Orvieto Travel Forum

I know there are tour companies that offer a full day tour from Rome to Orvieto & Assisi.
They run about $125 pp. lunch included.
Is it possible to do either on your own via train from Rome or is it only worthwhile via a car or
tour bus? I know the trains go there from Rome but I don't know how difficult it is to tour on foot.

Thanks
Karen

They are both small towns, and easily and far more cheaply seen on your own. It would be worth picking up a good guidebook----I like the Blue Guides because they emphasize art and architecture treasures. I like nosing into the random dark corners a tour will never show you and making my own discoveries.
Orvieto is easier because the train drops you at the bottom of Orvieto's hill and the funicular across the street whisks you to the center in a couple of minutes.
Assisi's train station is some distance away in a small suburban city called Santa Maria degli Angeli (where you will find the immense basilica housing Saint Francis' Porziuncula, but not much else), and you would need to find the bus up to Assisi from there or face a long uphill walk.
If you take a bus directly from Rome to Assisi it will take you up to the parking at the edge of town just below the vast church with its Giottos.

I echo everything dnw said...note that if you use the train (www.trenitalia.com/en/index.html), that Orvieto is only an hour north of Rome, while the trains to Assisi are 2 to 3 hours each way. Also, there are few direct trains to Assisi; many train changes are in Foligno. Oh, and I guess you need to add another 30+ minutes in Assisi to wait for the next city bus to the upper city from the train station and the trip up (you don't want to walk it).

Do check museum opening times before you go - not only to see how early of a start you need, but to avoid that dreaded Monday problem (many museums are closed on Monday because they're open on the weekends). This is more of a problem in Orvieto, because I don't remember seeing museums in Assisi (well, I guess there must be some, but it's not why people go)...

Well, maybe I'm overconcerned...I see that the National Archaeological Museum in Orvieto is now open 7 days a week from 8:30 - 19:30. The Museo Emilio Greco (I don't know what's here) is closed Monday during most of the year, and Monday through Thursday in October through March. The Museo dell'Opera del Duomo is closed Tuesday. Oh, well, what do they say? "Consistency is the hobgoblin of a small mind" or something like that...in any case, make sure that what you want to see is open on the day you want to go...

Bill