Best Day Trips From Rome: 3 Great Day trips in Italy

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Not only is it a bucketlist location to visit on its own but because of its central location in Italy, there are so many great day trips from Rome by train.

We have visited Rome a couple of times and while you could easily fill a few days in Rome with activities around the city, we love to add in a day trip to allow us the chance to see somewhere new as part of our trip as well.

There are lots of great day trips from Rome available but in our experience the best options are Florence, Sorrento and Pompeii, each offering something completely different but close enough to allow you sufficient time to enjoy the location for a day.

In this guide we will walk you through these 3 day day trips from Rome, including things to do, places to eat and some hotel recommendations if you do decide to extend your stay overnight.

Where to stay in Rome

For first time visitors, it is always best to choose a hotel in Rome that has easy access to the main sites, particularly if you are only in Rome for a day/night.

With that, the main area we would suggest in Centro Storico for a hotel within walking distance to the major attractions. Our pick for a hotel in this area would be Master Trevi for a luxury stay or The Major Hotel for a great option on a budget.

Alternatively, in an equally central location, you could choose the area around the Spanish Steps where you will find many of the luxury hotels in Rome, as well as the main shopping area. Our top pick in this area would be the luxurious Palazzo Ripetta.

However, our favourite area to stay in Rome is Trastevere. While it is slightly further out from the city centre, it has a completely authentic feel to it and some of the best restaurants in Rome. The best hotel in Trastevere for us is Trastevere Paper Suites.

Best Day Trips from ROme

The great thing about Rome is its central location, meaning it is a great base to use for exploring Italy more broadly. If you have a few days in Rome, adding in a day trip is a great way to experience a different side to Italy without necessarily having to pack up and move to a new hotel.

You could easily take day trips from Rome to Pisa, Bologna or Naples but we’ve chosen the 3 day trips below based on our own experience and where we feel you will be able to get the most out of your day.

If you decide you would prefer to stay overnight before returning to Rome we have also included hotel suggestions based on our research and experience.

Day trip from Rome to Florence

Out of all of the options available, the one we would recommend most is to take a day trip from Rome to Florence.

There are a couple of reasons for this but the main ones are that it is quite easy to get to by train; it doesn’t take too long to get there and it is a fairly compact city meaning you can see quite a lot in just a day.

How to get to Rome to Florence

There are 3 main ways you can get from Rome to Florence – 1) By Train; 2) Rent a car and 3) Take a guided tour.

Train

The train from Rome to Florence is the most pragmatic way to get there and with Italy’s high speed trains the journey takes less than an hour and a half each way.

Tickets for the train will vary in price depending on when you intend to visit and how fast you want to get there. For a day trip from Rome to Florence, speed is everything so take the high speed option from Rome Termini to Florence Santa Maria Novella station. Tickets will cost roughly €80-100 per person return.

Guided Tour

We opted for the train but in hindsight we could easily have chosen to take a guided tour to ensure you get around to all the best sites with less of a rush.

You can also take a guided tour that includes Pisa and Florence but we often find those kind of trips to involve more time travelling than actual seeing and doing so it wouldn’t be our preference.

Particularly if you are limited for time, two other things we would suggest is to purchase skip the line/time visit slots for the Duomo, Galleria Uffizi and the Statue of David.

And if you really want to make sure that you get to see all of the main attractions around the city, a guided walking tour from a local expert is the way to go to avoid the fallout of Google maps sending you down a wrong turn or two during your stay.

Car

You can drive from Rome to Florence but we really would not recommend it if you are only planning to go for a day. The journey is much slower than the high speed train and less pragmatic so for us the main options available are the train and a guided tour.

Best Things to do in Florence

Visit the Cathedral and Museums

It is hard to describe just how impressive the Cathedrale of Santa Maria Del Flore is and just how much it looms over you as you stroll through the centre of Florence. The cathedral is just a short walk from the train station and there are lots of nice cafe’s with outdoor seating to admire the view.

We would recommend grabbing a coffee from Cafe Gilli before getting tickets to head inside the Cathedral to fully appreciate the architecture of the building and to get access to to Brunelleschi’s Dome.

Nearby, you can also take a trip to Galleria Ufizzi, a beautiful art museum in the historic centre of the city. The museum can get quite busy at peak times so we would recommend purchasing skip the queue tickets, particularly if you only have a day in Florence. Alternatively, we would suggest getting tickets to visit the Academia Gallery of Florence instead to see the iconic Statue of David.

Giardino Bardini

One of the most beautiful places to visit in Florence is a place called Giardino Bardini. These gardens sit high up above the city and offer stunning views of the Cathedral and Ponte Vecchio below.

We would highly recommend visiting the gardens during the Spring time in particular, when the wisteria is in full bloom. At the top of the gardens there is a nice cafe with outdoor seating and great views overlooking the city so you could easily spend some time relaxing here before making your way back to the centre. Tickets for the gardens are €10 and it’s definitely worth the visit.

As you make your back down to the city centre, stop off along the Ponte Vecchio, the oldest stone bridge in Europe and the only bridge in Florence to survive World War II. The bridge is usually bustling with people and market stalls as you make your way back into the centre.

The Wine Windows

Possibly our favourite thing that we did in Florence was to visit some of the wine windows. Not only are the windows quite novel in themselves, we found there to be a good atmosphere around them, as well as allowing an opportunity to chat with other visitors and hear about their experience of Florence as well.

These iconic windows date back to the plague in the 1600’s and there are still at least 150 wine windows spread around the city. We chose to visit Babae as it was really easy to find but you will never have to venture too far before you stumble (figuratively) across one.

