Perugia is probably one of the most magical Italian cities I've ever been to and it's definitely the next tourist hotspot!!
Perugia is a medieval city with a wall surrounding its historical centre. Every street is full of beauty! I was lucky to visit this wonderful city during my time off after the Christmas holidays. So I've put together this post to help you know all things Perugia: How to get there, transport within the city, where to stay, and all the good stuff!
How to get there
From within Italy:
- Train - around 3 hours from Bologna but varies on where you're coming from, it's definitely a more expensive option. However, the journey lasts around 2hours 15mins.
- Bus - Flixbus is definitely the cheapest option - can be as cheap as 9.99 euros one way from Bologna. Again duration of the journey can vary from where you're coming from.
- By car - This may vary depending where you're travelling from but from Bologna it should take 3 hours maximum and from Rome it should take just over 2 hours.
- There is an airport however it is small so check with the airline you're flying with. The airport is called Perugia Santegidio (PEG).
- Public transport from the airport to the centre:Two bus services make a stop at the airport, bus number E007 and bus number E422. If you don't want to spend money on taxis, the bus is a great and inexpensive option. The only thing is, both buses run only a few times a day for the airport. The bus takes about 30 minutes to get to the centre.
The ticket to Perugia for a single journey costs € 2.50 and can buy it in the airport bar inside the airport. However, you can also buy tickets from the bus driver but they'll cost an extra €1.
- ACAP-SULGA to Perugia (airport bus)There is also the ACAP-SULGA shuttle buses coming and going from Perugia airport. These buses always coincide with flight arrivals and departures. So even though it's more expensive than the public transport option, at least you'll be sure to get a bus to the centre.
The ACAP-SULGA takes you to the Perugia Ponte San Giovanni train station and the main train station (Stazione di Perugia) in the city centre. The bus can also do hotel drop-offs so ask your driver. Again, the journey is only 30 minutes to the centre and you must book your ticket beforehand.
Travelling within Perugia
Car
I went by car to Perugia and from experience you cannot drive in the city centre so you'll have to find a place to park your car before heading to the centre. Perugia has many car parks (€0.80 to €1.60 per hour). Piazza Partigiani and the Mercato Coperto are the most central and convenient. There's also a free car park at Piazzale della Cupa.
Bus
You have to climb 1.5km to the city centre, so I would highly recommend taking the bus for anyone with luggage. The bus takes you to Piazza Italia. Again, tickets cost €1.50 from the train-station kiosk or €2 on board. Make sure to validate your ticket on board to avoid a fine.
Taxi
If you are tired of taking buses, taxis are a great option. They are available from 6am to 2am and 24 hours from July to September. Here is Perugia Taxi if you need to arrange a pick-up. You should be charged about €10 to €15, add on €1 for each suitcase.
Escalators
Perugia has installed probably the best thing to come to a city (for lazy people like me I mean), moving escalators for that 1.5km climb up to the city centre I spoke about earlier. They definitely saved my life when I was there.
Where we stayed:
We stayed in Domus Volumnia just outside Perugia and it was the most gorgeous location I've ever stayed in. I always use booking.com when I book hotels as I find them to be very good. As well as that, the more you use it the more of a discount you get on hotels! Whereas if I were looking for an apartment I like to check out AirBnb too.
This stay was something special as we went just after New Years so we spent a little more than the average price of €50 per night. For two nights we spent €170.
This doesn't mean you have to spend a lot of money to come here, Perugia has many hostels with an average price of €17/18 per night. So if you're travelling on a budget, Perugia is totally possible.
Domus Volumnia was the perfect place for a two night trip to Perugia. The staff were incredibly helpful with everything, the rooms were spotless, there was literally no noise from the road outside. It was extremely peaceful. I would love to return in the summer months to avail of that gorgeous swimming pool!
What We Did
Piazza IV November
I would advise starting in the heart of Perugia, in Piazza IV Novembre, a beautiful Italian piazza containing San Lorenzo Cathedral (which was actually never finished) and the famous fountain, Fontana Maggiore, in the middle. I went just after Christmas so the cities Christmas tree has graced my phtotos.
You can also find Palazzo dei priori and Collegio del Cambio. These two building are beautiful and from within they are completely covered in frescoes.
When you're done head to Corsi Vanucci for a coffee or a drink as you will need some down time with all the hype of your trip.
Get lost!
Every-time I visit a new city, I love to explore and literally get lost! I know that sounds mad but believe me, you'll find the smallest and quirkiest streets. I found such gems this time round and it was even accompanied with a typical Italian Fiat 500, how perfect was it for my photo hahaha! Wander everywhere because you could come across the most beautiful places.
Pozzo Etrusco (Etruscan Well)
If you make your way to Piazza IV Novembre, you'll find the Pozzo Etrusco (Etruscan Well). Etruscans were extremely dominant in Italy many years before Christ (B.C.). They existed before the Romans. They founded Perugia, and to this day you can still see their influences like this well. It only costs €3 to go! They only allow 10 people to enter at a time but don't worry the queue goes very quickly.
