Foligno

There's a reason you're not seeing much about Foligno. There's not much to it. We missed our connecting train in Foligno so had a couple of hours to wander around. Boring, boring, boring, at least within walking distance of the train station.

There's not that much to see in Foligno itself, but it's the BEST base in Southern Umbria to see half the region by train and bus. Buses: www.spoletina.it Easy daytrips: Perugia, Assisi, Spello, Trevi, Spoleto, Narni, Montefalco, Bevagna.

thanks to both of you. That was the feeling i was getting. I'll have to decide if i want to give up basing in one of the desired towns for the convenience of the basing in the hub of Foligno.

If you want my advice, base yourself in someplace interesting and get to know it. The problem with daytrips to places is that you're putting yourself right in with the wave of other tourists doing the same thing. Consider instead spending 2-3 nights in each location and exploring it.

The issue is that most towns in Umbria don't need more than one day to visit (except Perugia, which needs two full days). Consequently, you'll be taking daytrips regardless of where you stay. Many of the towns are close to each other, so you probably won't want to be hopping around from hotel to hotel. Foligno and Perugia are the best bases for taking daytrips. Out of Perugia, you can go to Gubbio, Assisi, and Todi. Out of Foligno, you can visit Spello, Assisi, Bevagna, Montefalco, Trevi, Spoleto and Narni. In lieu of Foligno, you could base yourself in Spello or Bevagna or Montefalco, but this would be a little less efficient, because you'd need to get to Foligno by early morning bus in order to connect to one of the other towns, then get back to your hotel via Foligno in the late afternoon. So, you would waste a little time in the process. On the other hand, each of these other towns have so much more charm than Foligno, which has little indeed. Remember that buses don't run on Sundays to these small towns.

Foligno is a great place to base yourself out of when exploring Umbria. I stayed there myself for about 6 days for that very purpose. Yes, the town is fairly small and there's not much to it. Most of the main streets look like back streets. But the central piazza is pretty nice, as is the duomo. There are a couple of places that serve some great custom-flavored gelato. The food scene is OK: some good quick-eat-type pizza places, but not much to offer on the sit down / 4 course dining option. Given the right day, it can be a pleasant walk exploring the town, the north end around the small river, etc., but the town doesn't really have anything to offer in terms of tourist sites. Anyway, if you want to use it as a base I would recommend it. No, sleeping there probably won't be as pleasant as sleeping in some of the towns you are looking to visit. But, Foligno serves as a central transportation hub. So instead of having to sleep at a new place every single night and having to worry about finding these new places, checking in and out, and carrying your luggage around with you every day, then just stay in Foligno to avoid these hassles. Since it is close to so many towns, transportation time will not eat up most of your day, and there will be late trains back to Foligno; so you can just stay and have dinner, hang out, etc. in the towns you are visiting, then just come back to Foligno at night to sleep. Plus, staying in Foligno avoids the hassle of having to train to Foligno every morning, then just sit in the train station for however long waiting for a connection every day to get to your next town; same thing going back. Instead, you can just get up and go! Also, since Foligno isn't a top tourist destination, then accommodation will be fairly low priced. So I would recommend staying there if you would like to explore that area of Umbria. If you have any further q's about it, you can send me a PM. Enjoy your travels!

Thanks Stuart, i took you up on your offer and sent you a PM.