Private transfer
Rome city centre · about 45 min
The one option that solves the 6 km between the two villas: a driver who waits turns two separate journeys into one day, and takes you back when you are done, not when the timetable says.
Italy · DestinationTivoli
Tivoli
Mediterranean
Renaissance villas and UNESCO water gardens — Villa d’Este and Hadrian’s Villa — an hour from Rome.
Renaissance villas and UNESCO water gardens — Villa d’Este and Hadrian’s Villa — an hour from Rome.
Visiting Tivoli
Tivoli 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.
How to arrive in Tivoli
Thirty kilometres from Rome and poorly connected to it. The train leaves you below the old town, the two villas are 6 km apart, and the return timetables thin out in the afternoon.
Regional train
Roma Tiburtina · about 1 h
Cheap and about an hour, but the station is below the old town and a long way from Hadrian's Villa, which lies out of town in the opposite direction: you arrive and still need a bus or a taxi.
Cotral coach
Ponte Mammolo, Rome · 50 min or more
From the metro terminus, and it stops nearer the centre than the train does. The cheapest way there, but services thin out in the afternoon, which is when you want to come back.
What to see
Hadrian's Villa, 120 hectares of imperial estate with almost no shade, and Villa d'Este, a garden of five hundred jets that runs on gravity alone. Villa Gregoriana's gorge if there is time.
What to eat
Roman cooking with a country accent: pasta alla sabinese, lamb, and the olive oil of the Sabina hills, which has had a protected designation since long before it was fashionable.
Around Tivoli
The travertine quarries that built Rome, the sulphur springs of the Acque Albule, and the road up into the Monti Lucretili for those who want the hills rather than the monuments.
Accommodation
Where are the best places to stay in Tivoli?
Where to stay in Tivoli
Tivoli 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 Tivoli for our collection. In the meantime, browse our handpicked places across the Mediterranean — many within easy transfer reach.
Ask us about stays in TivoliExperiences
What are the best things to do in Tivoli?
What to do in Tivoli
Tivoli 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 Tivoli. In the meantime, explore everything available across our Mediterranean destinations — many include pick-up nearby.
Ask us about tours in TivoliGet Around
How do I get around Tivoli?
Caserta (Reggia)
Private car · Fixed price
Naples Airport
Private car · Fixed price
Naples City Center
Private car · Fixed price
Naples Station
Private car · Fixed price
Naples Port
Private car · Fixed price
Ercolano
Private car · Fixed price
Pompei
Private car · Fixed price
Massa Lubrense
Private car · Fixed price
Vico Equense
Private car · Fixed price
Seiano
Private car · Fixed price
Sorrento
Private car · Fixed price
Castellammare di Stabia
Private car · Fixed price
Travel guide
What should I know before visiting Tivoli?
Two villas, eighteen centuries apart
Tivoli stands on the slopes of the Monti Tiburtini, about 30 km east of Rome, where the river Aniene drops off the hills towards the plain. That water is the reason for everything here: it powered the ancient town, it fed the travertine quarries that built half of Rome, and it still runs through the garden that made the place famous. Two UNESCO sites sit within a few kilometres of one another, and they have almost nothing in common except the hill they share.
Hadrian's Villa is the older by far. Built between 118 and 138 AD, it was not a villa in any modern sense but an imperial estate of some 120 hectares, in which Hadrian reproduced the buildings that had struck him on his travels through Greece and Egypt. What survives is a vast archaeological park of pools, baths, libraries and colonnades, mostly roofless and deliberately spread out. It takes two to three hours on foot and very little of it is shaded, which matters from June to September.
Villa d'Este, up in the town itself, was laid out from 1550 for Cardinal Ippolito II d'Este, who had the Aniene diverted to feed it. Its garden is a machine that runs entirely on gravity: some five hundred jets, cascades and water organs, none of them pumped. The Hundred Fountains, the Oval Fountain and the Organ Fountain, which plays music made by water and air alone, are the set pieces. An hour and a half is enough, and the terraces are steep.
A third site, if there is time
Below the old town, Villa Gregoriana is a wooded gorge rather than a garden, built around the Great Waterfall that Pope Gregory XVI created in 1835 by diverting the Aniene into a tunnel to stop the floods. It is a steep descent and a steeper climb back, and after rain the noise of the water fills the whole ravine.
Getting there, and why it is the awkward part
Tivoli is close to Rome and badly connected to it. The train from Roma Tiburtina takes about an hour, but the station sits below the old town and a long way from Hadrian's Villa, which is out of town in the other direction: you arrive and still need a local bus or a taxi. The Cotral coach from Ponte Mammolo is the cheaper way and stops nearer the centre, but the timetables thin out in the afternoon, which is exactly when you want to come back.
By road it is about 45 minutes from central Rome, and a car or a private transfer solves the problem the public options create: the two villas are 6 km apart, on opposite sides of the town, and a driver who waits turns two separate journeys into one. Most people underestimate this and lose an hour and a half moving between them.
When to come
Spring and early autumn are the best of it: the garden is at its fullest and the archaeological park is walkable. In high summer, go early, because Hadrian's Villa has almost no shade and closes the ticket office well before sunset. Both sites shut on Mondays in some seasons, which is the single most common way to waste the journey: check before setting out, not on the way.
Frequently asked
About Tivoli
Can you see both villas in one day?+
Yes, and it is the normal way to do it, provided you start in the morning. Hadrian's Villa takes two to three hours on foot, Villa d'Este about an hour and a half, and between them there are 6 km on opposite sides of the town. The usual order is Hadrian's Villa first, while it is cooler and the light is better on the open ruins, then the garden in the afternoon. The part that goes wrong is the connection: with public transport it costs an hour and a half and depends on a local bus, while a driver who waits makes it a ten minute hop. Check the closing days before setting out, because both sites shut on Mondays in some seasons.
Is Tivoli worth it if I only have a few days in Rome?+
On a first visit of three days, probably not: Rome itself will fill them without effort. From the fourth day onwards it becomes the best use of a day out, because it offers something the city does not. Hadrian's Villa is the scale of imperial Rome laid out in open country instead of squeezed between later buildings, and Villa d'Este is a garden that has no equivalent in the city. The deciding factor is usually the journey: 45 minutes each way by road, appreciably more if you depend on the train and the local bus.
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