Rome train advice

I doubt if you there would be impact much by rush hour. You are coming into the city, most are leaving. An IC or regional train could be more crowded but I doubt if you would use a regional train from Florence.

Hello Kathy,

All Italian trains can be a bit hectic. That seems to be the Italian way, but it is nothing to be concerned about since that is not a commuter train that you will be taking. Skip the taxis. However, if you do arrive during rush hour (ora di punta) and you need transit to your hotel do be careful on the metro or buses. You might choose to have dinner in Florence and take a late train back to Rome. Likely you will arrive at Termini station. If the metro is still running you can take it or a bus back to your hotel. Taxis used to charge an extra fee after certain hours of the night, but if you feel safer that way then it is worth the extra fee. Rome can be intimidating, especially at night. It helps to know a few choice words in Italian. I would not hurry back to Rome. If you are visiting Florence for the day you ought to spend as much time there as possible. Another idea (though an added expense) is to arrive in Florence really early, check into a small family-run hotel, and stay overnight, returning to Rome mid-morning of the following day. Florence is really worth a long look! happy travels,

Will

Really, I think your only limiting factor in arriving at rush hour would be the availablility of the train. We were planning to leave earlier in the afternoon from Florence and had to wait for the next train because the first was full (fast train). If you know for sure which train you want to catch, you can buy the ticket when you arrive in Florence. We arrived in Rome at about 5:00 ish and had no troubles. I would highly suggest using the metro though. It was busy, but we used the the last and first cars which made it managable. It is clean and safe and easy, but does not yet reach all areas of the town.

On an unrelated note:

When we bought our tickets at the automated ticket machine, we would choose seats that were next to each other. On two occasions, our seats ended up being scheduled caddy corner with one at the window and the other across and in the aisle. I don't know if we were just being stupid, there is a software glitch, or there is a software glitch in the english version. We were able to ask the other people to switch with us and all was ok.

Thank you all very much[INVALID]this is so helpful. Can you tell me if the metro is well marked in the Termini station? And, if needed, the Italian word for metro (or is it metro?!)

We will be staying near Florence for the majority of our time and will be going into Rome for just two days/two nights. If you also have any recommendations on what else to see near Florence I would love to hear from you. I was thinking maybe Sienna and then also one or two of the hill towns that Rick Steves recommends[INVALID]Volterra and San Gimignano possibly. We will be traveling with our two sons, ages 22 and 20. We will have a rental car.

You'll have no problem finding the metro, it's well marked. If you have a lot of luggage you might want to take a cab instead of the metro. Just make sure to avoid the drivers who approach you and get one from the cab rank.

Donna

Crooked, crooked taxi drivers. Avoid picking one up that is not lined up at an official taxi stand. The ones lined up for the next fare are the guys that are following the rules for the most part. It's the ones that are sitting alone outside tourist sites like The Vatican or Villa Borghese, etc. that you have to watch out for. I made the mistake of taking a couple of these rogue taxis for the sake of expediency and got taken for a ride, literally and figuratively. There will be plenty of taxis queued up at the entrance of the train station, and if you have to, you can always get an espresso at the snack bar and wait out rush hour. Although, I would just get in and go.

The Italian word for "Metro" is indeed "Metro". Look for the big red sign with a white M on it. And FWIW, the Italian word for ATM is "bancomat."

If you know what day (and approximate times) you plan on traveling to/from Florence, I would suggest stopping by the train station a day or two ahead of time and buying your roundtrip ticket beforehand. We were going from Venice to Florence last Monday, showed up at the Santa Lucia station and were surprised to find out that the two morning trains we considered taking were already sold out and we had to wait for the 1:00 train. So we wouldn't be potentially "wasting" time hanging around the train station, we pre-bought our Florence to Rome tickets at Santa Lucia as well.

Enjoy your trip!

Thanks to all for the helpful and relevant suggestions, they are sincerely appreciated.