On your own
Some days are better alone, and the small-group way these things are run here means you are never the odd one out for long.
42 things to book11 placesthe nearest is in Rome itself
Solo travel in Italy is easy right up to the moment somebody asks how many for lunch. The country outside Rome handles it better than the city does: the operators are small, the groups are small, and by the second hour of a walk or a tasting nobody is counting.
The things that work best are the ones with a shared task — a cooking lesson, a harvest day, a guided walk, a dive course. You arrive alone and you spend the day with six other people, which is a different thing from eating alone in a restaurant.
The towns work too. A hill town is a good place to be by yourself for an afternoon: you can walk all of it, sit where you like, and nobody is waiting for you.
Where an operator charges a single supplement or has a minimum number, they will tell you when you ring — that number is on the card.
The structural advantage of doing this outside the city is that everything here is small. A tasting is six people round one table, a cooking class is eight at a bench, a guided walk is a dozen. Nobody has to make an effort to include you because the group is small enough that not talking to you would be conspicuous. That is a completely different experience from a coach.
Two things worth doing when you book. Ring rather than write, if you can — these are family operations and a voice books better than a form. And say you are on your own: it is not an apology, it changes where they seat you and it usually gets you talked to more rather than less.
On the practical side, the constraint that actually bites is the driving. A day that ends in a cellar is harder to arrange alone, since there is nobody to hand the keys to. Frascati and the near Castelli have trains, several operators there meet the station, and a driver for the afternoon is a real option even for one — it is the version worth pricing before assuming it is out of reach.
Courses, tastings, guided walks and workshops. You book one place and you are in a group of six by ten in the morning.
Closest to Rome first. Never by who pays us.
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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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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With your handsAn organic farm inside Rome producing organic wine, olive oil and grapes.
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With your handsAbout two hours led by the brewer or one of the partners: a walk through the hop rows and the fields, the brewery itself, and a guided tasting of three beers chosen on the day a…
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With your handsThe estate sits in an eighteenth-century casale on a hill at Monte Porzio Catone, thirty hectares of Frascati DOCG vineyard in front and the skyline of Rome beyond.
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With your handsVilla Simone at Monte Porzio Catone sells six tastings that can be booked and paid on its own site, from a wine-only flight to wine with food.
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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.
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With your handsA wine tasting in the cellar which can be combined with a massage.
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With your handsAbout two hours of truffle hunting in the hills with the truffle dogs, then a seven-course truffle lunch at the host's home with wine from his own production.
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With your handsMetro C to the end of the line, two hours hunting, then a seven-course lunch.
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With your handsCut the grapes yourself. The window opens 1 September and shuts 15 October.
€40 per person
Books on Casale Mattia
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With your handsThe estate has a dedicated events and tastings page on its own site.
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With your handsThe estate sells a day alongside one of its technicians, doing the work of a winegrower.
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With your handsGuests are welcomed with a glass of prosecco, then split into groups that take turns preparing dishes chosen by the hotel's chef.
See the dayGuided walks and marked routes in the hills, the reserves and along the coast. A guide means you also get the geology, the birds and somewhere to have lunch.
Closest to Rome first. Never by who pays us.
On the trailA Greek-rite abbey founded in 1004 by monks from southern Italy led by St Nilus of Rossano, the last of the Byzantine monasteries that were once spread across southern Italy and…
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On the trailVisitors wear headsets for a mixed-reality tour through the piano nobile and the Pannini Gallery of Villa Grazioli, one of the Tuscolan villas.
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On the trailA WWF-run reserve of meadows and Mediterranean woodland near Fregene, in the Fiumicino municipality.
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On the trailA wetland managed by WWF near Maccarese, used as a stopover and wintering ground by many bird species: ducks in winter, herons, kingfisher, marsh harrier, and osprey in autumn.
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On the trailThe archaeological area of the Latin city of Tusculum, on the ridge above Frascati.
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On the trailVilla Mondragone sits on the Tuscolan hills between Frascati and Monte Porzio Catone.
