GKS

Hello! My boss and his fiance are traveling to Rome, where they will board a cruise. They are planning on getting there a week early, to have a few nights in Rome, but also 2-3 nights some place otuside of Rome. His friend had recommended Assisi, Sienna, Florence, Verona, or Venice. I think a train would be easiest, so they won't have to deal with airports, but they could try to immediately hop a local fight when they land in Rome. I've been to Sorrento and loved it, but I've never been anywhere north, so I'm afraid to weigh in, lol.

What do you all think? Looking for one spot, not too far from Rome, for people who will ONLY get to see this one place in Italy and won't have a car. Two or three nights max. Also, this would be end of July. THANK YOU!!!

jangita

I think Orvieto would be perfect. Only an hour train ride and a beautiful town.

TDudette

Orvieto by train, and/or Tivoli by bus are both nice day trips. Enough to do in Rome imho that they can easily see a week's worth staying in the city.

Sassafrass

More information will help with most pertinent advice. It would be silly to get to Rome and immediately take another flight to someplace in Italy. If they want to go to Venice, for example, they should just fly there first, then travel to Rome by train, etc.

Since they are departing on the cruise from Rome, the cruise will most certainly go either North or South and stop in one or more other ports in Italy. What are those ports?

Where does their cruise end? Will they be returning to Rome or making a different departure?

What kinds of things do they enjoy?
Do they have strong interests in Art? Food? Wine? Architecture? Archeological sites? Scenery?
Will the wedding be hectic and the flight tiring so they just need a rest in a beautiful area for a couple of days?

Rome, with two or three wonderful day trips (such as Orvieto), can occupy visitors for weeks.

Florence, is a Mecca for art, but as everywhere in July, it is hot and crowded. Florence is small, so harder to navigate crowds and it sits in kind of a bowl, so is muggy.

However, other areas of Tuscany, like Siena, are great day trips from Florence. There are lovely, really small towns to visit South of there, best by car.

They might take the train from Rome to a small, centrally located town in Tuscany, get a nice place with a pool, rent a car and meander to different places in Tuscany for three days.

The Amalfi Coast is crowded, but you can find less crowded areas to just relax and enjoy the beauty.

If I were planning for them, three options, depending on the cruise itinerary and their interests.
1. Stay in Rome and do some day trips.
2. Immediately on arrival, continue on to someplace on the Amalfi Coast for 3 or 4 nights. Return to Rome for 3 nights before cruise.
3. Stay in Rome for 3 nights. Rent car or take train to Tuscany for 4 nights. Don’t return to Rome. Go directly to cruise port.

Michael

For nights outside Rome, Orvieto would be a good choice:

https://flic.kr/p/7pisEd https://flic.kr/p/7pituE
and Tivoli would be a good day's outing:

https://flic.kr/p/7piD7m https://flic.kr/p/7peLer

J62

Are you planning this trip, or just throwing out location ideas for your boss to jump on....

How self sufficient is your boss at traveling? some people will look up a train timetable and figure it out themselves. Others need the handholding of a private transfer from A to B to C, and all points in between.

Personally, I avoid doing any heavy lifting of this sort for someone else - they need to have skin in the game otherwise everything that goes wrong is on you....

GKS

You all are wonderful - thank you. The cruise departs from Rome and ends in Barcelona, so this is it for them. I think Orvieto would be amazing, and will definitely suggest that. I personally think that staying in Rome and doing day trips would be ideal, but would love to offer them the idea of continuing via train to a different location for 2 or 3 nights, and then returning to Rome for a few days before jumping on the boat.

I think he'll be pretty self-sufficent once there, but will figure out all trains etc beforehand then let them make adjustments on the fly. I'd even love to send them off with restaurant suggesions.

HappyTrvlr

For restaurants in Rome? Or outside of Rome?

Jean

I think they should stay in Rome and make day trips. People going on cruises tend to have an inordinate amount of luggage, and figuring out trains (as a newbie) and dealing with lots of luggage on multiple trains over only a few days just sounds less than enjoyable to me.

FYI, if they went to Orvieto and traveled to the port at Civitavecchia by train, they'd have to return to Rome and then board a second train. Better to organize a private transfer from Orvieto to the port.

Day trips by train from Rome:
Orvieto (less than 90 minutes each way)
Florence (about 90 minutes each way)
Naples (less than 90 minutes each way, Pompeii another 30 minutes by taxi)
Spoleto (about 90 minutes each way)
Castel Gandolfo (less than an hour)


Others by bus or private or group tour:
Tivoli and Hadrian's Villa
Southern Tuscany
Castelli Romani
Pompeii (with or without Naples, with or without Amalfi Coast)

Traveler_Nick

Florence is likely the simplest travel choice. Take either airport train to one of the Rome stations. That means either the regional to Tiburtina or the express to Termini. Take a highspeed train to Florence. All in less than three hours. Return from Florence to central Rome is ninety minutes.

But without any real information on likes and dislikes.

