Alternatives to Rome

We have been to Rome before, we spent five days there before our last Med cruise, so we are planning to do something different this time when we dock at Civitacchia. What towns/cities would you see, and what excursions would you recommend? We know we dont want to stay in port and see Civitacchia, and we dont want to do a beach day. Other than that, we're open to any suggestions. Thanks!

Ostia Antica is worth a trip, as is Tarquinia, or Hadrian's Villa and Villa D'Este near Tivoli. You will pretty much need to hire a car, or car and driver, or take an excursion for all except Ostia Antica. Ostia can be done reasonably easily by train, I think. (I've only gone there by car.)

While you can get to Ostia Antica by train, you have to go into Rome to do it, which may defeat the OP's purpose. It would be about 90 minutes by train, with a change at Roma Ostiense to the Roma-Lido line.

A popular alternative is Orvieto, sometimes combined with Civita di Bagnoregio. You do need a car to get there, however, as the public transit options simply take too long. It's about 90 minutes by car.

We did the ship tour of Orvieto and really enjoyed it. This is a fortified town about 1.5 hours away from Civitavecchia. The Cathedral there is really interesting.

There is a Europcar office right across the street from the new shuttle drop off area if that helps. . .

Tarquinia is do-able by bus from Civitavecchia and wel lworth the trip.

Lots of guides at the port gate to help too. Just to the left outside the port I seem to recall an information place where you could get help about buses etc??

Tarquinia is do-able by bus from Civitavecchia and wel lworth the trip.

 

Lots of guides at the port gate to help too. Just to the left outside the port I seem to recall an information place where you could get help about buses etc??

It's a different port gate this summer, during construction. However, it's still easy to get to the bus stop for Tarquinia, it's about the same distance as before, just from the other direction.

While you can get to Ostia Antica by train, you have to go into Rome to do it, which may defeat the OP's purpose. It would be about 90 minutes by train, with a change at Roma Ostiense to the Roma-Lido line.

That's what we are doing at our next stop in Civ.

Thanks everyone, I think we'll have to hire a driver or find an excursion, with our time be limited I think we'll be able to cover more ground than if we use public transportation.

Also: town of Ceri, Necropolis of Cerveteri by themself, or perhaps combined with Lake Bracciano + Castle Odeschalchi.

We've also been to Rome a few times, and wanted to do something different, so we did a tour of Rome on a vespa! We weren't brave (or stupid) enough to drive our own vespas, so we each had a driver. It was great fun, nipping round some of the major sights of Rome, and we had a stop at each. I will never forget zooming round the Coliseum on a vespa - straight out of Roman Holiday! We got to some places we have not been before and we ended up at Janiculum Hill, where the drivers cracked open some Prosecco for us. We felt perfectly safe and had a fantastic day - it really was one of the highlights of our holiday.