Hello. I am asking about the trains in Rome. My TA has told me that I should book train tickets now in advance of our trip April 28th. He says it is getting busy.
We are flying into Rome and arriving April 28th. Taking train from Rome to Cortona. Will we be ok to wait til arrival? I thought we would be ok to wait. Will the trains be full? TA is quoting $154.00 can for 4 people one way. Thank you.
You can take the high speed train or regional train.
High speed train has assigned seating and tickets can be purchased in advance, but don't have to be. You could purchase them upon arrival. Frecciarossa is the name of it. It's only about $22 and is 1 hour 33 minutes.
Regional Train
You'll take a regional train through Trenitalia. You don't have to purchase advanced tickets. Regional trains have no assigned seating. You could purchase at the Rome airport.
Rome airport to Cortana on a regional (slower) train is $13. About 2 hours 11 minutes.
https://www.rome2rio.com/s/Rome-Airport-FCO/Cortona
Here is the rail website: http://www.trenitalia.com/tcom-en
Thank you Kevin. This is exactly what I needed to know. I am not jumping the gun to purchase in advance in case our flight isn't on time. My Travel agent is telling me that I need to purchase now and at a much higher cost.
Are you intending to travel from Fiumicino airport to Cortona right after you land? It looks like your TA is quoting the full fare ticket on the IC connection at Termini. Trenitalia is showing that at 150 EUR for 4. So that price will not go up, and it will include seat reservations. If your flight is late and you miss the train, you can get the next train, but it might be a Regionale without seat reservations.
Make sure your TA is getting you base fare tickets at that price. There are many connections to Terentola-Cortona using Regionale trains that are much less, get you there almost as fast, and the fare never changes and you can buy them when you arrive. Downside is there are no seat reservations, just validate your ticket, get on the train and find an open seat.
Sam. We are getting a ride to the Termini station from the airport. From there we will take the train. We are supposed to land at 11:40 am. at airport.
I think we wouldn't mind just getting a regional train. Are they nice? Good bathrooms/toilets? Are there many stops? Thanks. You guys are the best.
What are the trains like? They can be all over the place. Older trains or sometimes newer ones. Page down at this site to see a desciption of Regionale trains.
http://www.seat61.com/Italy-trains.htm#What are Italian trains like
The 13:00 and 14:58 Regionale trains take 2 hours and 20 minutes, cost 44.40 EUR for 4 and make 9 stops along the way.
How are you getting a ride to Termini? Unless its a friend going to give you a ride, I don't see the point of paying for a taxi or ride service. Then you will get dropped of in front of Termini and have to walk inside, while the Leonardo Express train will leave you inside at track level where you just have to switch tracks.
There is another reason to take the train from the airport is that there are a few trains to Cortona that leave from Tiburtina. When you land, get through immigration and get your luggage, your best train could be leaving from Tiburtina, then you have to option of taking the FL1 train to Tiburtina. The FL1 does not go to Termini and it costs a bit less than the Leonardo Express. You can find all this when you get to the ticket window at the Fiumicino train station.
I see that the cost of booking base fare tickets on the IC train (at 15:40) from Termini to Cortona is 94 EUR, 120 EUR for 1st class for 4 tickets. I guess I'd ask your TA about that.
Those train toilets pretty much each car has one are remarkably clean nothing to worry about
all,
Despite what your travel agent is telling you, it's not generally a good idea to book rail tickets on express trains to connect with an incoming flight. If the flight is delayed for any reason, the tickets are worthless and you'd have to buy more. If the express tickets are Base Fare and you miss the train, they can be changed (with some restrictions) but lining up in long queue at the ticket office after a long trans-atlantic flight is not my idea of an fun holiday.
Therefore, the best method (IMO) is to simply buy tickets for the next train after you arrive at Termini (you can also buy at the airport rail station). If the next train is an express train (Freccia / Intercity), you'll pay a bit more for the tickets as they will be the highest price tier, but no worries about missing the train. If the next train is a Regionale, it won't make any difference in the price. It doesn't matter if the trains are "getting busy", especially if you're using a Regionale train. They never sell out, but you may have to stand for part of the trip.
Note that there are two stations serving Cortona..... Camucia-Cortona and Terontola-Cortona. I find Camucia to be a bit easier and closer. You'll need to know that when you buy tickets. In any case, you'll have to use a Taxi or Bus from the station up to the town. Where are you staying in Cortona?
If your flight lands on time at 11:40, I doubt that you'll be at Termini before 13:00, especially if you're going from FCO to Rome by car. If you can get to Termini by 13:00, there's a departure of a direct (no changes) Regionale train, arriving Camucia-Cortona at 15:23 (time 2H:23M). The same train stops at Roma Tiburtina at 13:09. If you wanted to connect at Tiburtina, you could use the FM/FR-1 train from the airport rather than your pre-arranged ride or the Leonardo Express.
The next train departs Termini at 13:20, arriving 16:33 (time 3H:13M, one change at Firenze SMN, first segment is Freccia high speed so seat reservations compulsory). After that there's another direct Regionale departing at 14:58, arriving at 17:23.
The WC's (bathrooms) on the fast trains (Freccia, Italo) are generally clean and modern, while on Regionale trains they tend to vary. Some may be reasonably good and some may be quite grungy and perhaps not cleaned in awhile. You'll have to take your chances. Pack along some disinfectant hand wipes.
One very important point to note. If you buy local tickets on Regionale trains either from a Kiosk or staffed ticket office, you MUST validate prior to boarding the train on the day of travel or you'll risk hefty fines which will be collected on the spot!
Buon Viaggio!