Via dell'acquedotto
I fell in love with this area of Perugia. Acquedotto means “aqueduct”: and it was built between 1254 and 1280, it was used to bring water from Monte Pacciano to the Fontana Maggiore. The view is just stupendous and I could have spent ages just awing at the view. It's probably the most beautiful place in the city.
Wine Tasting
We found a last minute wine tasting on TripAdvisor just outside Perugia, quite close to Assisi. The name of the winery is Tili Vini. We chose this winery as it is completely biological and they don't put any chemicals in their wines in order to speed up and make the process from grape to wine cheaper. We were delighted to have found such an ethical business as they really care about what it really means to make wine. As well as this, biological wines will always taste better due to the absence of chemicals (which most wines have nowadays). As well as this, it's better for your health and the environment, so it's genuinely a win-win situation!
As we started the tour of their winery, they showed us their vineyards and then their cellar where they make and store their wine. It really is so impressive seeing it all. After, Maria Palma (who by the way was the best tour guide) brought us inside to the dining area. She brought out 5 wines for us to taste along with specific foods (bruschetta, salumi and chocolate) to accompany the wines. We started with a white wine, followed by rose, then two red wines and finished with a sweet red wine.
We ended up buying three bottles from them as we loved them so much. We bought two bottles of "Il Rosso" and one bottle of "Rosso", creative names I know ahah but I genuinely couldn't fault the experience.
There was also a spit bucket to spit out the wine but of course neither of us used it! Maria Palma said we were so dead right to drink it all ahaha.
In total we paid €18 each for the wine tasting (am, bargain!!) and for three bottles of wine we paid €27 (€9 each, which is extremely cheap for a biological wine).
Other places to visit:
Galleria Nazionale: This is very close to the main square. There are two parts and two floors to the museum. The first one is the National Gallery of Umbria. There are some paintings of the famous Giotto there too! The second floor has more modern pieces and are changed a few times a year.
Rocca Paolina: Roccia Paoling is quite old as it was built between 1540 and 1543 by the Pope Paolo III, to try keep the power on the city of Perugia, till 1860. It is absolutely beautiful, full of medieval alleyways and arches. When I was there I was so amazed I never even thought to take out my phone to snap some photos. I would highly recommend going. Those escalators I spoke about earlier also bring you here.
Giardini Carducci: I wish we had had the time to visit this place as it looks amazing. They are small gardens just below Rocca Paolina. Although it's called a garden I believe it’s more like a terrace where you have a beautiful view. Great photo op and in my opinion a very romantic place.
Porta Sole: So this old door/arch is about 1km away from Giardini Carducci. From this place you'll get another gorgeous view of Perugia. If you head back down the stairs you'll come to Via dell'acquedotto where I showed you before.
Baci Chocolate Factory: Live your Willy Wonka dreams by heading to the Baci chocolate factory just outside Perugia. We were meant to go but unfortunately we didn't know we had to book our visit before. So go check it out and make sure you book your visit! Oh and eat all the chocolate possible.
Where we ate
I'll only recommend the places we enjoyed on the trip as we had one place we didn't like as the service wasn't good and another evening we skipped dinner as I came down with a bad migraine (note to self: don't take a nap after wine tasting!)
Tozza
After a day of sightseeing we wandered upon a restaurant called Tozza, we were so lucky with this find as we just chanced our arm and it was fabulous. We got fried meatballs for a starter and they were the nicest things ever. We've even tried recreating them at home but they weren't the same.
For our mains we got a pumpkin and sausage pasta (this wasn't on the menu as it was one of the specials that day) and pasta with truffles (tartufo).
Olevm
If you're fortunate enough to be travelling by car to Perugia I have a great restaurant for you! As we had the car, we could travel around a bit in the search of restaurants so we travelled to Montefalco for dinner which was about 30 minutes from where we were staying. We were actually lucky to get a place here as we should have booked. Luckily we got a place to sit.
We ordered a meat and cheese board which filled us right up. Then we moved onto our mains. We got ravioli stuffed with mozzarella in a tomato sauce as well as strangozzi al culo mosso (pasta with pachino tomatoes, pancetta, rocket and parmigiano). For dessert I had to order some lovely mascarpone. I would definitely come back here.
Typical dishes in Perugia
If you never knew, every region and city in Italy have their own specialities, so you must try at least one of the following if you travel to Perugia:
- Truffles (tartufo)
- Pecorino Cheese
- Prociutto di Norcia
- Porchetta
- Salciccia secca (dried sausage)
- Extra virgin olive oil
- Torta al Testo (a type of flat bread)
- Baci Chocolate (Perugia is world famous for its chocolate)
Ok we got through it all!! You deserve a medal to have gotten this far ahaha. I really put in a lot of information for you! I hope all of this helps you to have a wonderful time in Perugia.
Leave a comment or message me if you're going, if this post helped or if you're planning on going! Have the best trip! Don't blame me when you fall in love with Perugia!
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