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Seven hour wait at FCO

Posted by on

My husband, seventeen year old son, and I are going on a group tour for ten days this coming June and staying an extra six days on our own afterwards, so we booked our own flights instead of booking with the touring company. We meet our group at FCO and immediately travel by bus to Assisi. Our flight arrives at FCO at 7:55am and originally the group flights were to arrive at 9:55am. That arrival time has been moved back to 3:15pm, so we now have seven hours to wait.

We were considering taking a taxi to Ostia Antica to see the ruins for a few hours, is that a crazy idea? Otherwise, does anyone have any suggestions on how/where to spend our airport time if we wait there? We have access to the Prima Vista lounge through United, but the reviews of the lounge are abysmal. We could also buy access to one of the other lounges.

Any suggestions would be great!

Posted by
17562 posts

You could ask the tour company if you could meet them at the hotel in Assisi. We have done that with tours several times.

You would be responsible for getting yourselves ther, but it is an easy journey—- less than 3 hours by train if you taxi into Rome (50€ flat fee) end the take the train, with a single change. Or you could start with the train from FCO to the Rome station, but that is more complicated with the timing and takes 4.5 hours or more.

Either would be better, in my view, than sitting in the airport for 7 hours and then adding the bus ride to Assisi.

Posted by
6587 posts

Sounds like a plan to me. I can't speak to the transportation piece in terms of getting there from the airport. I do see a direct bus and travel time with a 17 minute walk is between 35-40 minutes. Looks like the bus goes past a couple other archeology sites on the way to Ostia. When you use your navigation use, Parco Archeologico di Ostia Antica. I'd give yourself a good buffer to get back to meet your group. Of course, a taxi is an option as well (looks like that is a 15 minute drive).

What I can say that Ostia Antica is a very worthwhile excursion. We loved it. It is a manageable size, has grass and trees. There is an small indoor museum and a small cafe. For me, 4 hours does it, but many could do it in a couple hours.

I'm guessing that they have water, but I'd advise bringing some as well as a hat. Will you have a place to store your luggage?

Posted by
5236 posts

..taking a taxi to Ostia Antica to see the ruins for a few hours, is that a crazy idea?...

I don't think it's a crazy idea at all. In fact, I think it's a good idea.

The only possible snags (which you can check out) are: Is there a place at the airport to store your luggage outside the secured area until you return to meet the group? And you might have to do some planning to be sure you can get a local taxi back to the airport.

Regardless, it seems to me that would be less hassle and stressful than meeting the group in Assi.

Posted by
2 posts

Things I didn’t take into consideration that someone may be able to tell me:

Can we even choose to stay in the terminal after going through customs? We will have carry-on only luggage so won’t have to go immediately to baggage claim. Can we choose the in transit route through customs at FCO when we don’t have a connecting flight to catch?

I know there are luggage storage options near the baggage claim area if we do choose to go somewhere.

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