I am planning to spend 9 days alone in Italy. I am interested in taking the overnight train from Venice to Rome but I am SCARED. I have done a couple of overnight trains ( St. Petersburg to Moscow and Paris to Barcelona) but never by myself and never in Italy. Do I need to be afraid of the Italian trains or being alone? Will i be in a four bed couchette or two bed couchette with some sex crazed Italian man or am I pretty safe? Any thing I can do to increase my safety? Or , do I give up on the idea and travel shorter trips by day and get to rome at the end of my trip?
Posted by
Elk Grove, CA, USA
6898 posts
Why would you take an overnight train from Venice to Rome when it's a 4.5hr. trip during the daytime? Even on the night train, you won't get much sleep. Note that Trenitalia's 235 Allegro Tosca night train departs at 03:11 in the morning AND, it departs from Venezia Mestre and not Venezia Santa Lucia. Oddly, I don't see any trains departing Santa Lucia during the early hours of the morning. You may have to stay in Mestre. You may have to take a earlier train to Milan and catch the 23:55 night train from there to Rome. Overall, this is an 11.0hr. journey. Have you thought all of this through?
On most night trains, you can get compartments that are female only.
Posted by
Piedmont, nc, usa
316 posts
I agree with Larry. I wouldn't take an overnight train for such a short trip. I take a late afternoon/early evening train and take a snack or sandwich and water along. That way I've used up the entire day and spend the time I would normally go to dinner and stroll around on the train. I catch up on postcards,journal, reading, etc. as well as enjoy the view from the train. Then I get a good night's sleep in a hotel and am ready to go first thing in the morning. What shorter trips do you have planned? If you are going to Florence or any other town between Venice and Rome you would probably want to see them as you go rather than backtrack.
Posted by
Kentwood, Michigan, USA
166 posts
Paula,
Take the day train, go first class and I guarantee you will not have any problems at all, its as safe as an airplane.
Greg
Posted by
San Jose, CA, USA
424 posts
Paula, I would take the day train and enjoy the beautiful scenery. I've done this twice alone last year. First class gets you a guaranteed seat assigned to you. You can read up on Rome as you travel along.
Posted by
Minneapolis, MN, USA
8700 posts
For the record, ICN 771 leaves Venezia Santa Lucia at 00:04 and arrives at Roma Tiburtina at 06:52. However, this train appears on the Trenitalia timetables through 15 June, but not after that. Perhaps it will appear after the new timetables are fully loaded on the site--or perhaps it will be discontinued after 15 June. At any rate, a person can choose either female only or mixed couchette accommodations.
Posted by
Elk Grove, CA, USA
6898 posts
Good catch Tim. I was looking at 6/24 and this train was not there. I have to go back to continue looking in May for awhile. L.