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On the trailThe gardens of the Ville Pontificie at Castel Gandolfo are open as the Borgo Laudato Si', a working site of integral ecology.
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On the trailThe Apostolic Palace at Castel Gandolfo was opened to the public in 2014.
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On the trailA guided walk through Frascati that begins in the Scuderie Aldobrandini — the Aldobrandini stables converted by the architect Massimiliano Fuksas into the Museo Tuscolano — then…
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On the trailA single combined ticket covering the Museo Tuscolano in the Scuderie Aldobrandini at Frascati, Villa Mondragone — the largest of the Tuscolan villas — the archaeological park o…
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On the trailThe civic museums of Albano Laziale and the town's monument circuit can be visited on your own without booking, for individuals or groups of up to ten.
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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…
See the dayUnder an hour, short, and easy to reach: the low-commitment version, for a day when you decide at breakfast.
Closest to Rome first. Never by who pays us.
On the waterFour guided outings from the beach club on Lake Albano, all the same length and the same price: on a paddleboard along the Francigena shore, aboard the club's sailing boat, on f…
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On the waterKayak rental on Lake Albano below Castel Gandolfo.
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On the waterAn SSI diving school based at Frascati that organises guided dives on the coast north and south of Rome, including Santa Marinella and Tor Paterno, plus try-dive sessions, cours…
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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.
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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.
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With your handsA guided walk through the estate on the volcanic slopes above Frascati, with the story of how vines have been grown here, ending in a tasting of the estate's own wines paired wi…
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On two wheelsA 25 km e-bike route from Frascati climbing to the archaeological park of Tusculum through woods, ridges and hairpins, with views over Rome and the hill towns, and returning to …
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With your handsAn hour on a historic estate above Frascati: the view over the vineyards and the cypress avenue, the story of the place, the cellar and how the wine is made with low sulphites, …
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On the waterThree hours paddling across Lake Albano, gear included, children from six up.
€42.40 per person
Books on ckacademy.it
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On the waterA lakeside beach club on Lake Albano at Castel Gandolfo.
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On horsebackThree to four hours in the saddle for experienced riders: from the ranch through pinewood and forest out to the beach at Ostia, Rome's own coast, where the ride stops at a beach…
A sports club — you join them for the day
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On the waterForty-five minutes from Piramide by train, then you take the helm off Ostia.
€45 per person
Books on barcadicarta.it
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On the waterNo boat: a cable tows you across, and one hour on it is enough to find out.
€25 their price
A sports club — you join them for the day
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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.
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 PickupsNo. Most of them are small groups of strangers anyway, which is the point. Where there is a minimum number for the activity to run, the operator will say so when you book.
The marked routes near Rome are well used at weekends and quiet midweek. For the mountains, going with one of the guides listed here is the sensible version, and it is also how you find out what you are looking at.
For a day experience, generally not — you pay per person. Boats chartered privately are the exception, and the card links to the operator's own price.
A hill town with a guided visit in the morning, lunch, and a walk in the afternoon. Or a cooking class, if you would rather have the company than the quiet.
Outside the city, easier than in it. The operators are small, the groups are small, and most of what is on this page is a shared task rather than a table for one. The hill towns are also good places to be alone for an afternoon.
Something with a job in it. A cooking class, a harvest day, a guided walk with a naturalist or a licensed guide, or a first dive. You arrive alone and by mid-morning you are one of eight people doing the same thing, which is the whole point.
For a day experience, usually not — the price is per person. Privately chartered boats and some private guided visits are the exception, and the card links to the operator's own price. Where a minimum number is needed for the day to run, they will say so when you book.
The marked routes near Rome are well used at weekends and quiet midweek. For the mountains east of the city, going with one of the guides listed here is the sensible version and also the one where you learn what you are looking at. Tell somebody where you are going either way.
Yes, and several estates in the Castelli run small scheduled tastings that a single booking slots into. Frascati is the easiest, because the train removes the driving question that otherwise makes a solo wine day awkward.
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