Bad weather
Rain is a reason to go underground, get in hot water, or spend the afternoon somewhere with a roof and something to taste. None of those get better in sunshine anyway.
28 things to book10 placesthe nearest is a 34 min drive from Rome
The catalogue records how much each day depends on the weather, because the operators tell us: a paragliding flight is one thing, a cellar visit is another. This page is everything in the low-dependence group — days that run whatever the sky is doing.
The three that are actually improved by bad weather: caves, which are the same temperature all year; thermal water, which is best when the air is cold enough to see the steam; and anything that ends with a table and a glass.
This is also the page for the other bad weather, which around Rome is heat. From July into September the thing you are trying to get out of is the sun, and a cave at a constant temperature, a cellar cut into tufo or a covered workshop solves the same problem from the opposite direction.
Rain does change one thing on the ground: gravel roads and tufo steps get slippery, and the last kilometre to a place in open country can be the hardest part of the day. Wear something with a grip on it, and take the drive slowly rather than the timetable.
What we do not have is a forecast, and we are not going to pretend otherwise. What the catalogue holds is the operator's own statement about whether their day depends on the weather — recorded with the date we read it — and this page is everything they told us runs regardless.
Show caves, cellars, workshops, museums and kitchens. All of these run as normal in rain, and the caves do not know the difference: a cave is the same temperature in February and in August, which makes it the one kind of day that is weatherproof in both directions.
Best fit for this section first, then whatever you can book today. Closest to Rome breaks a tie. Never by who pays us.
With your handsMeet at the station, follow the dog into the wood, dig up what it finds.
€72 per person
Books on Farm Experiences & Tours
See the day
In the hot waterFive hours in a thermal park, and cold weather is the reason to go.
€25 per person
Books on termedistigliano.it
See the day
In the hot waterSix pools at a steady 23°C, and the station is right behind the park.
€16 per person
Books on termediroma.org
See the day
In the hot waterFive hours in thermal water up to 58°C and nothing else to plan that day.
€12 per person
Books on tusciaterme.it
See the day
With your handsCut the grapes yourself. The window opens 1 September and shuts 15 October.
€40 per person
Books on Casale Mattia
See the day
In the hot water58°C out of the ground, free, 209 metres from the bus stop, and no changing room.
Free — nothing to pay
Booked by phone
See the day
Off roadTwo hours on a two-seater quad through the Bracciano park, then the aperitivo.
A sports club — you join them for the day
See the day
With your handsMetro C to the end of the line, two hours hunting, then a seven-course lunch.
See the dayA cold wet day is the best possible day for a sulphur spring. Steam coming off the surface, nobody else there, and at the open-air ones nothing to pay. Take a towel, something on your feet, and a bag you do not mind smelling of sulphur afterwards.
Best fit for this section first, then whatever you can book today. Closest to Rome breaks a tie. Never by who pays us.
In the hot waterThe water leaves the ground at 58°C, and on Saturday you can still be in it at 1am.
€12 per person
Books on termedeipapi.it
See the day
In the hot waterSulphur pools open till 18:30, and the operator publishes the train to get there.
€12 per person
Books on Terme Sabine di Cretone
See the day
In the hot waterA three-hour late-afternoon slot in the Stigliano thermal park, from 17:00 to 20:00, that combines the pools and thermal lakes with an aperitivo.
See the day
In the hot waterA full day, 10:00 to 20:00, with access to the whole spa and the outdoor thermal park.
See the day
In the hot waterDay access to the outdoor thermal park at Stigliano, in the countryside of Canale Monterano about 50 km from Rome.
See the day
In the hot waterA five-hour morning slot, 10:00 to 15:00, with the sauna, salt room, infrared rooms, cold chamber, sensory showers, the heated indoor pool, the thermal basin and the outdoor the…
See the day
In the hot waterThe thermal spa of the Salus Terme hotel on the edge of Viterbo, bookable for the day without staying overnight.
See the day
In the hot waterA night ticket to the open-air thermal pool of Terme dei Papi, valid from 21:00 to 01:00.
See the day
In the hot waterA cave cut into the rock where hyperthermal water surfaces at 58 degrees and fills the room with steam, used as a natural Turkish bath.
See the day
In the hot waterA twenty-minute walk through alternating cold and hot hyperthermal water, meant to stimulate circulation in the legs.
See the dayCellars, dairies, cooking classes and long lunches. Indoors, with a plan, and improved by the weather being bad enough to justify a second course. These are also the ones most likely to want a booking, because a kitchen and a cellar both run on how many are coming.
Best fit for this section first, then whatever you can book today. Closest to Rome breaks a tie. Never by who pays us.
With your handsMake the pasta at a Frascati winery: 22 minutes by train, picked up at the station.
€109 per person
Books on farmexperiencestours.com
See the day
With your handsBe there for the 8:30 milking and the 9:00 curd: the timetable is the tour.
€15 per person
Books on agricolacirce.it
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With your handsA private visit that starts in the vineyard and ends in the eighteenth-century rooms of the estate, led by a dedicated sommelier or by the owners.
See the day
With your handsA guided tour of a Frascati winery built around a 16th-century villa, including the vineyards and the historic volcanic cave used as a cellar, followed by a tasting.
See the day
With your handsA family estate on the edge of Frascati that makes Frascati wine and extra-virgin olive oil and has a page of its own devoted to events and tastings, alongside pages on the cell…
See the day
With your handsA walk through the vineyard, then the cellar and the barrel room of an organic Frascati estate, ending with a guided tasting of four De Sanctis wines.
See the day
With your handsAn organic estate on the hills at Frascati working the native Frascati DOCG grapes — Malvasia del Lazio, Greco Bianco, Bombino.
See the day
With your handsThe short version: fifteen minutes by train to Tor Vergata, five on foot to the farmhouse, a walk among the vines with views back towards Rome, and three Frascati wines paired w…
See the day
With your handsA driver meets you at Frascati station, takes you to a sixteenth-century family vineyard for a tasting of three boutique wines with snacks, then a guided walk through Frascati a…
See the day
With your handsFifteen minutes by train from Rome: a walk through the vineyard with a local guide, then a hands-on class where you cook traditional Frascati dishes and the local wine cookies w…
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
No parking to find, no wrong turns, and you leave when the day is done.
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See prices on Welcome PickupsFrom what the operator says about their own activity, recorded per activity in the catalogue with the date we read it. It is not a forecast, and we do not have one: it is whether the day runs in rain.
Go under something. The show caves north and south of the city are the obvious answer, thermal water is better in bad weather than in good, and a cellar, a dairy or a cooking class turns a wet afternoon into the thing you remember. All three are in the grids above.
Show caves usually run all year, because underground the season is a formality. Each card carries the operator's own opening window where they publish one, and a phone number where they take the booking that way — which for a cave in January is worth using.
The ones that depend on the sky do, and the operators say so themselves — flying, rafting, sailing and paragliding all read the forecast the day before. Anything on this page is in the group that does not. If you have already booked something outdoors, ring them: they will know before you do.
Often more than on a fine one. Hill towns are empty in the rain, the thermal pools are at their best, and the caves are unaffected. Rome in the rain is queues under umbrellas; an hour out of it is a cellar with nobody in it.
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