train from Rome to Sienna

We did this back in 2012. I did find a train that went directly from Rome to Sienna. It was faster to take the high speed train from Rome to Florence, walk across the street to the bus station, then take the bus to Sienna. I think the bus itself was about an hour.

Trains works fine between the cities named, but usually with one connection on each leg, see www.trenitalia.com (also sells tickets) or the DB link at How to Look Up Train Schedules and Routes Online. After taking a fast train from Rome to Florence, you can either connect there to a regional train to Siena or walk a block and take a bus to Siena, which may drop you closer to your hotel. There's no need to book tickets ahead, but the fast train tickets from Rome to Florence may be cheaper if booked ahead.

Or, buses run direct for both rides, several times per day. There are direct buses from Roma Tiburtina station to Siena (3 hrs) and Bus line 138 runs direct several times per day from Siena to Arezzo.

You will be fine with the trains. If you look at the Trenitalia website, you'll see some Regionale trains and some fast trains. There's no point in booking the Regionale trains in advance - there is no price advantage, and they never sell out. With the fast trains, you might see Super Economy, which means you get a price break for booking online early, but you are then locked into a specific day and time - no refund if you miss the train.

ward,

If you arrive in Siena by train, you'll need to use a Taxi or Bus to get up to town from the rail station. If you arrive by Bus, you'll be dropped in the centre of town. Either way is good.

Perhaps I should not answer a question that you did not, precisely, ask. But since you will be in Tuscany for a considerable period of time, one wonders whether you could benefit from a car for local touring? Many attractive hill towns are not well connected with trains, or even busses. The issue can also be frequency of service. And certainly, wine producers and monasteries, among other things, are unlikely to be within easy reach of public transportation.

I'm a great believer in train travel. But we just returned from a rural hotel in Tuscany, and spent more time that we would have liked in the car! But it seemed essential for what we wanted to see, in the time we had to visit. In fact, I found Siena especially hard to park beside, and to avoid ZTLs while trying to get to any parking lot, which was already full at 11AM!

I urge you to pre-book a combination ticket that includes the Siena cathedral, online. There was a line that looked like it was over thirty minutes for people who wanted walk-up tickets to enter the Duomo. This is a very popular city, and it will be even more crowded in August. I recommend air conditioning for your housing. I happen to have thought, during our day trip, that it would have been a much more relaxing visit if we were staying in Siena!

I would recommend heading to the Siena Duomo in the morning right after breakfast. We saw the Baptistry & Duomo with just a few people entering when we did in September - the town was very nice for qty of people in the mornings & evenings.