GKS

Thank you all!! And sorry to be vague with likes/dislikes, I still don't him very well so am trying to figure out his priorities on a vacation. I don't think he'll want to spend much time in museums, if at all, I think sites and views and ancient cities with a few churches thrown in now and then would be idea.

I was just looking at my photos from this summer (3 weeks in Italy, mostly in Puglia and then Rome/Sorrento) and need to get back there soon! Planning this trick is making me wistful.

As far as restaurants go, don't worry about that...well, unless you happen to have a couple suggestions of places that are great in terms of atmosphere/views. By that I mean a building or decor or spot that is truly Italian and we could never find here (in California). I'd love to send him off with one or two places to visit like that, as well as a couple places with phenomenal pasta (which won't be hard to find).

zebec

Ninfa Gardens daytrip?
I am done. the treno

J62

I agree - recommend Florence. Nobody every got a bad job performance review recommending high speed train to Florence...

alandavid

Shoot for minimal lodging changes, which eat up a lot of time:

I'd quiz them as to what their priorities are (what do they want to see most) & present 3 options:
1) Fly into Venice for 2-3 nights. 2 full of exploring Venice, then train to Rome. Car transfer to port.
2) Do Rome visit first. Train to Sorrento for 2 nights (full day of Amalfi Coast with a driver, Pompeii/Naples museum 2nd day), train all the way to the port for cruise.
3) Do Rome visit first. PM train to Florence for 3 nights (guided day trip from Florence to Sienna/Pisa/SanGiam, full day in Florence) train all the way to the port for cruise

Sassafrass

I used to love Florence and still do for the museums, history and churches, etc., so I am not saying they should not go, but I re-iterate, hot and muggy and super crowded with long lines for every major site, makes it unpleasant in July, especially so as a day trip for someone not familiar with what is there and how to navigate seeing things. An overnight to have an early morning and a late afternoon would be easier. An intense interest in Art might change this. If they did some research for themselves and really wanted to do it, great, otherwise, just go to Orvieto.

jan47ete

Orvieto.

keelybin

Rome is a good place for a picnic. With its many beautiful parks and gardens, such as Villa Borghese Villa Ada, and the Botanical Gardens, you'll have plenty of green spaces to choose from. Just be aware of the local regulations regarding food consumption in parks and don't forget to bring plenty of water, especially during the warmer months.

GKS

UPDATE: I have a better sense of what they want now. Basically, they will land in Rome, spend 2 nights there, and then would like to take a train somewhere and spend 3 nights at that place. The top thing they want is beauty - countryside or town or water, doesn't matter, but beautiful (which I know, in Italy is almost anywhere). They don't care about seeing museums or churches as much as they do beautiful sites and places to relax and explore and eat amazing meals. I was thinking of the Amalfi coast, but since they'll be on a cruise after this I'm thinking countryside would be best.

SO. If I send them to Florence, is it easy to take trains into the countryside and not have a car? I was thinking I could suggest three nights in Florence with a day trip into the countryside, but also could suggest (as a second option) maybe renting a car and staying in Tuscany somewhere...though I'm not sure it's worth it to rent a car for only 3 days.

Any thoughts?

Jean

I love Florence, but if that's their choice, they should try to fly into Florence (or Pisa) and visit that first. There are no direct trains from Florence to Civitavecchia, and they would have to train to Rome and take a second train to Civitavecchia. Might as well cut out one of the train rides if possible.

There are more day trip options by train and bus from Florence than they could do in 3 days... not to mention the crazy number of treasures to see in Florence. Just google day trips from Florence Italy using trains and buses. It's hard to explore the countryside without a car, but they could hire a driver/guide for a day.

If they rented a car in Rome to explore a little of Tuscany, one of them would need to get an International Driver's Permit and learn about ZTLs (zona traffico limitato) which are parts of just about every Italian town of any size that you can't drive into during many hours a day, most days of the week.

https://mominitaly.com/ztl-in-italy/

Sassafrass

I think sights will be just the opposite of what you are thinking.
If the cruise travels mostly at night (most do), you do not actually see as much coast as you would think. The ship docks early and departs late, so they will probably be off the ship and in towns and cities on land during the day. I have taken cruises to Barcelona and along the coast from France to Italy, including the ports for Florence and Naples. It was often getting dark by time we were departing and even if it was still light, the ships, being too big to sail close to shore, quickly move away from shore and out to sea, so we did not see the coast much. This has been true for all sea cruises I have taken. You see water, but not much coastal area, only a bit around the ports. Because of that, I would highly recommend the Amalfi Coast for them as it is both stunning and relaxing.
While Florence and nearby places are certainly beautiful and they may enjoy some of the churches like Santa Croce more than they might think, in the various ports where the ship stops, they will see plenty of beautiful architecture, churches, markets, etc. If you can give the name and dates of the cruise or the port stops, we can tell you more of how they might compare, but I would expect the cruise to be more town/city oriented.