train. There are lots of hill towns around there to see.

Thanks for the great ideas. We plan on having 2 or three days away from Rome.

Caserta, south of Rome, has the most magnificent palace and gardens. It's said to rival Versailles.

Hi C,

>We are going to visit Pompeii ...
>We plan on having 2 or three days away from Rome.

Might as well stay on the AC, although Nov is the off season.

Tivoli, for the Villa d'Este's water gardens and nearby Hadrian's Villa, one of the most evocative of Roman archeological sites. Easy bus or train ride from Rome to Tivoli, bus to Hadrian's Villa from Villa d'Este, bus back to Rome metro station from the villa.

Wow - lots of options. Although, I'd like to do them all...I have always wanted to go to AC - and off season may be a good time for me (off-season rates, less tourists - we can still appreciate the beauty, right?) and my thoughts were - go to sorrento from Rome, then the next day go to pompeii, return to sorrento. Then day 2 - Im not sure - can we spend part of the day in Capri? Do you need a whole day there?

We are headed to Rome to spend 5 days/nites on Oct 19th. We were thinking about Pompei for day trip but it might be to far? How difficult would it be to take the train there (as the Fodor book recommends?). Tivoli is another (closer) option. Which one should we do??

One day on Capri is okay. It's a short hydrofoil ride from Sorrento.

Pompeii from Rome is a long day. There are bus tours that do it. Better to go from Sorrento.

Nobody has mentioned Ostia Antica as a daytrip from Rome. It's quite good as a substitute for Pompeii and an easy trip.