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Help navigating day trips from Perugia

In June, I am planning to take a train from Rome to Florence or Perugia ( I have 5 days). which city would be a logical home-base to take day trips from. Perugia sounds smaller than Florence and less congested.

Thanks
Annie

Posted by
7737 posts

There's an excellent map page at RailEurope that helps you figure out these kinds of questions. Go here:
http://www.raileurope.com/europe-travel-guide/italy/map.html
You might have to click on the word Map to get it to load. You can type in the name of the city of origin (Perugia or Florence, in this case) and then it will show you which destinations you can reach within a certain time frame.

You'll see that Assisi and Spoleto are both very easy trips from Perugia. 20 minutes to Assisi, 50 to Spoleto.

That said, if you want to really see Florence you should stay in Florence. Have you thought about doing 3 nights in Florence and 2 in Perugia?

Posted by
16893 posts

Sometimes, picking up and moving (splitting the time) gives you more variety than daytripping. Each city has its benefits for sights in town as well as nearby daytrips. Perugia is more hilly than Florence (if that matters to you). Florence has the famous art and is on Italy's main train line, with faster access to a different list of places, including Siena by train or bus, but further from Assisi (2-3 hours). On the direct line from Rome to Florence to, Orvieto is an easy hilltown stop, either by day or overnight.

Railway maps and local connection summaries are also included in most guidebooks. In Rick's Italy book, see the thin black lines on the color maps (inside front and back covers).

Posted by
1880 posts

If you base in Perugia, you'll want to be in the old town center...that involves a simple Mini-Metro ride up and down to the train station, but does add some time and some expense. Perugia is pretty small....I think Florence is a better option. More to see there, train station is easy to walk to from most hotels in the old center, or even further out. Plus more trains leaving from Florence each day, so more options for day trips. Plus the bus station is directly behind the train station, so access smaller towns, like Siena, or San Gimignano...you have more opportunities..

Florence = Tuscany, Perugia = Umbria.

Posted by
15043 posts

It depends on what you want to visit: Tuscany or Umbria.
For Tuscan towns, Florence is a better choice.
For Umbrian towns (Assisi, Gubbio, Spoleto, Spello, etc.) Perugia is better.
Florence is large but the historical center, where you will likely be, is only 4 square km and there is no traffic congestion, since cars are prohibited inside. Therefore it feels like a smaller medieval town.

Posted by
11613 posts

You are talking about two different regions, Tuscany and Umbria, as Roberto said. Each region in Italy seems to have better transportation options within the region rather than between regions, so I would agree with Laura about splitting your time.

Posted by
84 posts

so, Roberto, do you think Perugia is the best town in Umbrià to use a base to visit the towns -- Assisi, Gubbio, Cortona -- or would you have another choice for a base?

Posted by
15043 posts

If you rely on public transport, Perugia is the place to be for Umbria and. Florence is the place to be. For Tuscany.
If you have a car you can stay anywhere in those two regions, including small towns.
Cortona is sort of half way between Florence and Perugia, but closer to Perugia. The train station is in Camucia, down the hill.

Posted by
2 posts

florence, you are in tuscany
perugia you are in umbria
i would be based in florence, you font feel the congestion except by ponte vecchio
base your in Oltrarno. you will love it there, the other side of the arno river

Posted by
2020 posts

We have been to both Florence and Perugia for five or six days, using each as a base. Florence has much to offer in itself and is beautiful. From Florence you can train to Lucca and Pisa for day trips, combined or separately. A bus for a day to Siena from Florence is very easy. We also saw San Giminagno by bus, but don't recall if it was from Florence or from Siena. Perugia I thought was not as cool, nor nearly as busy as Florence, but was lovely in its own right. It is a university town, we were there in May, and we found the graduation fun contagious. But that may go on over the course of the year...not sure how they do it over there, but it don't think its one big class at a time. It was nice to come back to Perugia each evening and eat a little something and wander around. Chocolate looms large in Perugia. We asked the TI their recommendations for day trips, and they suggested Assisi by bus and Spoleto and Gubbio by train. Great choices. We felt satisfied with our active full day in each town. No journey was more than about an hour in any case., including the Tuscan options above. Stay up in the old town in Perugia, take the mini metro. Consider the Hotel Ercolano in Perugia and the Hotel Venere in Florence. It was a few years ago, but both were reasonable, comfortable, and well located. Safe travels!