Day Trips
Bologna by Train: The Complete Guide to Italy's Greatest Food City
Bologna has three nicknames - La Rossa for the terracotta rooftops, La Dotta for Europe's oldest university, La Grassa for the food. Thirty-eight minutes from Florence by train and almost entirely absent from the standard Italy itinerary. The best food city in Italy, and one of the least visited.
Day Trips
Alberobello by Train & Bus from Bari: A Day Trip to Puglia's Trulli Town
Alberobello is one of the most distinctive townscapes in Europe - over 1,500 conical-roofed trulli crowding a Puglian hillside, UNESCO-listed since 1996. The bus from Bari gets you there in an hour and fifteen minutes. No hire car needed.
Hidden Gems
Matera Without a Car: How to Get There by Train and Bus
Matera is one of the most extraordinary places in Italy - cave dwellings carved from limestone, an underground cistern the size of a cathedral, and a suspension bridge across a ravine. And entirely reachable without a hire car.
Day Trips
Pistoia by Train from Florence: Tuscany's Most Overlooked City
Striped Romanesque churches, a cathedral square among the finest in Tuscany, and a medieval hospital decorated with Della Robbia masterpieces — only 30 minutes from Florence by train, and almost entirely overlooked.
Naples
Naples by Train: The Complete City Guide
Naples has one of the finest collections of Roman antiquities in the world, a street plan that has barely changed in 2,500 years, and pizza that needs no introduction. The most misunderstood city in Italy - and one of the most rewarding.
Day Trips
Day Trips from Naples by Train: The Complete Guide
Buried Roman cities, an active volcano, islands and Greek temples - no other Italian city offers this density of extraordinary places within reach of public transport. Every major day trip from Naples, covered in one guide.
Day Trips
Sorrento by Train from Naples: The Complete Day Trip Guide
Sorrento is just over an hour from Naples on the Circumvesuviana - clifftop gardens above the Bay of Naples, lemon groves, and a port that serves as the gateway to Capri and the Amalfi Coast. All without a hire car.
Day Trips
Ischia by Ferry from Naples: The Complete Guide to Getting There and Getting Around
Ischia is larger, greener and more varied than Capri — a volcanic island with thermal pools, vineyards, a medieval castle on a rock and beaches only reachable by boat. A ferry from Naples gets you there in around an hour, and a bus network connects everything without a hire car.
Day Trips
Lucca by Train from Florence: A Day Trip to Tuscany's Most Charming Walled City
Lucca is one of the most quietly rewarding cities in Tuscany — intact Renaissance walls you can walk or cycle around, a Roman amphitheatre whose shape still defines the piazza above it, and almost none of the crowds that overwhelm Florence.
Day Trips
Siena by Bus and Train: A Complete Guide to One of Italy's Greatest Medieval Cities
Siena is less than 90 minutes from Florence by direct bus — a UNESCO medieval city with one of the great public squares in Europe, a cathedral that rivals Florence's, underground cellar restaurants and the Palio horse race twice a year. Far less visited than it deserves to be.
Planning
10 Mistakes First-Time Italy Train Travellers Make — and How to Avoid Them
Italy by train is fast, affordable and one of the best ways to see the country — but the system has a few quirks worth knowing before you go. Here are the ten things first-time travellers get caught out by, and how to avoid them.
Day Trips
Mount Vesuvius by Train and Bus: The Complete Guide to Getting There and What to Expect
Mount Vesuvius is reachable by train and bus from Naples, Pompeii and Sorrento — no hire car required. This guide covers every transport option, tickets you must book in advance, what the climb is like, and how to combine it with Pompeii, Herculaneum or a vineyard on the slopes.