An Assisi day trip from Rome is 2 h 07 each way on the fastest regional train for a fixed €14.45, then a €1.30 bus from the station in the valley up to the Basilica of St Francis, which charges nothing to enter. That makes it one of the cheapest long days on our board and one of the most tiring: budget nine to ten hours door to door. The alternative is the Assisi & Orvieto coach day at €152, which adds a guide, a second town and a longer day. Here is how the two compare.
How you get there
On your own
- Regionale Veloce Roma Termini–AssisiTrenitalia, fixed fare, one way, via Foligno
- €14.45
- Bus Assisi station–Assisi CentroAssisi Link add-on, one way
- €1.30
- Basilica di San Francescobasilica.sanfrancesco.org
- free
- Total per person
- ≈ €32 return
With the coach tour
- Coach + guide, Assisi and OrvietoGetYourGuide flagship
- €152.15
- Total per person
- €152.15
The regional fare is fixed whatever day you buy and is the same on direct trains and on connections with one change at Foligno.
Getting there: train via Foligno, or the coach
By train. Assisi is on the Foligno–Terontola line, not the main Rome–Florence line, so trains from Roma Termini go up the Tiber valley through Orte and Terni to Foligno and then either continue to Assisi or connect there. Regional fares are fixed: the price is the same on the day as a month ahead, there are no seat reservations and nothing sells out, so buy on the Trenitalia app the evening before. The fare is €14.45 one way; journey times run from 2 h 07 on the direct Regionale Veloce (the 06:45 from Termini arrives 09:06 on the timetable we checked) to 2 h 45 on connections with a change at Foligno, and the fare is the same either way.
Buy to Assisi Centro, not Assisi. Trenitalia calls the combined train-and-bus ticket Assisi Link: the Busitalia shuttle from the station forecourt to the town is added for €1.30 each way and shows on the same ticket. Without it you pay the driver or a tobacconist in Santa Maria degli Angeli. The Basilica's own site says the station is 3 km from the centre, buses leave every 30 minutes and take about 10 minutes. Validate paper regional tickets before boarding; the Trenitalia review has the penalties.
By coach. There is no shared Assisi-only coach on the platforms we track. The flagship is the Assisi & Orvieto day trip at €152.15, a 12-hour day that gives the morning to Assisi and the afternoon to Orvieto; prices are checked regularly. Its operator, Green Line Tours, sells the same day direct at €179 from its terminal at Via Giovanni Amendola 32 by Termini: meet 07:00, depart 07:15, Monday, Thursday and Friday from April to October, Monday and Thursday in winter, minimum six passengers. If the minimum is not reached the day is cancelled, which is the risk of a niche route in low season.
By private car. Per-vehicle days on GetYourGuide start at €500 for the Assisi and Basilica day trip and €650 for the Assisi & Cascia Santa Rita trip (10 h). For comparison, the Rome NCC operator Cab Shuttle Taxi publishes a one-way Rome–Assisi transfer at €550 for a sedan and an Assisi & Cascia private tour at €750–850 per vehicle; LivTours lists a Marmore falls & Assisi private day at €899 base price. The private day trips page explains what those figures include.
Trains from Roma Termini
| Destination | Operator | Journey | Fare band | Frequency |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Assisi | Trenitalia Regionale Veloce (direct via Foligno, or one change) | 2 h 07–2 h 45 | €14.45 fixed | roughly every 1–2 h |
| Assisi Centro (bus) | Assisi Link (Busitalia) | + 10 min | + €1.30 per ride | every 30 min |
| Orvieto | Trenitalia Regionale / Regionale Veloce | 1 h 16–2 h 08 | €10.10 fixed | roughly hourly |
The coach day, hour by hour
The day, hour by hour
Meet at the departure terminal near Termini; the exact meeting point is on your voucher. Coach leaves 07:15.
Assisi. Guided visit of the Basilica: Upper Church frescoes, Lower Church, the crypt. Tourist visits pause for Mass, so the guide times it.
Walk up through the town: Piazza del Comune, the Temple of Minerva, Santa Chiara. Free time for lunch.
Coach to Orvieto, about 1 h 30 across the Umbrian hills.
Orvieto: guided walk and the Duomo (check the listing for whether the €8 ticket is included).
Coach back to Rome; arrival around 19:30–20:00 depending on the A1.
