Umbria Travel

Thinking the most obvious would be Perugia. Good public transportation opportunities and an interesting city too.

Definitely Perugia. You can reach the region by train or bus, plus it's got enough to keep you interested. There are quainter smaller places, to be sure, like Spello, Bevagna, the lake towns. But if you want central, Perugia's the city. Plus it's got the university, which means decent cheap food and nightlife.

We had a trip to Italy this May planned and had to cancel due to medical reasons.

I did a lot of research on spending 8 days in Umbria.
We planned two nights in Orvieto, then on to Perugia for six nights.
We were to use Perugia as a base to visit Assisi, Spello, Spoleto and more. We were planning to use the train or bus.

The hotel we had booked in Perugia was the Hotel Fortuna.

This information we found on this forum and may assist:
We spent the weekend in Orvieto, There are many good restaurants in town - we ended up going with the recommendations we got at breakfast each morning and they did not disappoint. I came home with a beautiful hand-painted ceramic plate from Ceramiche Giacomini which is directly across from the Duomo. Enoteca Barberani also across from the Duomo, recommended by our B&B is worth a visit (enoteca means "wine shop"). It is possible to take a bus over to Civita di Bagnoregio. There are numerous wineries in the area but I'm not sure how you'd get to them without transportation.

Orvieto's beautiful,. If you aren't driving, I'd use Perugia, Assisi, or Spoleto as a base. Perugia has the most convenient train and bus connections, because it's the regional capital. From there you can take trains or buses almost everywhere. But if you're looking at towns, my to-see list would be: Perugia, Assisi, Gubbio, Spello, Trevi, Spoleto. Spello is just incredibly charming, with polished pink stones, some art, flowers everywhere, and a few really interesting places to eat. Gubbio has an amazing main piazza, an interesting museum, and a hair-raising cable car ride that's more like a ski lift with birdcages. Spoleto is stunning and has great shopping, an archeological museum worth a visit, and incredible views from atop the fort--you take elevators up to the top. Perugia. Absolutely love Umbria. Perugia makes a very good base as you can access numerous buses and trains from there to other locations in Umbria. Having said that, I think just about anywhere in Umbria is beautiful. We also loved our daytrips to Spello and Gubbio.
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Perugia is a hilltop town in Umbria. It's a major city and a tourist mecca. We go to Umbria every year and stayed in Perugia last year but wouldn't do it again. The problem is that, unless you stay at a very expensive B&B or hotel on the top of the mountain everything is on the side of a VERY steep mountain and you will be constantly climbing up and down and going round and round to get anywhere. Parking in Perugia is either expensive, restricted limited. My first advice would be to NOT stay in Perugia City. There is fantastic accommodation outside of Perugia and a very good bus service from the smaller towns and villages around Perugia's base. The villages around the Lake Trasimeno are great!———
We did something similar. Stayed in Perugia, then drove to Orvieto, stopping in Spello and Montefalco on the way. If I had know how beautiful Spello was, I would have stayed there instead of Perugia. Definitely stay in Orvieto!

I used Perugia as a base for five days in Umbria, last year. It's a very short train ride to Assisi and Spello. The same train line (I believe) goes on to Spoleto. I find the train much easier than buses (more room to move around; clear about which platform in the station; covered waiting areas - usually - and I can find all of the schedules on line. We stayed up in the old city "on top" in Perugia and took the "mini-metro" city train line down to the train station. It's actually about a 5 minute walk from the mini-metro station to the train station - a direct sidewalk connects the two. The mini-metro runs continually through the day and into the evening. The bus station is right beside the train station.

Like the previous poster said. But be aware that the minimetrò stops running at about 21:20. if you get back to Perugia after that, you'll have to take a cab or bus to the center. The main bus station is down the escalators from the center--go to the end of Corso Vannucci, cross the little park and take the escalators down. Buses are good for places like Gubbio that don't have train stations.
Have fun. Perugia's a terrific little city, and Umbria in general is great to hang out in.

When we stayed in Perugia the Tourist Information office was excellent in helping us set up day trips. We settled on Assisi, Spoleto and Gubbio.

Almost exactly a year ago I stayed in Perugia at the Sagallo Palace Hotel. It was €75/night for a double room, a bit small but very comfortable with a small fridge and a safe. The price included a buffet breakfast. It's just a few meters from an escalator that takes you to the top of the town without having to climb. It's across the street from a bus station. I had a car so I don't know if the intercity buses left from there or how convenient it is to the train station. It rained quite a bit during my 4 nights there so on two of them I had delicious, reasonably priced meals at the hotel dining room.

I have stayed in Perugia, Orvieto, and Chiusi (which is actually in Tuscany) as bases, and it really all depends on where you want to go on your day trips. However, Perugia probably has the most options.