Day trips
Choose by how long you are willing to drive, not by the photograph.
60 days out13 placesthe nearest is in Rome itself
Everything below is sorted by one number: how long it takes to drive there from the middle of Rome. We calculate it on the road network, without traffic, so treat it as the shape of the day rather than a timetable — but it is the same number for every place on the site, which makes the comparison honest.
Half an hour buys you the crater lakes and the wine towns. An hour buys the Tuscia, the Etruscan coast and the Aniene valley. An hour and a half buys Orvieto and the far Tuscia; two hours the Maremma and the far end of the Pontine coast. Nothing on this page needs an overnight bag.
One number will not decide a day on its own, so here is how to use it. Take the drive time, double it, add the length the operator publishes on the card, and add an hour for lunch and being human. If the total is longer than the time you have, it is not the wrong destination — it is the wrong band, and the section above it will have something similar an hour closer.
The other thing the number does not tell you is what direction feels like. Half an hour south is volcanic and green and full of wine. An hour north is tufo, sunken roads and hot water. An hour east climbs into a river valley with monasteries stuck to the cliffs. Two hours in any direction and the landscape stops looking like Rome's countryside and starts looking like somewhere else entirely.
You can leave at ten and be back for a late lunch in Rome, or leave after lunch and still get a full afternoon. These are the days to book when you have one morning free and no intention of losing it to a motorway.
Closest to Rome first. Never by who pays us.
On two wheelsBike rental at a cafe that sits directly on the basalt paving of the Via Appia Antica, at number 175.
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On two wheelsThe cafe organises guided tours inside the Appia Antica park, by bicycle or on foot, with guides in several languages.
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With your handsA morning in the apiary inside the Veio regional park: watching how the bees live and work, then a guided tasting of several honeys, millefiori, chestnut and honeydew, led by th…
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In the airAn hour-long trial flight from Rome Urbe in a light aeroplane, with the passenger given a turn at the controls under the direct supervision of a flight instructor.
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On the waterA day out under sail from the Porto Turistico di Roma at Ostia.
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With your handsA working farm inside Rome, ten minutes from the Appia Antica park, with hectares of cultivated land and farm animals.
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On horsebackA riding centre on Via della Macchiarella in Rome that lists horseback rides among the services it sells alongside its riding school for children.
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On horsebackA one-hour riding lesson at the Cavalieri Appia Antica school, inside the Appia Antica Regional Park.
A sports club — you join them for the day
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On horsebackGuided horseback rides and excursions inside the Appia Antica Regional Park, led by Sandro, an equestrian guide with thirty years of experience.
A sports club — you join them for the day
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On horsebackA trial session of Natural Horsemanship with the instructors of Ciampacavallo, a social association based inside the Appia Antica Regional Park since 2000.
A sports club — you join them for the day
See the dayThe crater lakes, the wine towns, the Etruscan coast. Far enough to be somewhere else, close enough that the drive is not the day.
Closest to Rome first. Never by who pays us.
With your handsA beekeeper opens the hives and explains how the colony is organised and how honey is made, in an apiary inside the Parco Regionale dei Castelli Romani.
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On the trailA guided walk that starts in Piazza di Corte, crosses the whole old town and follows the sixteenth mile of the Appian Way through the Valle Ariccia, coming back up by the modern…
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On the trailThe local archaeology association guides five itineraries across the ancient nemus Aricinum: Ariccia's old town with the Kuntze wall paintings at the Locanda Martorelli and the …
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On the trailA guided visit to the piano nobile of Palazzo Chigi in Ariccia, the baroque residence that still has its original furnishings, with the Cardinal's Rooms and the Museum of the Ba…
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With your handsA seven-course menu at Sintesi, a one-Michelin-star restaurant in Ariccia, built around seasonality, fermentation and technique.
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In the hot waterThree hours in a spa set in a cave, reserved for one party at a time, in the old centre of Ariccia.
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In the old stonesA Baroque church at Ariccia, built by Gian Lorenzo Bernini.
Free — nothing to pay
Just turn up
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With your handsThe Pallavicini vineyards and cellars at Colonna can be visited every day by appointment, with staff explaining how the wine is made and running a tasting.
