Train or Plane to Venice from Rome

Actually, there is a direct night train. It departs Venezia Santa Lucia at 23:30 and arrives at Roma Tiburtina at 06:56. It's a good choice if you don't mind having a fairly short night in a horizontal position and want to save the cost of a night in a hotel and have more daylight hours for sightseeing.

However, since the daytime ride is quite fast and gives you a chance to see a bit of the countryside, that's also a very good choice--certainly better than flying.

Actually they are going the other direction (Rome to Venice), and the night train (a regional train that I think only has 2d class seats, not beds) gets in to Venice around 5:30 in the morning.

They would have to hang around Rome until 11 pm (with their luggage stashed somewhere) in order to catch that train. I think they would be better off (more enjoyable train ride and more time in Venice) if they just caught an earlier daytime train, and spent the night in a hotel in Venice.

Evening/Nighttime in Venice is our favorite time. . .

Yes, I got the direction of travel reversed! However, there is a direct Rome-Venice night train. It departs Roma Tiburtina at 22:36 and arrives at Venezia Santa Lucia at 05:26. It has 4-bunk couchettes and 2- and 3-bed sleepers.

Bethanne, the train only takes 3 hours 46 minutes and you go from city center (or very near it) to city center. They run hourly from Venezia Santa Lucia, but don't run overnight (the trip is too short for that).

The flight may seem quicker, but by the time you add time to get to the airport and build in time for security checks, etc., the train is probably quicker. And it is certainly easier.

Train by all means. My benchmark is roughly six hours. If a train ride is more than six, maybe sevens hours then I will consider air. Train is so much easier, convenient, and relaxing than being jammed in an airplane. Also -- look at schedule. With a train you can go just about anytime you want but the flight could be limited to a couple a day.

Thank you both for your responses!! I was not sure what to do b/c I cannot view train schedules for September yet. Do either of you know when train scheudles for September will be viewable? I am probably looking too early.

Again, thank you both!! ;)

The schedule for September should not be significantly different than that for May. Probably the same time and the same number of trains (hourly).

The schedule for September should not be significantly different than that for May. Probably the same time and the same number of trains (hourly).

Are you going to already be in Rome, or are you flying in just before you want to go to Venice? You should be able to buy a train ticket just before travel time (whenever you get there). Air tickets require advance reservations, and your arrival might be late.

I'm gonna look at May then...I didn't know if they would be the same...

I am flying from Philly on 9/19 and arriving in Rome 9/20 and then leaving rome on 9/25 via NOW train on 9/25 to venice for two or three nights.

I really want our seats together so I'm going to buy the tickets early if I can and reserve them...

I couldn't get it to show 2-bed compartments for any date I checked (a few in May). It did show 4-bed couchettes and the 2-seat compartments. Maybe I just picked bad dates?

Not sure if either of those options would interest Bethanne. I think the 4-bed couchettes are single sex (you have to choose "man" or "woman" when booking) and she did say they want to be sure they have seats together. The 2-seat compartment could be booked, but then that's seats, not beds.

After sitting up all night in a seat and then arriving at 5:36 am, finding a place to stash luggage until check-in time at the hotel (probably sometime after noon) I'm not sure I'd be ready for a nice full day in Venice.

As for booking in advance, that's not an option for September, at least not yet. Trenitalia apparently won't allow the use of US credit cards on the website (you can use them at the station once you get to Italy). And RailEurope won't sell you tickets for summer travel yet, because most of the dates haven't been loaded into the system yet.

But if you are doing one of the daytime fast trains, there is really no need to book in advance. Just buy the tickets you want when you arrive in Rome---several days in advance of your journey is more than what the Italians would do.

There IS a night train going both directions with couchettes from Rome Tiburtina. We reasearched both directions last year, and took the 791 Marco Polo from Venice-Rome (oppostie of your route), but we researched both directions.

We did it ourselves in May, so unless they canceled it... When booking we were offered options for 1,2,3,4 couchette sleeper prices. The 3-4 person option seemed to be the same cabin, just with the price split 3-ways, or 4-ways. It looked like the 1-2 person was actually a different style cabin from the description. But can't confirm, we used the 4.

In any case, it was comfortable, secure, the beds were sturdy. The one drawback was that when the train stopped (you can see it takes longer than the route actually takes), the air conditioning shut down.

And who's gonna complain about being in Rome or Venice til 11PM we had a great time.

We had no problems buying our tickets about 2 days in advance in Austria.

Thank you Lola, Frank, Lee, Tim and Chris!! You have all been soo much help!!

We do want to stay together and I am going to decide if we want to do the overnight (with 2-4 sleepers) or day trip to see the countryside. We are staying in Venice for 2-3 three nights.

I'm planning the itinery and booking everything on my own, trying to save money and do it the most time efficient way (little bit control freak...lol!!) so I have been constantly online checking trains, planes, Rick's website, other websites, read both of Rick's Venice & Rome books...so too find people who have had the experience with what I'm trying to do is a such a nice change...

We are now DEFINITELY taking the train. I have completely dismissed flying from our options.

Thanks again!! ;)

I've made that trip a couple of times on the day train. It's a nice train ride (about 4 hours) unfortunately we've run into a major hassle each time. One was a train derailment, the other was a strike. We just chalk those up to bad luck though.

Personally, I wouldn't want to take a sleeper car on this journey unless you really want to experience an overnight train journey.

For couchettes on the Rome-Venice night train you can choose either mixed or women only.

In ascending order of price, your accommodations choices are reclining seat, 4 person couchette, 2 bed compartment, 3 bed compartment, double seat compartment, special seat compartment, and single seat compartment. Because the seat compartments are the most expensive, I presume that means that they are a little more spacious and/or have more comfortable seating when the beds are not pulled down.

It's a matter of personal preference, of course; but here is why I would consider taking the night train. It would save the cost of a night in a hotel. It would give me a full last evening in Rome and a full first day in Venice. But then I sleep well on trains and I think arriving in Venice as the city wakes up would be fun. (For others, trying to sleep on a train is a form of torture and starting a vacation day in the early morning hours is a horrendous thought.) I also wouldn't mind either storing my luggage at the Santa Lucia station in the morning or dropping it off at my hotel and then returning to the hotel later in the day to check in.