Hello, my wife and I are flying non-stop from Dulles airport in Washington DC to Rome, arriving Sunday March 29 at 8:10 AM. We need to get to Florence ASAP and would like to book our train in advance. How much time should I give myself from scheduled arrival time to actually boarding the train? I don't want to book so tight that I miss my train and on the other hand, don't want to waste time waiting. We are attending a wedding and could not avoid checking luggage so we need to factor that in as well. Should we even book the train in advance given the number of unknowns? Any advice would be greatly appreciated!
Posted by
Tresana, Highlands Ranch, CO, USA
23650 posts
Personally given your situation I would not book in advance given the number of variables you cannot control. If you book in advance with a discount ticket it is dead if you miss it. We have passed through Rome a numbers of times and at most it is an hour or so from deplaning to being in the train station at the airport with no checked luggage. However, one Saturday it took nearly three hours just to get through immigration. That is the big variable. And checking luggage will probably add an 30 min or so. Since you most likely will have to take the train to Termini and transfer to the Florence train. Buy the ticket when you get there. There is more than 30 trains a day between Rome and Florence.
Posted by
872 posts
Booking in advance you will chose a later train, giving enough time, and if you miss it your tickets will be worthless. Fiumicino Aeroporto to Firenze SM Novella; get the Trenitalia app, tickets after retrieving your luggage. The direct train is not until 10:53, so you will most likely be on an earlier one, changing at a downtown station. In doing that, locate the platform number from where your train will depart by referring to the train number on the departure board.
Posted by
Firenze
500 posts
Everybody asks, nobody knows
Posted by
Italy
3812 posts
get to Florence ASAP
and
book our train in advance
are in contradiction.
Do like anyone else who needs to take the first possible train: install trenitalia's app and purchase a through ticket to Florence when you see your luggage on the conveyor belt.
Otherwise get the tickets at the airport station. There is no need to make things more difficult getting tickets in advance. Imagine arriving earlier than expected and being forced to wait while watching trains departing to Florence!
Posted by
Edmonds, WA 🌨 ☂
12019 posts
We need to get to Florence ASAP .............. We are attending a wedding
Is that on the 29th?
Posted by
OP
2 posts
Thank you all very much for your assistance. I will follow your advice and get the trenitalia app.