The tour's real value is the Basilica visit with a guide who knows the fresco cycles and when Mass stops the tourist flow, plus the road link to Orvieto that the railway cannot offer. What you give up is the early morning: the Basilica opens at 06:00 and is at its quietest before the coaches arrive at 09:30, which only the train or a private car can give you.
The train day
Do-it-yourself variant
Direct Regionale Veloce from Roma Termini via Foligno; buy to 'Assisi Centro' so the bus is on the same ticket. Validate paper tickets.
Assisi station (Santa Maria degli Angeli). Bus from the forecourt to the stop below the Basilica; every 30 min, about 10 min.
Basilica: Upper Church first for Giotto's cycle, then the Lower Church and the crypt. Allow 90 minutes; silence is enforced.
Via San Francesco to Piazza del Comune; lunch in the centre. Torta al testo is the local flatbread.
Santa Chiara, then the Rocca Maggiore for the view if your legs allow; the town climbs 100 m from bottom to top.
Bus back to the station for a train around 16:30–17:00; Rome by 19:00–19:30.
The train day needs an early start because the return is the constraint: the last useful regional connections leave Assisi in the late afternoon and you do not want to be waiting at Foligno at dusk. Check the return before you leave Rome and write down two options.
What you see and how long it takes
Basilica di San Francesco (1.5–2 hours). Two churches stacked on a hillside, consecrated in 1253, plus the crypt with the saint's tomb under the Lower Church. The Upper Church has the 28-scene Life of St Francis cycle attributed to Giotto and his workshop, and the Cimabue frescoes in the transept; the Lower Church has Giotto's Magdalene chapel, Simone Martini's St Martin chapel and Pietro Lorenzetti's Passion cycle. The Museo del Tesoro in the convent (free offering) shows the convent's treasury and the Perkins collection. Guided visits run on weekdays only, 09:00–17:15 in summer and 09:00–16:15 in winter, and stop on Saturdays at 16:00.
The town (2–3 hours). From the Basilica, Via San Francesco climbs to Piazza del Comune, where the Roman Temple of Minerva is now a church front. Santa Chiara, ten minutes further, holds the San Damiano crucifix and St Clare's tomb. The Rocca Maggiore above the town is a 20-minute climb for the view over the Umbrian plain. San Damiano and the Eremo delle Carceri are outside the walls and need a taxi or a long walk; leave them for an overnight.
Santa Maria degli Angeli (30 minutes, optional). The big basilica by the station encloses the Porziuncola, the tiny chapel where the Franciscan order began. If you have 30 minutes before the return train, it is a five-minute walk from the platform.
Basilica di San Francesco, Assisi
- Lower Church
- 06:00–19:00 Apr–Oct (Wed to 18:00) · opens 06:00 Nov–Mar, Wed closes 17:30; the winter closing time is not clearly published, check on the day
- Upper Church
- 08:30–18:45 Apr–Oct · 08:30–18:00 Nov–Mar
- Crypt (tomb of St Francis)
- 06:00–18:15 all year; Fri and Sat also 21:00–22:00 for private prayer
- Guided visits
- Weekdays only, 09:00–17:15 Apr–Oct, 09:00–16:15 Nov–Mar; Saturday last entry 16:00
- Ticket
- No entry ticket published; the Museo del Tesoro asks for a free offering and admits until 20 min before closing
- From the station
- 3 km; bus from the forecourt every 30 min, about 10 min to the Basilica
From the official website: double-check before you go. basilica.sanfrancesco.org
Silence, dress and Mass
This is a living pilgrimage church, not a museum. Silence is asked for inside, shoulders and knees are covered, and tourist visits pause during liturgies at the main altars. The published weekday Masses in the Lower Church are at 07:15, 10:00, 11:00 and 18:00 in summer (07:15, 11:00 and 17:00 in winter), with more on Sundays and feast days including a Mass in English, and the crypt opens on Friday and Saturday evenings for private prayer only. The Feast of St Francis on 4 October fills the town and brings extra celebrations in the days before it; if your date is near it, expect crowds and altered hours.
Timing the train day
Three things decide whether the train version works. First, the outbound: you want the direct Regionale Veloce that leaves Termini at 06:45 or the next connection before 07:45, because anything later puts you at the Basilica after the coach groups and cuts the afternoon. Second, the change: some trains run through to Assisi, others need a platform change at Foligno with a 10–25 minute wait; both are fine, but check which yours is so you do not sit on to Perugia. Third, the return: connections from Assisi thin out after about 17:00, so pick your return train before you leave Rome and treat 16:00 at the bus stop as the deadline.
