TAW

I'm considering one of these two...any pros/cons of either or other recommendations?

Alla Madonna del Piatto (includes breakfast);cooking class optional

or

LE CASE GIALLE(larger unit-has kitchen,etc)
Prices are close, plan on staying 1 wk in May,09

BTW our itinerary is:
arrive FCO, stay 5 nts Rome,
train to Umbria stay 1 wk w/rent car,
train to Florence, stay 3 nts
depart to SFO
Comments welcome.

sac

Wow -- you have a very difficult choice to make! I don't think I've ever heard a bad word about either place.

I've been to Alla Madonna del Piatto twice and it is in a stunning location in the hills near Assisi, Letizia is a fantastic hostess and her cooking classes are great.

I haven't seen Le Case Gialle but I've heard nothing but great things about it, as well.

I think they're only about 10 or 12 miles apart from one another, so I'm not sure if one has much of a location advantage.

I suppose the biggest difference might be whether you want an apartment-style place for a week, where you can cook some of your own meals. Then, you would likely want to opt for Le Case Gialle.

BTW, I think your itin looks great. You'll get a nice taste of Umbria with a car and a week to spend there.

TAW

Thank you. After I posted I realized just what you said...one is apt style and the other is not. Actually, we prefer having a kitchen so I'll probably opt for that one. Hopefully they will have availability.
Other topic:
Anyone have recs re: rental car places? I'm assuming we'll have to pick up & drop off in Perugia? It's closest to where we're staying.
TIA

jennifer1980

A more expensive but very satisfying stay can be in a villa like this one, we went last year with all our family enjoying all the Umbria's charm:

http://www.romeloft.com/italy-countr...illa-for-rent/

bfrac

A week in Umbria sounds like heaven. Sorry I don't have input on your two choices but thought I would offer the name of where we stayed. It is La Ghirlanda, an agriturismo. We loved our stay there.

bobthenavigator

The Bevagna location is hard to beat. I suspect getting the car in Foligno may be easier than Perugia if the hours work. Nice trip--have fun !

DRJ

We'll be at LCG next Wednesday for a week. Probably our fourth or fifth stay with Mauro and Silvana. I think that we know some parts of Bevagna better than where we live.

merrytimes

We spent 4 days at Le Case Gialle from August 23 to 27 of this year and loved it .It is clean , well equiped very charming and the owners always have fresh bread for you each morning as well as a bottle of welcoming wine and their organic honey..It is a good base for visiting other areas.

I have to do a trip report one of these days .When we returned home on the 3oth of August(away for 5 weeks) , we rushed to the nursing home to be with my mother who had taken a turn for the worst , just a few days before . She died very peacefully the 3rd of September. She was a good age , however it is still a loss.
Regarding car rental :
We rented from Auto Europe and were very pleased. We picked up our car in Bologna (long story)and dropped it off in Perugia . It is the best place to pick up and drop off. We tried to plan to drop off the car in Foligno , however Auto Europe must not have offices there .

Hope this helps?

TAW

Thank you all for your replies. Merrytimes so sorry for your loss.

Now for another wrinkle in what I thought was a done itinerary...DH now wants to add Austria to the trip even if it means more days! Says we can do it by train because "so & so" told him and fly home from Vienna.
Any advice for me (besides kill him? LOL)??
I guess I need to start researching Austria...so far he wants to go to Innsbrook, Salzburg, and Vienna. Any idea on how many days per place?
Thanks all, you've been very helpful so far, now I need just a little more help.

bobthenavigator

OK--so he wants Austria. Well, it will add time but here is my advice. First, skip Innsbruck---just not worth your time. I would plan at least 2 nites in Salzburg, perhaps 3 if you arrive by train too late on day one. Vienna also deserves 3 nites. That will isolate you in Eastern Austria and dictate you fly home from there. That is a long train trip. I would consider making it a seperate trip and including Bavaria.

TAW

To DRJ:
Would love to hear about your trip when you return including restaurants and places to buy food for breakfast & picnics. Thanks

zeppole

Why don't you pick up your car in Orvieto? You can see the cathedral. It's not that far to drive, and it's a simple train ride to Orvieto from Roma.

TAW

I'll check that out, thanks. Any where that is easiest to get to by train from Rome and then drop off at same place because we continue to Florence via train, too.

zeppole

You don't have to drop off the car in the same city. Drive it to Firenze, or if you find that too daunting, drive it to somewhere with a rental office and train station with a one-seat ride to Firenze.

TAW

No drop charge if not dropped at same place?
What do you mean by "one-seat ride" - No change of trains?

zeppole

Right. With rare exceptions for airports, you can pick up a car in one location and drop it off in another in Italy without incurring any additional cost.

Yes, try not to change trains, only because once you give up your car, you'll be hauling luggage and (with rare exceptions), Italian train stations require you to haul your luggage up and down stairs. Also, train changes risk long layovers, late trains, missed connections, etc.

So better to just find some nice town with a rental office that is open more often than it is shut on a direct train line to Firenze, and drop the car there. I'm not looking at a map, but maybe Arezzo would work for you.

TAW

Hmmm, I'm looking on raileurope.com and it seems the trains stop at every town along the way. I tried Orvieto, Assisi, Perugia, Siena but I can't tell if one has to CHANGE trains. I guess I'll have to check it out when I get there?

kybourbon

Use the Italian train website Trenitalia. After entering your cities, click on details, then click on train number and it will list the stops that train makes. Any changes will also be listed.

TAW

OK, I did that and tried leaving from Orvieto. I just picked a Saturday date since I'll be going on a Sat.
It's train #586 and makes 2 stops:
Chiusi-Chianciano Terme and Arezzo.
Total time is 1 hr 32 min and NO change of train IF I read it correctly.
It looks like it's 18.50 Euro

Thanks

kybourbon

That seems awfully expensive for that short distance. Which type of train did you select and which type of fare? Before you click details you can see the section that lists station change.