Day trips from Rome in November

Keep in mind at that time of year, the daylight hours are short. Not knowing where you are from, you might find daylight short than you expect. And many of the tourist site will have shorten hours. The towns are open and so are the restaurants open but outside seating may be limited. It works but you do have to make some adjustments.

Orvieto is doable as a day trip from Rome. Pompeii/Vesuvius and Amalfi are way too far to be a day trip, and too interesting to spend only a couple of hours. There are other sites near Rome that you would enjoy. Get Rick Steves guidebook (from your library if you don't want to buy one, but I see Pocket Rome is on sale) and read about what he recommends for day trips. He also gives hours when sites are open, including off season hours and opening/closings. We've been in Rome 5 times. Orvieto is very doable and interesting. Ostia Antica is a short train ride away and RS thinks it's a better site than Pompeii. Villa d'Este is lovely. You're only in Rome for 7 days; there is so much to see and do in Rome that if this is your first trip, you can keep yourself very busy in that short of time. It would be a shame to spend hours going somewhere else because it sounds interesting. Check an online map for the amount of time it would take to get to a place you're interested in to see if it's worth the time. But PLEASE save yourself time, money and energy and get a guidebook (any guidebook) and get suggestions for day tours.

I second Tivoli. The Villa d'Este is beautiful, and Hadrian's Villa is also in the vicinity.

All, thanks for the responses. To add a bit more detail: I've been to Rome before. We have plans while we're there, but don't necessarily need more than 3-4 days in the city on this trip. Apologies if "day trip" was confusing, perhaps I should have said "getaway" instead. As stated in the original post, we'd be open to more than just an out and back trip in one day. A detour with an overnight would work fine. My list of proposed destinations was compiled from the Rick Steves guidebook, which is why I've limited them for ease/duration of transit from Rome. We definitely don't want to be in a car for 4+ hours all in one day. With that in mind, I think a trip to AC would still be on the table (transit morning of 1st day, stay overnight, return to Rome late the next day).

Yes, I understand that the amount of daylight will be shorter in November than in the middle of the summer. It's a good point that can be added to my original list of criteria. So...if you could pick any quick getaway from Rome at that time of year, which would it be? Please keep in mind the seasonal limitations of how much would be open (including impact of the shortened daylight hours) before the local Christmas season ramps up.

For quick getaways, heading north could be Orvieto or Lucca. South I would suggest a base in Sorrento and from there visit Pompei and tour the Amalfi coast.

As long as you're willing to stay overnight, I don't think Pompeii is too far. You could spend a 1/2 day at the scavi, and the next at the National Archeological museum in Naples (closed Tuesdays), where many of Pompeii and Herculaneum's treasures reside, before heading back to Rome. Or the other way around. Just bring an overnight bag of basics; there is bag-checking services at the excavation or at the Pompeii Scavi-Villa dei Misteri Circumvesuviana train station, if you choose to do the scavi first.

https://mannapoli.it/en/home-english/

November, as long as it's not pouring rain, would be a good time to visit the scavi as temperatures will be more comfortable than in summer (there's little shade) plus crowds are probably going to be lighter.

I wouldn’t rely on a guidebook for opening days, hours, etc. Things have changed. Go to the website of wherever you want to go for up to date information.

Naples and Pompeii would be great--I've always thought it would be nice to see Pompeii outside of summer!
If the weather looks nice, then take the train to Salerno instead, hop on bus to Amalfi or whichever village you prefer. It might be a little tricky getting the timing right for a hike, as you may want to get back to Rome before dinner, etc.

I wouldn’t rely on a guidebook for opening days, hours, etc.

Wise words from Andrea; COVID messed with everything from restaurant/hotel listings (not all of them survived shutdown) to attraction hours, open/closure days and entry procedures (e.g. masking, showing vaccination records, etc.) Many also are requiring advance time-entry tickets for crowd control/distancing. As things are still sort of fluid, an attraction's own, official website is the best resource.

!00% agree, valadelphia! I saw Pompeii the first time in July (THAT was a death march!) and the second in early October. It was still almost uncomfortably warm on that sunny fall day. 🥵

I spent much of July and August working on plans for a potential trip to northern Italy (didn't happen), and certainly in that part of the country I found the opening days and hours of many, many, many museums and other tourist sights reduced from the pre-pandemic level. Most places were open, but sometimes only 3 or 4 days a week rather than 6, and there were some significant shifts in hours as well--and I was looking at hours for September or early October. You definitely do need to check websites, but for preliminary planning I'd be cautious about planning to go somewhere on Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday.

It's my impression (I've never read this anywhere) Orvieto is a popular weekend getaway for Romans. I've occasionally mentioned here on the forum that the town might be a bit less crowded on weekdays. I wouldn't make that suggestion right now, not having taken the time to check the hours of the local museums, etc. The tourist office offered multiple walking tours in the past; I wouldn't be surprised to find them available on Friday (maybe), Saturday and Sunday but not on other days of the week, especially in November.

I do like Orvieto a lot, and there's enough to see there to fill an entire day or stay for a night.

Civita di Bagnoregio is, in normal times, doable by public transportation from Orvieto, but it isn't particularly quick and there's considerable walking involved. Bus schedules tend to be highly day-specific; there might be no service on Sunday, for example.
I wouldn't try to see Orvieto and Civita on a single day as a day-trip from Rome. I'd stick to Orvieto. I also wonder whether Civita would be utterly dead in November.

hey hey robert
read up about lake nemi, outside rome and 30-40 train ride near frascati.
italymagazine.com/lake nemi and it's wild berry
withlocals.com/beautiful countryside day trip: castelli romani
home to the home/gardens of the popes
lacucinaitaliana.com/the buxom cookie from frascati
nonna rosanna is 93 and still baking at forno ceralli which rumor has it the "best porchetta" in this small village
old frascati.com
couple tours to look at if interested and read up about wine producing area in same area
with locals.com/a day in calcata: picturesque bohemian town
couple places that are off the radar of many people and something different.
good luck and have fun
aloha

Orvieto the trains are at 7AM and 9. Buy funicular/bus tickets from the shop in the station. Take Bus 1 up to the Piazza della Repubblica; leaving town walk down to the funicular at Piazza Cahen and return to the station.

Enter Orvieto here:

https://www.google.com/imghp?hl=en