I have visited Italy four times but these location remain to be seen. I am thinking of arriving in Florence from USA but there appears to be no easy solution to visit Siena and Assisi by train. I understand all trains from Sienna got back to Florence and train to Assis from Siena is 4+ hours for a 1.5 hour drive. We are adverse to driving. We love Rome and not adverse to returning, just working on that bucket list! would it make sense to train Florence to Siena, overnite, back to Florence and then train to Rome and day trip to Assisi? I prefer to overnite everywhere but that is alot of moving. If we were to "day trip" which would you recommend - Assisi or Siena? My time is wide open, just limited by budget. Does anyone have a magic itinerary?
Posted by
New York, NY
1580 posts
Ellen - fly into Florence from USA. From Florence train directly to Sienna same day if you can. Stay 2 days in Siena. Then head back to Florence for 3 days. Fly out of Florence to Perugia San Francesco D'Assisi Airport, Spend a night or two in Assisi. From there, head Rome and from Rome you can train to Naples , Amalfi Coast.
Posted by
245 posts
Taking a bus from Florence to Siena might make more sense -- the bus stop is closer in to the center of town, and time for the train trip and bus trip are about the same (1.5 hours)....actually some buses go direct and do it in less time than the train. I guess it also depends on how much luggage you'll have.
Posted by
616 posts
I live in Florence and would never take a plane from Florence to Perugia!!
The easiest and cheapest way to Perugia would be by coach with Flixbus. You can download their app.
It costs between 9-11 euros to go from Florence to Assisi or Perugia direct.
Should you take the train you will need to change train and it will take you a long time. With the bus it takes 2 hours.
Posted by
WPB, FL & Firenze
3112 posts
There are 1 or 2 Flix buses per day from Siena to Assisi (depends on when you're traveling), so Florence to Siena by bus to Assisi by bus would work. You could then travel by train from Assisi to Naples and onward. The other option, as suggested, is to go directly to Siena, return to Florence for a few days and then train or bus to Assisi. Assisi is amazing in the early morning and evening when the day trippers aren't there, so I would definitely advise staying a couple of nights rather than day tripping. Flying Florence to Perugia would not be among the options I'd choose.