Destinations
Hotels in Umbria,Italy
The green heart of Italy, Umbria offers Italy in miniature: from crumbling castles to rolling fields from soaring Monte Amiata with its ski slopes to shimmering Lake Trasimeno with beaches.
We love Umbria, its relaxed pace, wonderful food and wine and the chance to do a little shopping at truly excellent prices. Umbria is largely rural but this is a plus if all you really want is somewhere green, clean and unspoilt to relax and unwind. Spello for art, Spoleto for markets, Assisi for culture and Perugia for its spectacular necropolis; the cities of Umbria remain largely undiscovered by mass tourism.
Equidistant from Rome and Florence has meant that Umbria has suffered from a lack of direct flights to the UK, but now that its airport is fully open you, lucky traveller, have the chance to sample the best of a region beloved by writers, artists, poets and sculptors. People who are willing to travel that little bit further to escape the traditional tourist routes include Monica Bellucci (born here), Lucy Liu, Maggie Smith, Colin Firth and Angus Deayton.
We have picked out a selection of our favourite hotels in Umbria for you to have a look through, including a 4* hotel in the centre of Perugia. For even more choice please use our search function.
Things to do in Umbria
- Visit Assisi: outside of the summer months Assisi is the best place to visit and as many tour groups of happy Christians often sing in the streets you may find yourself smiling with them. Don’t miss the Rocca Maggiore, Eremo delle Carceri and Basilica of San Francesco one of the finest churches in the world with frescoes by Cimabue, Giotto, Martini and Lorenzetti – truly awe inspiring.
- Wine tasting: the Sagrantino di Montefalco is unique, the vines won’t grow anywhere else. Passito a type of sweet red desert wine is also made across Umbria but the more famous whites from Orvieto and full bodied reds from Torgiano also hit the spot. A tip? Try the red wine from Fanini near Petrignano del Lago as it is a Montepulciano super Tuscan but can’t be called that as the farmhouse is in Umbria even if the vines aren’t.
- Shopping: Deruta for majolica and ceramics, Spello for art and crafts, Montefalco for hand made linens, Solomeo for Cashmere, Perugia for Chocolate. Tough to transport home with some airline weight allowances, but well worth the effort.
- Party with the locals: Feste are day or week long parties devoted to whatever makes a particular town famous. Mass events with, dining, singing and partying. Racing candles in Gubbio, eurochocolate in Perugia and the two worlds festival in Spoleto. My favourite is the Gaite; a market style event in Bevagna when the whole town goes completely medieval - usually 10 - 24 June.
- Relax: From April to October the weather in Umbria is uniformly excellent and with the exception of scalding August is ideal for a relaxing break and the chance to wander about at leisure without the risk of being slow cooked by baking city streets or being crushed by sandy bodies all desperate to claim a few square feet of beach. Enjoy the slow pace of rural country life and relax by a pool instead – it’s so much more relaxing.
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Sangallo Palace Hotel - Modern yet comfortable (4 stars)
We love Sangallo Palace Hotel because...
This 4 star city hotel in the capital, Perugia, offers a sanctuary from the busy city streets with great facilities, great views and also a pool. A bastion of modern Italian style in a city that owes much to the Etruscans and later medieval period which saw it boom.From £60.75 pppn
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