Italy Travel Forum

Does anybody have any suggestions on places to get away from Rome for a day?

The three of us have been in Rome for 7 days now, and one of us flies out of Ciampino airport at 10:50am so needs to be there by 9:30ish on Friday morning.

We would prefer something somewhat relaxing with the ability to still make it back for the flight in the morning. Any help would be appreciated!

I highly recommend Ostia Antica (Metro to Pyramide, then train to Ostia Antica from the same station). It's a mini-Pompeii, absolutely wonderful.

http://www.ostia-antica.org/

Or get the Metro to Ponte Mammolo and then the bus to Tivoli: visit the gardens, explore the town......

More ideas here:

http://www.italyheaven.co.uk/daytrips.html

Ostia Antica and Tivoli are two great destinations near Rome. Note that Hadrian's Villa (in actuality, a large outdoor site with architecture from around the Empire in the time of the Emperor Hadrian) is near Tivoli (just outside of town, actually). I have only driven this, but I would hope that both can be gotten to by the same bus (but do research)...Tivoli and Hadrian's Villa would certainly take up a full day.

The town of Frascati can be easily reached by commuter train from Termini...the rail line runs past one of the aquaeducts a good part of the way, and the town itself is interesting to walk around in...at the least, have lunch up there and the local Frascati wine (this wine is different in Rome...as they say, even traveling a few miles changes its character).

The town of Castel Gandolfo can be reached by commuter train from Termini. It is siutated on the lip of a volcanic crater, that is currently full of water - no surprise that there is a large regional park here. There is swimming and other sports on the lake floor, hiking through the regional park, and for lunch, stunning views overlooking the lake from the top of the volcanic ridge. There are also some archaeological sites here, as this was the location of one of the emperors' palaces (but I haven't been to the sites, so have no opinion). If you were going later in the month, you'd be there when the Pope takes his traditional late summer retreat to Castel Gandolfo...but you'll have the place all to yourself now as foreign tourists don't go there much otherwise...

Further afield, you might run up the road to Tarquinia. One of the best Etruscan museums in Italy in a great (and petite) Renaissance palace, nice town to walk around in, Etruscan tombs in the necropolis outside of town, and the like...

Bill

We did a day-trip to Tivoli, and to Hadrian's villa by bus some years ago, just as leics suggests. Having seen both places on the television recently, I recommend this as a day trip.

There are half day tours which visit both Villa d'Este in Tivoli and Hadrian's villa offered by most of the major Rome tour companies.

did anyone mention Orvieto? A striking hill town one hour by train with an incredible duomo and loads of sacred art.

Or Bracciano, with the beautiful lake and fabulous castle! (where Tom Cruise got married ;))

I'd head to Pompeii if I was taking a day trip. It really is a "can't miss" sight and it's a shame to be so close but not make it there. It's an hour and a half to Naples and then half an hour to Pompeii. If you left early in the morning you might be able to add either Mount Vesuvius or Herculaneum. Otherwise you could leave it at just Pompeii and then have a more relaxing day.

To do that you would need to get the Rome>Naples train to Napoli Centrale. According to Trenitalia this can take anything from 1.5 hours+, depending on train time (most take longer).

http://www.trenitalia.com/en/index.html

for times and fares (click the cart icon).

At Napoli Centrale go down one level and take the privately-owned Circumvesuviana train to Pompeii Scavi station. This is opposite the site entrance. Journey takes about 30 minutes, as stated, and trains are frequent. Herculaneum is on the same line, about 10 minutes from Pompeii towards Naples (get off at Ercolano station). Both sites are wonderful, but it will be a long day.

Circumvesuviana trains are not shown on the Trenitalia website. Timetables here:

http://www.vesuviana.it/Reteeorari/Ferrovia/Orario

If you want to do a long journey like this, you could also 'do' Florence (train journey from around 1.5 hours).