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In the old stonesA square in Ariccia.
Free — nothing to pay
Just turn up — open air, any hour
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In the old stonesA bridge at Ariccia.
Free — nothing to pay
Just turn up — open air, any hour
See the dayThe best ratio on this page. This much driving opens the whole northern lake country, the Aniene valley and the Lepini, and you still control your own evening.
Closest to Rome first. Never by who pays us.
In the old stonesA Romanesque cathedral at Anagni, from the eleventh century.
Free — nothing to pay
Just turn up
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With your handsAn organic estate at Colletonno, near Anagni, producing Cesanese del Piglio DOCG.
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With your handsThe estate produces Cesanese del Piglio DOCG and takes visitors for a tasting and direct sales on site.
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In the old stonesAn archaeological site at Anagni.
Free — nothing to pay
Just turn up — open air, any hour
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On horsebackA farm stay in the lower Sabina, between Rieti and the northern edge of Rome, that runs rides with the A.S.D.
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With your handsA truffle hunt in the woods with an experienced hunter and his trained dogs, on a farm in Torri in Sabina that also breeds truffle dogs.
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With your handsA hands-on class making the fregnaccia, the local hand-rolled pasta, at a farm in Torri in Sabina, ending with lunch.
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With your handsA forty-hectare organic estate of vines, olive groves and coppice on the hills at Anagni, producing Cesanese del Piglio DOCG and Passerina del Frusinate along with extra virgin …
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Under the groundA guided visit to the cathedral of Santa Maria Annunziata at Anagni and its museum: the chapter library, the old treasury, the Caetani chapel, the oratory of Saint Thomas Becket…
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On the trailAn archaeological museum at Anagni built to cover the whole surrounding district rather than the town alone, telling the earlier and less known history of a place mostly visited…
See the dayCommit to one place rather than two. At this distance stringing together two towns turns the afternoon into a search for parking.
Closest to Rome first. Never by who pays us.
With your handsA cooking class at Montasola on the classic Roman dishes: amatriciana, cacio e pepe and saltimbocca.
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With your handsA workshop at Montasola making scented lavender sachets with natural cotton, linen and hemp fabrics.
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On the trailGuided visit to the sixteenth-century Sacro Bosco, a wooded park filled with basalt sculptures of mythological animals, gods and monsters.
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On the trailTwo-hour guided reading of the sixteenth-century Sacro Bosco: the sculptures carved out of the living peperino rock are treated as the stages of an initiatory route, from the Th…
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On the trailCamillo Castellani is a certified environmental hiking guide working out of Montefiascone with a catalogue of twenty-five booked walks across the Tuscia, graded from tourist to …
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In the old stonesA Renaissance church at Bomarzo.
Free — nothing to pay
Just turn up
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With your handsA working artisan mill on the old Via Cassia, 68 km from Rome and 18 from Viterbo, below the medieval walls of Vetralla.
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On the trailWalk to the Etruscan temple-tombs cut into the walls of a canyon, the ruins of the medieval castle and the church of San Pietro, crossing gorges and fording the river.
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On the trailThe sixteenth-century Sacro Bosco at Bomarzo, with more than thirty colossal figures carved out of the local peperino stone.
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With your handsA ten-hour day out of Rome with a private driver: your choice between Caprarola with the Farnese palace or Sutri with the Roman amphitheatre and Etruscan necropolis, then an oli…
See the dayLeave early. These are the days people remember out of a week in Rome — the cliff towns, the falls, the far end of the Pontine coast.
Closest to Rome first. Never by who pays us.
With your handsA farm at Sabaudia, on the edge of the Circeo, that receives visitors for tastings of its own labels and direct sales.
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On the waterCanoes and kayaks hired out on the lago di Paola, the coastal lagoon behind the Sabaudia dune inside the Circeo national park.
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With your handsA winery at Borgo Vodice, between Sabaudia and Terracina, inside the Circeo national park area, with a shop and a guided cellar visit.
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With your handsGuided visit of the estate that makes Moscato di Terracina, ending with a tasting lunch at the estate's own restaurant.
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In the old stonesA fountain at Sabaudia.
