We are traveling to Italy in first week of October to join a RS tour starting in Padova between Venice and Verona.
Wishing to buy tickets from Rome termini station I’m wondering how much time is required between landing at FCO, traversing customs (with no checked bags), riding the Leonardo train to the Termini station and catching a train north?
Posted by
San Francisco Bay Area (USA)
18016 posts
The Leonardo Express train departs every 15 minutes and needs 32 min to reach Termini.
From the time the Leonardo Express arrives at Termini the walk to the fast trains is at least 5 minutes, so 10 minutes is the minimum layover. I prefer to have more so that I’m at the platform 10+ minutes is prior to departure. That gives me extra time to confirm the track departure number on the display (they occasionally change), and look for the proper train car.
Traversing customs is a walk through the “nothing to declare line”. What may take an unpredictable amount of time is the line at passport control, especially now with the introduction of the EES. I have no experience of that as I am a EU citizen, but in some European airports they experienced long lines, at least this summer when many arriving passengers hit that line simultaneously.
An even bigger unknown is whether the plane will depart and arrive on time. Plane delays are not uncommon.
Because of the above reasons I prefer to buy the train tickets at the FCO station whenever I arrive. Obviously I pay the full price as the discounted fares are gone by then.
If you are willing to take the risk of missing the train you book and losing your investment to save money on a pre-purchased discounted tickets, then I would give myself extra cushion of a few hours just in case.
Posted by
OP
11 posts
Thank you sir for your very helpful and common sense response. You just brought my anxiety level down five notches.