Tuscany/Umbria Advice

I have been to Florence, Siena and Sorrento and planning to spend a week in Umbria. I have posted some questions here on these boards. Most have advised me to use the rails system to get around Umbria and except for Orvieto, pick a place like Assisi or Perugia as a base to visit places like Spoleto.

You do not really need a car for any of this itinerary unless you plan to visit some of rural Tuscany. Siena and Florence are places where it is tough to find parking and ZTLs will be your nemesis. HOWEVER, driving from Orvieto to Assisi is a good choice as the train and bus options make for a long transfer time. I think you will wish you had more time in Assisi and suggest you visit Siena (by bus) while in Florence. So here is what I would do:

Train to Orvieto from Sorrento.

Leaving Orvieto after two nights, rent car and drive to Assisi. Take your time and stop along the way. Deruta, the famous ceramics city, is on your route.

Spend 3 or 4 nights in Assisi. (One day there is really not enough, IMO.) Get a place with parking, but you probably won’t need the car while here.

Drive to Siena or Arezzo, drop the car, take the train to Florence. You could spend the day in Siena and see if you want to return and spend more time. If you spend 3 nights in Assisi, you can spend 6 in Florence making time for a day trip to Siena.

I hate two night stays. Can you tell?

One of the problems is that we really do not know if we want to see rural Tuscany! Our preference is to stay 3-5 nights in bigger cities and/or places where we plan to do some day trips. e.g. We are hoping to do a day trip to Bologna from Florence as it has been suggested that makes more sense than the original 2 night stay we had planned for Bologna which has been highly recommended to us by others. It is always all about compromise--balancing our desire to see as much as possible in the time we have allocated while staying within our budget! It may help to include the remainder of our planned itinerary after we leave Florence:
Cinque Terre--2 nights
Milan--2 nights
Bellagio & Lake Como--3 nights
Luzern--3 nights (via scenic train)
Wengen--3 nights
Bern--1 night
Heidelberg--1 night
Frankfurt--1 night (flight back to US the next day)
We have traveled a fair amount in Europe and most recently Australia. Our plans for 2-5 nights has served us well and we actually have very few regrets. There have been segments of our trips when we were on the move with 1 nights stays (Germany Rhine Valley, Tasmania) and while we would not opt to do that for an entire trip, it is ok for a few nights here and there. We have seen our share of museums, churches, art galleries, etc. so that is not the focus of this trip. If there are some must-do's that call our name, we are open to that but we are much more interested in beautiful scenery and interesting small towns.

Follow up questions:

-----Flying into FCO and home from FRA are firm b/c business class awards from our hometown to and from Europe are hard to find. Aside from that, although we do have all of our hotels booked either with direct hotel points or with Ultimate Rewards points, any of them can be modified at this point. So--does the sequence I have outlined make sense or is there a better way to arrange it?
-----Regarding the suggestion to spend more time in Assisi, would that be more appropriate if we wanted to spend more time in museums or churches?
-----I have seen beautiful pictures of Cascate del Mulino but am wondering if it is worth going out of the way to stop there enroute from Assisi to Siena. I love the photos but am somewhat deterred by the sulfur content of the water and reports that there are little red worms in the water (ugh!)

Thank you!!

Been to Bologna, it is OK, but loved Ravenna a lot more.

I have not heard much about Ravenna but will check it out. Thanks!

If you go in Umbria, do visit Gubbio and Perugia.
I liked Ravenna but I feel it is a bit out of your way.
I like Bologna for its food but food is wonderful everywhere you go in Italy.

Don't fall prey to FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out). Don't let anyone tell you that if you are in a certain area you MUST go to any particular place. Their intentions are good, and what they're telling you is that they visited those places and had a wonderful time. The problem is that there are SCORES of such places in Italy and you can't see them all in one visit. What you can do, though, is completely ruin the time you'll be there by adding more and more places to your itinerary.

Umbria is indeed charming, and I could tell you that if you're going to be in Umbria, in addition to Assisi and Orvieto, you simply must see Panicale. Oh, and Paciano. Oh, and Spoleto. And don't forget Spello. Did I mention Citta' della Pieve? It's charming. etc. etc.

