Help! Cotral bus from FCO to Sleep'N'Go hotel?

hey hey aislinn
take a taxi, not worth being stressed out lke you seem now plus late night arrival.

save on one less bottle of wine & a panini for dinner😁
aloha

Haha, honestly not that stressed about it despite the wall of text, I'm just a min-maxer when it comes to budget, and we're going for a month so I'm trying to pinch pennies (and not paninis) where we can. The temptation of saving ~30€ is just too much to ignore! Worst case if it is all too complicated on the day we'll just get a taxi, but I'm curious if anyone here has definite info about the bus.

Find your bus schedule here Cotral AA13A
I always purchase my tickets in the app, but I think there was a ticket vending machine on the wall at the bus stop.

The hotel website doesn't have a 'how to get here' blurb?

Or, just ask the hotel for the 'how to' info?

Hotel recommends a taxi and gave me the local number, said they think the bus runs until 11:30PM but weren't sure if it was always available. Unfortunately we'll be a late night self-check in so I can't get the hotel shuttle.

Looks like I can't buy tickets on the cotral app without a European phone# (we're in Canada), so unless we make good time in the airport (possible, since we arent checking any bags) and the ticket machine is right by the bus stop, we might end up doing cab.

In that case, is 25-30€ reasonable to expect? And how to avoid getting scammed if I call the cab?

As for taxis, don't be surprised if the ones at the front refuse to take you to your hotel... they prefer the longer journeys to Rome...

I would not stay in Fiumicino if the next morning you plan to go to Venice.
I would find a hotel near the Roma Termini station, actually walking distance from the Termini station, which is the station where you will catch the train to Venice. Upon arrival I would take the Leonardo Express from the airport to Termini for 14€ per person (unless there are more than 3 people traveling together, in which case a taxi might be an option, since the fare is 55€). The last Leonardo Express departs the airport at 11:53pm.
Then the next morning I would walk from your Rome hotel to the station to catch the train to Venice.

Since you seem to be budget conscious the option you have chosen to sleep in Fiumicino may not be that much cheaper. I don’t know how much that hotel charges, but the fare from the airport to anywhere in the City of Fiumicino is subject to a minimum of 25€. Considering you may be subject to night charges a and luggage charges, you are looking at 30-35€ fare minimum, one way. You can double that to return to the airport the next morning to catch the train. If you decide to go to Rome from Fiumicino city by taxi the next morning, instead of by train from the airport, the fare is 80€ now.
i would cancel the Sleep’n’Go and find me a hotel at Termini.

Thanks for the advice! Our train to Venice isnt until 10am the next day, so the current plan is to get up early and take the bus back to FCO and then the train in to Termini. I will look into switching our hotels however, as it is all looking a bit more complicated than I'd like. I'm just hesitant to head into the city in the middle of the night since we're not familiar with Rome, and this is our first international trip tavelling on our own without a big family group.

In case we do make the switch but end up getting out of the airport later than the last Leonardo Express, does anyone have experience/advice for just crashing overnight in FCO until the first bus/train into the city? At that point I feel like it wouldn't be worth it to truck into the city and only get a few hours at the hotel anyway.

Going from the airport terminal to the Fiumicino station is a matter of just walking across the skywalk and taking an escalator. No danger there as the airport is always busy. Once you take the train and get off at Termini just walk to the hotel. Rome is safe compared to any American cities. Some people are spooked by the huge amounts of African immigrants who congregate at Termini at night, but it’s just been the place where many Africans meet up in Rome for many years, so nothing to worry about. You are indeed in Rome, although at first glance you might think you are in Nairobi. Nobody will bother you. Just walk straight to your destination without minding those solicitors trying to advertise some hotel.

If you happen to arrive late after the trains stop running, take a taxi at the taxi stand in front of the terminal. The fare is a flat 55€ for up to 4 passengers. If there are 3 of you it’s just a little over the train price, and the taxi will drop you in front of the hotel door. Taxicabs operate 24/7 and there is always a queue of taxicabs at the airport taxi stand.

Given your plan to go to Venice the next morning I would definitely stay near Termini, otherwise from your hotel in Fiumicino you need to depart really early in the morning to make the 10am train to Venice from Termini, especially if you plan to take a bus to the airport. The Leonardo Express train runs every 15 min (at :08 :23 :38 :53 after the hour) and takes 32 min to Termini, therefore you’d need to be at the airport station on time to take the 8:53 train to comfortably make the change to Venice without having to fret. If you stay at a hotel near Termini, you can sleep longer and have a comfortable breakfast at the hotel.

Thanks! You've convinced me haha, I've gone ahead and got us a room at the YellowSquare in Termini, since we had a discount code from our Florence booking later in the trip. We'll end up paying a little more than we would have if we'd managed to pull off the bus option, but less than if we had to take taxis both ways. Hopefully we wont need to taxi into Rome as that will definitely throw the budget off, but così è la vita!

Hopefully we wont need to taxi into Rome

That won't be necessary ... since Cotral bus continues to run during the night.
Timetable here

Oh that's really good to know too, thanks! For anyone using this thread in the future, I also just found this article which covers a lot of the options, although it doesnt mention the night Cotral bus to Termini, or being able to purchase tickets direct from the Cotral bus driver (currently €7 I believe).

https://www.cestee.com/airport/rome-fiumicino-fco/transport

Also just saying again that currently you cannot buy Cotral tickets through the app without a european phone#, but you might be able to get around that with an esim.

If budget is an issue, there are several bus companies, in addition to CO.TRA.L, that can take you to Termini for less than half the price of the Leonardo Express train, like SIT bus and Terravision, which I think charge only 5€ or so. You just need to go to their respective websites and check their timetable to see until what time they run.

https://www.adr.it/web/aeroporti-di-roma-en/pax-fco-bus