How to Get Around Umbria

Umbria has no major airport and a limited rail network, and its towns are on hilltops. A car is close to essential.

Arriving

Perugia San Francesco d'Assisi is a small airport with a handful of European routes. Most visitors arrive through Rome Fiumicino — about two hours by road — or Florence. Direct trains run from Rome to Perugia, Orvieto, Spoleto and Foligno; Orvieto is on the main Rome-Florence line and is the easiest arrival by rail.

Trains

The state network covers the Tiber valley axis — Orvieto, Terni, Spoleto, Foligno, Assisi, Perugia — reasonably well. A regional operator runs the Perugia-Città di Castello and Terni-Sansepolcro lines. Assisi's station is in the plain at Santa Maria degli Angeli, with a bus up to the town.

Buses

Regional coaches connect the main towns but thin out sharply at weekends and rarely serve the smaller villages usefully.

Driving

• A car is effectively required for Montefalco, Bevagna, Castelluccio, the Valnerina and most agriturismi.
• The E45 runs north-south for free; the A1 motorway passes the western edge near Orvieto and is tolled.
• Almost every hill town has a ZTL and no parking inside the walls. Park in the designated lots below and walk or take the escalators and funiculars — Perugia, Orvieto and Assisi all have them.
• Mountain roads in the Sibillini can close in winter, and some Valnerina routes remain affected by earthquake works.

How easily, and at what cost, can you combine the region’s main destinations?

Cost compares the options for each route rather than quoting a fare: inexpensive means the price is not a factor in planning, moderate cost means a real line in the budget, and the expensive option is one worth weighing against the alternative. Fares change from year to year; the ranking between them does not.