Sundays are the weak day for this trip. Regional services are sparser, the station bus is less frequent in practice, and the Basilica's Sunday programme means tourist visits pause more often; guided visits do not run at all. Strike days are announced in advance on Trenitalia's site and the trains hub explains the guaranteed regional windows (06:00–09:00 and 18:00–21:00 on weekdays), which happen to suit this trip better than most.
Adding a second town
By train, Assisi pairs naturally with Spello (one stop back towards Foligno, 10 minutes, a small hill town with Pinturicchio frescoes) or with Perugia (20–30 minutes on, the regional capital with the Galleria Nazionale dell'Umbria). Either can take an hour or two off the Assisi afternoon without changing the return. Orvieto cannot: it is on the other line and you would go back through Orte, so treat Assisi + Orvieto as a coach-only combination or a two-day plan. The Tuscany page covers Montepulciano and Pienza, which are further west and also coach territory.
Children and mobility
Assisi is steep. The Basilica sits at the bottom of the town and Piazza del Comune is a 10-minute climb up Via San Francesco; the Rocca is another 15 minutes above that. Buggies manage the main streets; the two churches are entered at different levels from different forecourts, and the crypt has steps, so wheelchair users should ask the friars at the entrance for the step-free route. The station bus is a standard city bus. Trenitalia's regional child reductions apply on the train (see the trains hub); the coach tours set their own child prices on the listing. Lunch is easy: torta al testo flatbreads, strangozzi pasta and Umbrian pork from the shops around Piazza del Comune, all quicker than a sit-down meal on a day with a train to catch.
What the day costs, side by side
| Train day | Assisi & Orvieto coach | Private Assisi day | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Transport | €28.90 return + €2.60 bus | included | €500 per vehicle |
| Entry | free | free (Duomo in Orvieto per listing) | free |
| Guide | none; Museo del Tesoro by offering | yes, both towns | driver; guide extra |
| Hours away | 9–10 | 12–13 | 9–10 |
| Per person | ≈ €32 | €152–179 | €83–250 depending on group |
Prices on the platforms
The shared coach day exists on two platforms. GetYourGuide's Assisi & Orvieto day trip has the volume of reviews and the lower price; Tiqets' Assisi & Orvieto guided day trip is €179 with no rating yet.
Same trip, platforms compared
Prices refreshed from the GetYourGuide, Tiqets and Headout feeds.
| Platform | Price | Rating | Duration | Cancellation | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GetYourGuideRome: Assisi and Orvieto Day Trip with Lunch | €161.10 Lowest price | ★ 4.6 (535) | 12 h | Free cancellation | Book on GetYourGuide |
| TiqetsAssisi & Orvieto: Guided Day Trip from Rome | €179 | — | 12:00 | — | Book on Tiqets |
Other formats
The two private products are priced per group, not per person: split €500 between four and it is €125 each for a driver and a schedule that starts at the Basilica's 06:00 opening if you want it. The Orvieto & Civita coach is the cheaper Umbrian day if St Francis is not the point.
Who should pick what
Who should pick what
Pilgrim or fresco lover, own pace
PickRegionale + Assisi Link bus
Cheapest, opens at 06:00, no schedule but the train's.
Want a guide and Orvieto too
PickBoth Umbrian towns, no train changes, guided in both.
Group of 3–6, want the door-to-door day
Pick€500 per group is €83–167 each; you choose the timing.
Santa Rita pilgrimage too
PickOnly format that reaches Cascia in a day; €650 per group.
Who runs it
The Assisi & Orvieto coach on GetYourGuide is listed under Green Line Tours, the Rome coach operator founded in 1978 with its own fleet and a terminal by Termini; our review covers its cancellation terms (free up to one working day before, €30 per person penalty on tours with entrance tickets). Carrani Tours, the century-old operator behind Gray Line I Love Rome, runs Umbria days too. For the train, the only operator is Trenitalia, and for a private car the Rome NCC firms in our Cab Shuttle Taxi review publish Assisi prices.
Verdict
Take the train if the Basilica is the reason you are going: you arrive before the coaches, you pay about €32, and the church asks nothing at the door. Take the Assisi & Orvieto coach if you want both Umbrian towns with a guide and would rather not manage a change at Foligno. A private car is worth it only for groups or for Cascia. An Assisi day trip from Rome is long whichever way you do it; the Orvieto page is the shorter Umbrian alternative and the departures board ranks every trip by hours needed.