Day excursions from Rome and Florence

I suggest buying the RS Rome and Florence books. They're loaded with daytrip options and include all the logistics on how to do them. You'll be able to read much more information there than you'll get here in some random postings from whoever happens to read this. That will allow you to make a well-informed choice about what daytrips will best match your interests. Happy travels.

From Rome I would take the teens to Pompeii and Herculaneum. It's about an hour and a half away and my teens love visiting the two sites. Donna

I'm pretty sure it's Naples that's an hour and a half away, not Pompeii. The fast train tickets to Naples are expensive, then you have to switch to a different train in Naples to get to Pompeii. I've heard estimates of allowing six hours total travel time to get from Rome to Pompeii and back. Much more convenient and a heck of a lot cheaper is Ostia Antica.

Thanks! Anyone gone to VillaD'Este?

You might try Ostia Antica from Rome and Pisa from Florence. Actually I would probably recommend you just stay put and explore more of Rome and Florence.

A day trip from Florence might be the Ferrari museum in Maranella. As soon as I mentioned that is was within striking distance of Florence it became my husband's first priority. I think from Florence you take the train to Modena and then have to catch a bus to Maranella.

From Rome I highly suggest a day trip to Orvieto. It's 90 min by train from Rome (each way) & Orvieto is a great little town. There are a lot of interesting things to do there. There's an underground tour (an hour long) that's interesting & you can also walk to the bottom of a well (the kids might enjoy both of these things). The facade of the Duomo in Orvieto is absolutely beautiful & you can also climb to the top of the Torre del Moro as well. I personally would not visit Pompeii as a day trip from Rome; it would make for a very long & tiring day trip & I would save it for a future trip when you visit the Amalfi Coast. If you're wanting to see more ruins though, a day trip to Ostia Antica would make more sense.

It does take an hour to get from Rome to Naples then another half hour to get to the Pompeii scavi stop on the cirucumvesuviana, so an hour and a half total. That's why it's such a good day trip to make. You can visit both sites on the same day if you wish and have the energy. Both stops are on the circumvesuviana line and are very easy to get to. Donna

Florence -- Lucca.

Thanks All!

In calculating the time to get to Pompeii from Rome, you have to include not only the travel time on the train, but the time you have to spend getting to the train station, waiting for your train, then getting from that station to your actual destination. Then multiply that times two. You're looking at many more hours than I would want to spend, especially when Ostia Antica is so much more convenient. But some people really really want to see Pompeii and are willing to use all that time to get there.