Rome (Civitavecchia) Shore Excursion

[sabrefan]

My wife and I will be sailing on the Marina departing Venice on 10/4/15. One stop will be Rome (Civitavecchia). Been to Rome before and want to do a different shore excursion. Trying to decide between two possibilities. One is a visit to Orvieto, Italy. This tour is 10.5 hrs.. The other tour is a visit to Bracciano Lake along with a visit to a local winery. This second tour is 4.5 hrs. long.

 

Any suggestions from members who have done either of these would be helpful.

[airheadfan]

I took the ship's tour (Marina) to Orvieto last October. The bus ride is uneventful with little to see until you get close to Orvieto. Once there you have to walk up hill into the town, which is not a problem for anyone with a reasonable walking ability. We had one mobility challenged person and they made arrangements to have them driven up to the city, and I think they used a local bus. The tour guide was helpful, did not take us shopping and provided a useful description of the town and its history. We had sufficient time on our own and they provided a very nice lunch in a good restaurant close to the cathedral. Climb up to top of the clock tower for a great view.

 

For me it was good value, in spite of being a ship's tour. I always wanted to see Umbria and this gave me the opportunity without a huge investment of time and money.

 

As an alternative, consider a trip to Tarquinia. We went while spending a few days in Civitavecchia before doing our Rome to Rome B2B2b. It is just a bus ride to the north and is another hill town, but with a very nice museum and some well preserved Etruscan tombs. Another place that is reasonably close is Ostia Antica - missed it on this trip but on my must do list if I ever return.

[Minoushka]

We did Ostia Antica on our own by train ..very interesting .then went to Cristofaro Colombo by train for a wonderful seafood lunch overlooking the sea .took train back to

Rome .....lovely day Im sure you could get the train back to Civi ..but you would need you leave right away ...it tryly was very nice

[tvmovielover]

I took the ship's tour (Marina) to Orvieto last October. The bus ride is uneventful with little to see until you get close to Orvieto. Once there you have to walk up hill into the town, which is not a problem for anyone with a reasonable walking ability. We had one mobility challenged person and they made arrangements to have them driven up to the city, and I think they used a local bus. The tour guide was helpful, did not take us shopping and provided a useful description of the town and its history. We had sufficient time on our own and they provided a very nice lunch in a good restaurant close to the cathedral. Climb up to top of the clock tower for a great view.

 

For me it was good value, in spite of being a ship's tour. I always wanted to see Umbria and this gave me the opportunity without a huge investment of time and money.

 

As an alternative, consider a trip to Tarquinia. We went while spending a few days in Civitavecchia before doing our Rome to Rome B2B2b. It is just a bus ride to the north and is another hill town, but with a very nice museum and some well preserved Etruscan tombs. Another place that is reasonably close is Ostia Antica - missed it on this trip but on my must do list if I ever return.

 

We rented a car (brought to us and returned at the dock) and drove to Cerveteri and Tarquinia to see the Etruscan Tombs and museums. Cerveteri was okay but nothing compared to the painted tombs in Tarquinia. The museum in town there is excellent and then you can drive to the tombs which are in a field on one edge of town. These tombs are famous in art and literature-I read D. H. Lawrence's Etruscan Places before going there. The descriptive parts are so evocative that they made the visit even more interesting. We were back to the ship in plenty of time even visiting both places-the scenery on the way is not that interesting. We had very good pizza in Tarquina near the museum. If you like Etruscan art, Tarquinia is a great place to visit.

Edited March 25, 2015 by tvmovielover

[ginabab]

Thanks I am interested in Etruscans What company did you use for car rental?