Travel Around Assisi and Perugia

There are direct trains between Assisi and Perugia that run several times a day. Trip takes only 20-30 minutes. Try searching Perugia's website for information about day trip options - www.perugiaonline.com.

I'll add to Frank's comments. The train from Rome takes about 2.5hrs. The train station is not withing view of the hill town. Also, Assisi has some steep hills.

The big secret is the local bus. At the train station, you go next door to the book/tabacchi store. Buy a round trip bus ticket up to the town. Then go outside to the bus stop and take the Line C bus to the top of Assisi (it's the last stop). From there, you can walk down through the town. If you start at the basilica, which is at the bottom, you be hiking up, up, up through the town. My wife and I are both over 65 and this is what we did. So much easier than hiking up. Great shops and great gelato. Then, get back on the bus near the basilica and ride back down to the train station. Then, as Frank says, it's an easy trip to Perugia.

Perugia makes a nice home base for exploring Umbrian hill towns. I spent five nights there in May. There are excellent train and bus connections. I took short train rides to Assisi and Spello, and a bus to Gubbio, a beautiful ride. The Lonely Planet guidebook has good information on Perugia and other Umbrian hilltowns that Rick skips.

Hi Naomi - my husband and I were did Rome, Assisi, Florence in June. From Rome, we took the train to Assisi - about two hours. Perugia is along the same train route at Assisi from Rome, but we did not visit there.

We arrived in the town of Assisi and took the "orange" bus up to the village of Assisi which is were all the fabulous ambiance of a medival Italian city exists. We stayed one overnight at the Hotel Berti which is just inside the San Pietro gate - perfectly located. After we checked in, we walked across the street and took the little local bus all the way to the top - Piazza Matteoti. From there, we wandered downhill through beautiful charming streets with spectacular views of the valley below. We had lunch along the way and shopped in the unique artisan shops and visited some of the churches including the Basilica Santa Chiara (Saint Clare). By late afternoon we arrived back at Hotel Berti for a capuccino break before going to the Basilica San Francesco (St. Frances of Assisi's monumental memorial). In the evening, we had dinner at Hotel Berti's sister restaurant - De Cecco. It was delicious - beef tenderloin with gorgonzola sauce. Then, as luck would have it, there was a free concert at the Basilica San Francesco that was one of our top five "unexpected" experiences of our trip.

The next day, after going to the early morning Mass with teh Franciscan monks at the Basilica San Francesco, we took the orange bus back into the "town" and got on thetrain to Florence - about two hours. I highly recommend giving Assisi an overnight stay. It is beautiful! Our favorite pictures are from Assisi

I want to thank all of you for such good advice, and experiences. I think that we are going to stay in Assisi for 3 nights, as I want to go to Perugia for a day also. I hope that there is a bus from Assisi to Perugia! I was looking at the Hotel Berti also, and thought that was a wonderful location, so that will probably be it. We are going from Rome to Assisi and Perugia and then to Florence for 9 days, and some day trips. I would love to see the Tuscan countryside. Was in Italy for 16 days last September, and didn't even begin to see all that I wanted, doing 20 days this time. Thanks again to all!