We've been to all five of the places you are asking about (Sorrento, Orvieto, Assisi, Siena, and Florence). I can tell you that Orvieto, Assisi and Siena will absorb all the time you will be staying there, with no need to add in any day trip. In fact, you will likely wish you had spent three nights at each. (Two nights in one place gives you only one full day to experience it from sun up to night-time, then you have to pack and travel.) We've been to Italy six times now, and almost every time we've stayed only two nights at one location, we regret not spending three.

My advice would be NOT to rent a car, but to travel to those places by train and explore and enjoy them while you are there! Why hassle with the cost, the challenges of driving in a foreign country, parking challenges and, of course, the dreaded ZTLs?

(And, frankly, I would chop two days off Sorrento, one day off of Florence, and reallocate those three days to Orvieto, Assisi, and Siena but maybe that's just me.)

Happy travels.

Michael—The things you say make a lot of sense. Thank you so much for sharing your perspective (expressed so honestly and with such insight). We really would prefer to NOT rent a car in Italy but have had doubts about whether it is actually doable by public transportation). Your comments give us hope that it could work although we still need to research getting to and from train station to hotels and around the towns we hope to visit.

I understand your suggestion to cut days off of Sorrento but think the first night there will be very low key after arriving in a Rome the day before on a flight from the U.S and then traveling to Sorrento. We want to go to Pompeii but will skip Amalfi Coast since we have done that. Not sure if going to Capri is worth the time and expense??

Re: Florence. We plan to stay with Marriott points so the 5th night is free and a bit hard to give up!

Wondering if it makes more sense to skip Cinque Terre. We have been there before but only briefly to 2 villages on a cruise ship excursion. Some suggest that it is quite similar to the Amalfi Coast. Your thoughts?

1. Yes, rent a car for Tuscany snd Umbria. I really do not understand why so many fear driving in Italy. No issues at all for us.
2. Pick up car when leaving Orvieto.
3. Have a car while in Siena for visiting the nearby charming Chianti villages. There is plenty of parking in Siena. A car is needed for exploring Tuscany and Umbria. We have rented a car for five visits to these areas.

Wow! There are so many many issues; and, of course, you are getting contradictory viewpoints, lol. I’m with Suki on the question of driving. I’m an 80 year old woman, and a cautious driver. I have driven on every one of our 16 or so trips to Italy, starting in 1984, up to our most recent visit 2 years ago; and only once did I get a ztl ticket and once, a parking ticket. I’ve been honked at a fair amount for not going fast enough, but Italians aren’t driving around with loaded guns to express their rage. I can tolerate a little noise.
I agree with the poster who advised less time in Sorrento, since you won’t be going to the Amalfi Coast. Capri will take a whole day. I liked it, especially Anacapri; but you might want to put it on a “ maybe” list until you figure out, more specifically, what you want to do in the other places.
There’s no need for a car in Orvieto; so, if you rent one, get it upon departure.
5 days in Florence also seems excessive to me, unless you are mad about Renaissance art. Or, you are planning to do day trips from there. I would follow the advice of the poster who suggested a day in Siena, by bus, from Florence.

If you flesh out your itinerary, including the actual travel time between destinations, including transfers, you will get a better perspective on car vs train and on the number of days for each place.

My advice would be NOT to rent a car, but to travel to those places by train and explore and enjoy them while you are there! Why hassle with the cost, the challenges of driving in a foreign country, parking challenges and, of course, the dreaded ZTLs?

I could have a wonderful time visiting Italy using public transportation. However, there's a lot more to Tuscany/Umbria than the larger cities. There are charming places that are not served by public transportation. Even if you can get a bus, it is often hard to make the bus times fit with your plans.

I'm with Rosalyn. Driving in Europe in general and Italy in particular isn't necessarily like the horror stories some think it is. If you plan your trip accordingly, driving in Italy is no more challenging than driving in the States. We didn't find parking to be a challenge anywhere we went. We stayed in an agriturismo and just rode the bus into Florence. Siena was the trickiest, but we had no problem finding a spot in the stadium near the heart of town.

I don't dread ZTLs, I welcome them. It sure makes for a pleasant experience in smaller towns like Volterra and Radda. ZTLs were well marked and easily avoided everywhere we drove.

Staying in towns and cities and relying on public transportation allows you to see only one part of Tuscany/Umbria. To really get out in the region and enjoy the nooks and crannies that await. a car is needed.