Free — nothing to pay
Just turn up — open air, any hour
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On the trailOne of the three guiding bodies listed by the Circeo national park.
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In the airAt the Sabaudia airfield, inside the Circeo National Park, an instructor takes you up and lets you handle the aircraft through every phase of the flight, from take-off to landing.
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On the trailOn the ground floor of Sabaudia's town hall, the first museum in Italy dedicated to the Sicilian sculptor Emilio Greco holds over a hundred works - sculptures, prints, engraving…
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On the trailSabaudia's civic tower, the centrepiece of the 1930s rationalist town plan, is 46 metres high and has a lift to the seventh floor.
A sports club — you join them for the day
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On the trailFour rooms in the centre of Sabaudia holding palaeontological, prehistoric and Roman finds together with marine organisms, an aquarium and a virtual dive.
See the dayThe Maremma, the Umbrian hill towns, the Abruzzo caves. A long day out and back, with the light going on the way home.
Closest to Rome first. Never by who pays us.
On the waterAn hour and a half out of the harbour to the Grotta Azzurra, with a swim stop.
Books on Sperlonga Escursioni
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On two wheelsCicli Rebike, a bike shop on Via Madonna delle Grazie in Fondi, runs the town's Fondi Free Bike service: you book a bike through the form on their page or by calling, then colle…
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In the hot waterA one-day pass to the two thermal pools at Terme Vescine, in the Garigliano valley an hour and a quarter from Rome.
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In the hot waterTerme Vescine opens the Relax pool in the evening, three nights a week, for people who would rather swim under the stars than in the sun.
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On the waterGuided mini-cruises of two to six hours along the coast between Sperlonga, Gaeta and San Felice Circeo.
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On the trailA nature reserve at Fondi, from the twenty-first century.
Free — nothing to pay
Just turn up — open air, any hour
See the day
In the airA panoramic flight from the club's own airfield beside the Fondi lake, halfway between Terracina and Sperlonga, with the passenger at the controls alongside an instructor who ex…
A sports club — you join them for the day
See the day
In the old stonesA Romanesque church at Fondi.
Free — nothing to pay
Just turn up
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On the waterBoat trips along the Sperlonga coast run by a local skipper.
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On the trailGuided walk through the old town of Sperlonga, followed by a boat trip along the coast and lunch.
See the dayDriving time from the middle of Rome, on the road network and without traffic. It tells you whether the day stands up; it is not a timetable.
Getting there
The day stays yours: you leave when you want, stop where you want, and come back when the light goes.
Affiliate link — you pay their price, never more, and they pay us. You book with Localrent, and anything about that booking goes through them.
See prices on LocalrentNo parking to find, no wrong turns, and you leave when the day is done.
Affiliate link — you pay their price, never more, and they pay us. You book with Welcome Pickups, and anything about that booking goes through them.
See prices on Welcome PickupsIt is calculated on the OpenStreetMap road network from Piazza Venezia, with no traffic assumed, and it is the same method for every destination on the site. It tells you whether a day stands up. It does not tell you what the Rome ring road is doing at six in the evening.
For most of these, a car or a driver is what turns a day trip into a day. Some places are genuinely easy by train — Tivoli, Ostia, Frascati, Orvieto — and where that is true we say so on the activity page rather than selling you a car you do not need.
Two hours each way is the practical limit, and it works only if you leave early and commit to one place. Past that you are spending more of the day in a car than out of it, and the honest answer is to stay the night — there is a separate page for the directions that repay it.
The Castelli Romani and the crater lakes: wine, a papal palace, kayaks on Lake Albano, cooking classes on the estates, and rides in the Appian Way park on the edge of the city. It is the band to book from when you have one morning free.
The Tuscia and its hot springs, the Etruscan coast at Cerveteri and Tarquinia, Lake Bracciano, the Aniene valley up to Subiaco, and the first of the Ciociaria towns. It is the band with the best ratio of drive to day on the whole site.
Tivoli, Ostia, Frascati, Bracciano and Orvieto are the ones that genuinely do, and where an operator has told us they can be reached without a car, their activity page says so rather than us guessing. For everything else a car or a driver is what turns a day trip into a day.
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