We are flying to Rome next Friday/Saturday and should arrive in Rome 11:30 a.m. We have reservations on the Fiumicino Express bus at 1:25 to Naples. We are checking bags. Worried that 2 hours will not be enough time to clear customs/passport control and get our bags and get our bus on time. Anyone with recent experience landing in Rome on a Saturday around the same time? Fiumicino Express doesn't have another bus leaving until almost 3:00 pm and although we can take the train, I'm thinking we'll be too sleep deprived to deal with it.
Posted by
Ontario, Canada
5653 posts
Hard to say without knowing how many passport control desks will be open when you arrive. Out of curiosity, I looked at FCO arrivals for tomorrow morning, and while there are a lot of arrivals between 10:30 and 11:30, only 6 or 7 are from outside Schengen (needing to go through passport control.) Customs is a non event. You just go thru the "nothing to declare" door after picking up your bags after passport control.
Nothing you can do but hope for the best, and don't dawdle.
Posted by
Vernon, Canada
32398 posts
phyllis,
I agree with the first reply. There are a lot of variables that could affect your timing. If they only have a few officers on duty at Passport control and a bunch of flights arrive at the same time, you could be waiting in a queue for awhile. This is why many of us here on the forum don't recommend buying transportation tickets to connect with incoming flights. Customs is just a "walk through" unless you have something to declare (which most tourists don't).
I've found that especially in Italy, one has to be prepared for anything. For example, on one of my past flights into Rome my checked baggage was delivered to a different terminal. In order to collect it, I had to go through security as if I was a departing passenger.
If you're going to be "sleep deprived", I'd think that waiting for another Bus at 15:00 would be more of a problem than taking one of the high speed trains to Naples.
Posted by
OP
18 posts
Thanks for the responses. The trains to Naples are twice the price as the Fiumicino Express; I think we will switch to the 3:00 bus, which would give us 3 1/2 hours to clear passport control and grab our luggage. The Fiumicino Express is at Terminal 3 which is where our plane arrives, so fingers crossed this will be enough time. One of the issues is our ultimate destination is Sorrento and we have a driver picking us up in Naples, so we need to give them a time to pick us up.
Posted by
Tresana, Highlands Ranch, CO, USA
23653 posts
It is a dice roll. Our worse experience was on a Sat with only two officers on duty. Nearly three hours. Others times have always been about a hour plus or minus 15 mins