Where to eat in Florence

Food glorious food – there are no shortage of options for foodies in Florence. There are two places that are synonymous with Florence, l’Antico Vinao and Vivoli il Gelato.

If you are visiting as a part of a group and want a great lunch combo on the move, have one person queue for a sandwich at l’Antico Vinao while the other waits for a specialty affogato from Vivoli il Gelato – you won’t regret it.

If you stay in Florence late enough to go for dinner we could recommend trying out Osteria Pastella, which is renowned for its truffle pasta served in a cheese wheel…I see we now have your attention!

Rome to Pompeii

The next day trip from Rome you can easily take is to Pompeii, the historic remains preserved under volcanic ash from the eruption of Mount Vesuvius. Pompeii is a great option for anyone interested in history in particular, with the town being perfectly preserved since the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79CE effectively buried the city.

With a day trip to Pompeii, you are literally stepping into a preserved piece of living history. Pompeii is unlike anywhere else you will likely visit in the region so it is well worth adding as a day trip from Rome.

How to get from Rome to Pompeii

Given the historical significance of Pompeii, the best way to visit it from Rome is to take a guided tour.

The guided tour we chose to take included direct transfers to Pompeii, with time to explore the ruins. Afterwards there was an opportunity to take a guided hike to a crater in Mount Vesuvius which was an amazing experience.

We also opted to include a 3 course lunch a part of our trip to save any difficulty in finding somewhere to eat and the restaurant had great views overlooking the bay of Naples.

The drawback with this day trip is that you do spend a lot of time on the bus meaning there is much less time to explore than the likes of Florence.

Train from Rome to Pompeii

If you prefer, you could also get the train from Rome to Pompeii. The advantage of this approach is that you will get there in around 2 hours allowing more time to explore Pompei.

Additionally, it gives you the option to spend half a day in Pompeii before spending some time in Naples as well, so this technically would allow you to have two day trips in Rome.

Naples is home to the Neapolitan style pizza so if you do decide to take this approach, make sure to grab a pizza at Gino e Totto.

Rome to The Amalfi Coast Day Trip

There are a number of options when it comes to day trips from Rome to the Amalfi Coast. The coast is a bit further away from Rome than the other options meaning we definitely would not recommend going any further than Positano but a day trip is still possible.

If you want to take a self guided option, for ease of access we would suggest only going as far as Sorrento. Although not technically part of the Amalfi Coast, taking a day trip from Rome to Sorrento will give you a lot of the same benefits as travelling further down the coast, plus the added benefit of having more time to explore. You can reach Sorrento from Rome in around 2.5 hours by train via Naples.

If you would like to go further than that, the only real workable option is to take a guided tour or rent a car. To go from Rome to Positano by public transport involves a number of transfers and will ultimately eat into your day too much.

If you choose to rent a car, we would suggest using Discover Cars to get the best deal. Having been on those roads a number of times though, the drive to Positano is not for the faint hearted.

The route involves very windy cliff edge roads, you will likely meet a bus on those roads at some stage and it takes a lot of concentration. That being said, it is an incredible drive but if you want the stress free option, go with the guided tour.

For us, overall trying to take a day trip from Rome to the Amalfi Coast is a bit of a stretch but it is still possible if you just want to be able to see you’ve been there.

Things to do in Positano

Take a walk through the old town of Positano and admire the boutique shops. The streets in Positano are quite narrow and winding, much like the roads leading to Positano from the North. That being said, it’s a really nice way to familiarise yourself with the area and grab a drink before making your way down to the famous beach.

The main beach in Positano is called Marina Grande and you will naturally make your way down here as you make your way down the narrow streets of the town. Marina Grande is where you will get to see beautiful views of the pastel houses built into the mountains behind and it is one of the best photo spots in Positano.

Where to eat in Positano

There is a beautiful place just as you arrive in Positano called Casa e Bottega, this place is such a nice way to start your day in Positano. This is a really beautiful setting for breakfast and we stopped here every time we visited Positano.

For dinner, we would suggest trying either La Scogliera or else Bruno’s, which has incredible views overlooking the water. Where possible, try to book your table in advance to make sure you can go there at the best time in the evening.

Things to do in Sorrento

If you only have a day in Sorrento we would recommend spending the day at one of the beach clubs before exploring the boutique shops and relaxing with a drink with a view at a rooftop bar.

Our favourite beach clubs in Sorrento were Peter’s Beach Club, Leonelli’s and Bagni Salvatore, which were more reasonably priced than many of the other options on the Amalfi Coast.

If you would like to visit a rooftop bar, we would recommend the Vista Sky Bar, which has beautiful views over the Bay of Naples. Equally, we would also recommend the Bellavista Cocktail Bar at the top of the Grand Hotel La Favorita, which has equally spectacular views and a stylish lounge area.

There are lots of great local products to shop for in Sorrento. The boutiques here specialise in ceramics, often decorated in bright colours and lemon based designs. They also produce lots of great engraved woods, as well as having a wide range of linens and handbags as well.

Where to eat in Sorrento

Two of our favourite places to grab something to eat in Sorrento are two of its most unassuming locations. The first is a pasta bar called Azz! which has a great selection of local dishes that are extremely well priced for the area – perfect for lunch or dinner.

The second is a sandwich shop called A’Marenna, which does the best baguettes in Sorrento – such a great option if you want to get something tasty, inexpensive and on the go to free up your time to explore Sorrento for the day.

These two places are perfect if you are only visiting Sorrento for a day as quick options and they won’t hit your wallet too hard either which is an added bonus.