The white village on the sea south of Rome, with Tiberius's grotto and two beaches on either side of its headland.
The white village on the sea south of Rome, with Tiberius's grotto and two beaches on either side of its headland.
Sperlonga is a Mediterranean destination in Lazio, Italy. Browse handpicked vacation rentals, guided tours and experiences, boat charters and airport transfers, then book directly with the local hosts and drivers behind each listing.
No station in the village, and the nearest one is 10 km inland. Two hours from Rome by road, and in August the car parks fill by mid-morning.
Rome or Ciampino (CIA) · about 2 h from Rome
Door to door, with a drop-off at the edge of the old town where cars have to stop anyway. It removes the two things that go wrong here: the connection from Fondi and the parking in August.
Roma Termini · 1 h 15 plus the bus
The cheapest way down the coast, but the station is 10 km inland and the last stretch is a local bus: frequent in summer, a handful a day out of season, and the last one back is early.
The Villa of Tiberius with its sea cave dining room and the Odyssey sculptures reassembled in the museum beside it, and the whitewashed lanes of the old town above the two beaches.
Fish, and the local speciality is the tiella di Gaeta, a sealed savoury pie filled with octopus or escarole, eaten by hand and sold by weight up and down this coast.
Gaeta and its split mountain half an hour south, Terracina and the temple of Jupiter above the sea to the north, and the ferries for Ponza leaving from Formia and Terracina.
Accommodation
Sperlonga offers a range of places to stay, from design hotels and boutique apartments to family-run guesthouses. Every property is handpicked and booked directly with the local host.
We're currently curating the best stays in Sperlonga for our collection. In the meantime, browse our handpicked places across the Mediterranean — many within easy transfer reach.
Ask us about stays in SperlongaExperiences
Sperlonga offers guided tours, tastings and local experiences led by people who know the area. Every experience is curated and booked directly with the local operator.
We're expanding our tours and experiences in Sperlonga. In the meantime, explore everything available across our Mediterranean destinations — many include pick-up nearby.
Ask us about tours in SperlongaTravel guide
Sperlonga sits on a rocky headland about 120 km south of Rome, on the stretch of coast that tourist brochures call the Riviera di Ulisse. The old town is a knot of whitewashed houses, arches and stepped lanes, and the white is not decoration: it was lime, cheap and disinfectant, and it kept the houses cool. Cars stop at the edge, which is the reason the place still looks like itself.
The headland splits the coast in two, and that is the practical thing to know: the Spiaggia di Levante lies to the east and the Spiaggia di Ponente to the west, both sandy, both long, and the wind almost always favours one of the two. If one side is choppy, you walk ten minutes and the other is calm.
At the eastern end of the bay stands the Villa of Tiberius, and it is the reason Sperlonga appears in history books. The emperor built it around a natural sea cave which he turned into a dining room, with a table on an island in a pool and a set of vast marble sculpture groups showing scenes from the Odyssey. In 26 AD part of the cave collapsed during dinner; Tacitus records that Sejanus shielded Tiberius with his own body.
The sculptures were found in thousands of fragments in 1957 and reassembled in the museum built beside the site. What you see is a cave open to the sea, the outline of the pools, and next door the Polyphemus and Scylla groups put back together. An hour and a half covers both, and it is best early: there is no shade on the site.
Sperlonga has no railway station. The nearest is Fondi-Sperlonga, about 10 km inland, and from there you need a local bus or a taxi to cover the last stretch. In summer the buses run often enough; out of season they thin out to a handful a day, and the last one back is earlier than you would like.
By road it is about two hours from central Rome and a little over an hour and a half from Ciampino. Parking in August is its own problem: the car parks above the village fill by mid-morning and the alternative is a long walk uphill. A private transfer drops you at the edge of the old town and removes both the connection and the parking.
June and September are the best compromise: the sea is warm, the village is awake, and you can still find a table. July and August are Italian summer at full volume, with the beaches organised into establishments and the lanes busy until late. Out of season Sperlonga is quiet to the point of being closed, which some people come for deliberately.
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