Traveling from Rome to Venice

RailEurope is the North American reseller of European Train Tickets...they're also overpriced and don't list "all" of the trains for a particular day - only a portion. You can try buying directly from Italy's Rail Network at www.trenitalia.com - but that VERY rarely works for Americans and their US Credit Cards. Lastly, you can walk up to the ticket counter when you get to Rome and purchase your tickets which is probably the easiest way. Roma Termini is the Main Train Station in Rome. You can also buy your tickets from various travel agencies dotted around Rome. They charge an additional service fee for the convenience. Don't bother with night trains...just take the high speed ES train and be there in a few hours. Roma Termini -> Venezia San Lucia is where you want to go...assuming you are staying on Venice island and not Venice mainland (Mestre).

Firstly, congratulations. There are several trains daily in both directions from Rome to Venice. The travel time on the fast trains is about 3 hours 45 minutes. No need to book from the states, most people have a problem booking on trenitalia's site from over here. You can pick up tickets at the station when you travel. Take a look at the flight times departing from Venice back to the US. Sometimes the flights leave rather early in the morning. It is not impossible to get out to Marco Polo Airport in Venice really early but it can make for some hassles. Many folks like to fly into VCE instead and then return from FCO. The slower pace of Venice seems to be an easier way to get over jet lag and ease into their trip. www.trenitalia.it is the Italian rail site. Click on the english button at the top if you prefer. second class tickets are currently 73 euro per person. A lot of folks find that second class on the fast trains is more than adequate.

There are many fast trains linking Rome and Venice. The trip takes only about 4 1/2 hours. You don't need to buy your ticket here. You can wait until you get to Rome where you can buy your ticket and make your reservation at the main train station at the ticket counter or one of the automated ticket machines or, for a small extra fee, at almost any travel agency in Rome. Just do it a few days before you leave Rome. I assume you will take the train from FCO to the main station and then go to your hotel from there. As long as you are already in the station you could buy your ticket then. You can view train schedules at: www.trenitalia.com Click on the 'ENGLISH' icon at the top. You must use the Italian names for Rome and Venice, i.e., Roma and Venezia. You will be going from Roma Termini to Venezia Santa Lucia. You may want to print out some of the schedule so you can refer to it when buying your tickets. The main advantage to buying your tickets on line and in advance is that you may qualify for one of the MINI fares offered. These are usually posted about 60 days before the travel date and are usually scooped up quickly. Some people have had trouble using US credit cards on the Trenitalia site. You are wise to limit your visit to just two cities. I wish you a long happy life together.

Christine, you don't need to worry about the train from Rome to Venice and you don't need to buy in advance. First, when arrving at Rome FCO, you will most likely take the Leonardo Express from the airport to the Rome Termini train station. The express runs every 30 minutes and costs 11E. Just buy your tickets and get on. No seat reservations possible on this train. Second, you can purchase your tickets from Rome to Venice in the Rome Termini train station. You're there anyway so why not purchase your tickets. There are 14 Eurostar Alto Velocito high-speed trains departing each work day from Rome to Venice (there are 55 such trains that go from Rome to Florence but you're going to Venice and you will want to stay on the same train). You will stop in Florence, Bologna, Padua and Venezia Mestre before arriving at Venezia Santa Lucia. Journey time is just under 4hrs. Cost is 73E each. You can take a slower class of trains for up to half the cost but it will take a lot longer as these are IC and Regionale type trains that make many more stops. Third, when preparing to buy tickets in advance, make sure that you have written down the date, time and train number of the run you want. You can find this information on www.trenitalia .com. Write it down and hand it to the agent. The agent will assign your seats for you as seat reservations are required on these fast trains. You might want to try your luck with purchasing online with Trenitalia to get nice discounts but, they don't like U.S. credit cards and most U.S. citizens cannot make the online purchase. No need to buy in advance from RailEurope or other brokers. They just mark up the price. You'll be fine by purchasing when you get there.

I second Ron's suggestions that you consider flying into Venice and return from Rome for the reasons he stated.
I also agree that second class is fine. It's like flying coach only better.

It is no where near coach. More like business class with seat and spacing. Lots of room to move around, great windows for viewing. A vast improvement over coach on airplane.