Travel advice from Florence to Rome

Don't go all the way to Porto Ecole, instead hop off at Orbetello train station and take the bus to town. The town itself is pretty neat, being on a spit of land in a lagoon, but you can walk to the beach at Feniglia (maybe rent bikes to facilitate). Buses should get you over to Monte Argentario fairly easily in summer (other than traffic). Is a rental car out of the question? Because this region surpassed every coastal region we have enjoyed in Italy, including CT and the Amalfi coast. Not sure if any other seaside towns are on the train line other than Orbetello.

You know I completely misread your post--I thought you were looking for a few days in one place as opposed to a day trip. Maybe just stop somewhere like Orvieto en route instead?

I was in Tuscany last year and went from Florence to a town in southern Tuscany near Pitigliano to spend a few days before going to to Rome. If i remember right, the train schedules in that part of Tuscany don't allow for easy travel. I rented a car. If you go towards Grosseto then further south, you get to Talamone, which is next to a nice regional park with hiking. I did the hike from Albarese over to the shore, but there are trails from here as well. Not sure if they go right to the beach, but you can check a map. It's under Uccellino or Parco Naturale della Maremma. Other non-coastal sites are Tarquinia and Cerveteri, which each have Etruscan tombs. You'd probably have to make sure there are cabs from the train station to the main sites, but they are both worth looking at if you're in to that kind of thing. Tarquinia looked like a nice place to wander for awhile, but not coastal. And not really "hidden gems". Those probably require a car.

You can check Rome2Rio for directions and options for trains or buses, but if you have luggage, you'll also need to check for storage. But definitely look at the schedules to make sure you don't get stuck somewhere! Although, stuck in an Italian coastal town might not be so bad.

travelgirl,

Actually the Cinque Terre would not really be much out of the way. It's only a few hours from Florence to the C.T., usually with a change in Pisa Centrale or La Spezia Centrale. It's also quite easy to get from there to Rome using the coastal route, especially if you use one of the direct trains from La Spezia Centrale which have a travel time of about 4 hours.

If you do decide to visit the C.T. on this trip, it would be highly advisable to get some accommodations booked now. Monterosso is probably your best bet as it's the largest of the towns and therefore has the greatest number of accommodations.