Traveling to Florence and Perugia next year

Can't tell you about hotels and restaurants but I have been to Perugia, and for some reason you didn't mention Perugian chocolate!!!! Perugia is a university town and a nice place. I liked it. Good leather goods too.

There are lots of cool places on that route. Consider a visit to Assissi, Deruta (cermaics), Spoleto (check out the castle, bridge, and the beautiful duomo), Terni (check out Marmore Falls).

You would be well served to consider driving this route. I know you said you must rely on public transport but you might want to reconsider that. Moving to many locations by train can eat time while a car is at your convenience. Then you could go inland to Montefalco and check out Sagrantino di Montefalco wine and the Sagrantino Wine Trail.

We visited Perugia as a day trip. I imagine you are aware that the city is on top of high hill and you'll have to climb down. We used escalators to ho up to the town. Just thought I'd mention it in case it might create a problem for you with day trips out.

We visited Perugia as a day trip. I imagine you are aware that the city is on top of high hill and you'll have to climb down. We used escalators to ho up to the town. Just thought I'd mention it in case it might create a problem for you with day trips out.

Suki, I didn't get to finish my response. I meant to add that I can't give up on Perugia.

You can take a bus from the train station in Perugia to the Centro Storico, no need to walk up or down, with or without luggage.

Assisi is a good stop, too, with train and bus access to nearby towns.

I recently visited Perugia and was so impressed by the transportation options. In particular, the upper part of town can be accessed by bus, escalator, or minimetro. The buses and the minimetro take you right to the train station. For daytrips, we visited Spello by train and Gubbio by bus. Worked out perfectly. I would second a visit to beautiful Assisi, which we had already visited. But I also think Assisi deserves an overnight stay. For restaurants in Perugia I can highly recommend La Taverna, very delicious and, in my opinion, "reasonably priced" given the quality of the meal. Have a great trip!

Thank you all for your great advice!

Hi. Definitely go to Perugia (I'm there now). It's an elegant and friendly university town. The historic center of the city is easily reachable from the train station with the minimetrò line, which is an attraction all by itself. The stations were designed by Jean Nouvel, a French architect who's won the Pritzker prize. (Taxis are easily available, too.) I've never stayed in a hotel, because I live here part-time. But there are a lot of options, including the posh and pretty wonderful Brufani Palace. Others are La Posts, La Rosetta, the Sangallo. There are various B&Bs, too. As for food, you will not have trouble. There are student hangouts and there are more upscale choices like Ubu Re, L'Officina (my favorite for an occasion, and creative meals, all-inclusive, can be had for €25-35, Osteria A Priori, which specializes in local, sustainable ingredients. The best pizza is at Mediterranea. And they just do pizza, nothing else--and pizzas are €6-9, throw in some beer or wine, and you have the perfect evening meal. There's lots of shopping, too, and just the walk on the Corso Vannucci is worth the trip. Every evening, people go for a walk, up and down the street (it's traffic-free) window shopping, stopping at a cafe, etc.

Wow Apoanita (I hope I got your name right)! Sounds like a plan. Are you from NYC? I live in central NY (Syracuse) and would appreciate any other suggestions for Perugia. I have wanted to travel there for years. I will look up those restaurants and hotels you mentioned.

I'm a native New York City boy. If I think of anything else, I'll let you know. But I'll tell you that one of the nice things about Perugia, and Umbria in general, is that it hasn't turned cynical by mass tourism. You don't see a whole lot of people walking around with guidebooks. I'm kind of glad that Rick Steves doesn't have it in his book (unless that's changed recently).

We spent a few nights in Perugia a couple of years ago. It was a pleasant visit. It isn't as crowded with tourists as other Italian cities, and in my opinion, there's a reason for that, but we liked it a lot. It served very well as a convenient base for day trips, and we liked not feeling as if we had to run from dusk to dawn to catch every museum, monument and cathedral within shouting range. We took three day trips, to Spoleto, Assisi, and Gubbio and used the bus or train as recommended by the Perugia TI office...who we found to be very helpful. We used the mini metro to connect with transportation "down below". Perugia has a large student population and we enjoyed walking each evening chatting with the kids and sharing meals. We were in a small deli/cheese shop when two Canadian women holding a tour book entered and asked us for directions to a shop noted in their guide. With my 40 year old college Italian I asked the shopkeeper if he could help the ladies out. He could...his shop is the one the ladies were looking for. Have a great trip. We liked the San Ercolano Hotel...comfy, cheap, decent breakfast and steps from the minimetro.