Ostia Antica, Tarquinia, Orvieto, Civita di Gabnoregio or something else??

[Netta7]

We are a family with a teen and a tween in port from 8:00 to 5:00 on a summer Saturday. Our cruise starts, ends and has a port day half way through the trip in Rome/Civi. Since we are already staying in Rome pre-cruise for a couple of days, I am thinking of spending the mid-cruise port day in one of the surrounding areas. Looking at this board we have seen interesting reviews of Ostia Antica, Tarquinia, Orvieto, and Civita di Gabnoregio. For those of you who have been to these sites, can you help me choose? Are any of them easily combined during our time limits? Any other places we should consider? Are all of these not worth it and should we return to Rome?

 

My family is generally adventuresome and willing to try new things. We'll rent a car or reserve a driver it if is necessary. If it makes sense, we can also stop at one of these places on our way to the ship.

 

 

Thank you for your suggestions!

 

Netta 7

[nparmelee]

Both Ostia Antica and Tarquinia are fairly easy to do from Civitavecchia, I would look at exploring either one of those. Orvieto would be a little more complicated just because it's an hour or so train out of Rome so the travel time could eat up a bunch of your day. Is your family into history or do you want a laid back day to break things up? I love the Etruscan history so for us it would be Tarquinia.

[4774Papa]

We are looking at either Ostia Antica or Tarquinia instead of Rome for our May NCL Epic cruise next year. We have been to Rome twice and plan to go back for a week within the next two years, so we would rather see something closer to the civi port.

[Dunmore2]

We really enjoyed Ostia Antica. It is a large area with many ancient Roman ruins. It is very peaceful and uncrowded. Lots of shade trees too. You can rent an audio guide at the ticket booth. I believe they had a couple of stands selling water and snacks. The lack of commercialism was a nice change.

[Netta7]

Thanks all. This is very helpful! Knowing that there are audio guides is very useful, as it might be a good DIY day.

[luvn2cruzzz]

We hired a driver with 3 other couples and went to Civita di Banareggio (sp?) and Orvieto and highly recommend it. Civita is magical and a unique experience and Orvieto is a lovely town with an amazing cathedral. You can do both and still have time left over to go to Tarquinia unless it is a Monday when most of what you would want to see is closed. That was the case for us and we just walked around, had some gelato which was our consolation prize, and headed back to the ship. One thing I forgot to mention, if you have walking limitations you might want to bypass Civita as you can not drive up to the village but must walk up a fairly steep bridge to get to it. I balked when I saw it, but it was so worth it and I list it as one of my all-time favorite places to visit.

[Eileen G]

We have done all four of them and renting a car or paying a driver to go to Orvierto and Civta wins hands down. Here is the link to my pictures.

https://skydrive.live.com/?cid=1e98e90214e77bf9#cid=1E98E90214E77BF9&id=1E98E90214E77BF9%21118

[ModernFamily]

Hello Netta 7

I'm not sure what you ended up planning for this day but we're on your cruise (the 17 day) and would like to consider an excursion outside of Rome. I'm a single mom with a 15 year old daughter and 12 year old son. Please let me know what you've decided and whether you'd like company renting a driver/guide, etc.

 

We are a family with a teen and a tween in port from 8:00 to 5:00 on a summer Saturday. Our cruise starts, ends and has a port day half way through the trip in Rome/Civi. Since we are already staying in Rome pre-cruise for a couple of days, I am thinking of spending the mid-cruise port day in one of the surrounding areas. Looking at this board we have seen interesting reviews of Ostia Antica, Tarquinia, Orvieto, and Civita di Gabnoregio. For those of you who have been to these sites, can you help me choose? Are any of them easily combined during our time limits? Any other places we should consider? Are all of these not worth it and should we return to Rome?

 

My family is generally adventuresome and willing to try new things. We'll rent a car or reserve a driver it if is necessary. If it makes sense, we can also stop at one of these places on our way to the ship.

 

 

Thank you for your suggestions!

 

Netta 7

[Netta7]

Modern Family - We haven't decided. Email me at nettazerosevensevenatyahoodotcom (trying to avoid a little spam) if you want to see about sharing.

[Netta7]

Thank you! We LOVED the pictures of Ovieto and the hill towns. Looking at Google maps it appears to be almost 2 hours each way from the port. Is this correct? If so, we may want to save this for a trip without kids.

 

I have calculated Ostia Antica will take us about an hour. This is the same amount of time as going back into Rome by train, making this an even choice travel time wise. Do I have this right?

 

Finally, Tarqunia appears to be the closest to the port. One option is to go to Taqunia on the way to the ship. Do we have time to really see and enjoy Tarquinia if we leave our hotel at 9:00 and want to be at the port at 2:30? We thought he description on this board of someone who had done this with Rome Cabs was very interesting.

 

Thank you all!

[lynncarol]

If you catch an early bus from Civitavecchia you could visit Tarquinia and return before 2:30. That would give you time to visit their fabulous Etruscan Museum which opens at 8:30, I believe. The town itself is charming. We caught a 9:15 bus and got back to Civitavecchia by 3:30, but spent almost two hours there visiting the necropolis (which you will probably have to skip with these time restraints).

[Dommibravo]

Don't hesitate. Choose Tarquinia Orvieto and Todi. Three fantastic places where you can explore art, good food and wonderful people. Ostia antica can be visited when you'll decide to spend a long period in Rome.

[Baseball fan]

We did Tarquinia with Italy Limousine. There were 5 of us and we had a guide/driver. It did rain but we went anyhow. Tarquinia is amazing and we had been to Rome previously too so we wanted something else. We were gone all day but I would definately recommend Tarquinia and the etruscan tombs.