train from civitevecchia to rome and back

[XSYTD]

Just wondering if anyone can share this experience with me....is the train very congested and does it make any stops on the way?

[euro cruiser]

It depends on several factors, including day of the week and time of year, as well as the type of train.

 

As you might imagine, the train into Rome in the morning will carry commuters as well as tourists and can be quite crowded.

 

Most of the trains from Civitavecchia to Rome are regional trains that make several stops. Between 7 - 9 AM, all four trains are regional ones. There is an express train at 9:17 AM that makes only two stops, both in Rome.

 

Many, many posters on the board have made this train trip, and have done it several times. There are plenty of posts with great detail on how to take the train into Rome.

[XSYTD]

thanks for the info...I am not sure if DH will be okay on a congested train, since he is a bit claustrophobic. I tried looking on the trenitalia website for schedules for the fast trains but didn't know the names of the stations to use...can you help, please?

Thank you.

[XSYTD]

btw...forgot to mention that we will be there on Monday August 30th.

[-Lew-]

Here's a listing of the early trains from Civitavecchia to Rome. The fast train doesn't leave until 9:17, as mentioned by euro cruiser.

 

I don't know whether I would be wanting to wait around until 9:17 to get to Rome.

 

If you're concerned about congestion, purchase 1st class tickets. We took the 9:17 train from Civitavecchia to Naples last September in 1st class. There are six to a compartment...very comfortable.

 

Lew

 

[labeachcomber]

The trains are commuter trains, meaning they have actual seats in rows, two to a side. It is not like the Metro where you'll be standing the entire time and packed in like sardines.

[cruise kitty]

http://goitaly.about.com/od/romeitaly/a/civitavecchia.htm

 

http://www.noambit.com/2009/07/civitavecchia-to-rome-how-to-get-there/

 

http://www.raileurope.com/us/rail/point_to_point/schedules.htm?itemId=-1&cobrand=public&fn=fsScRequest&isAtocRequest=0&c=USD&rows=2&v=S&oldFromCity=&oldToCity=&roundtrip=1&from0=Civitavecchia&to0=Rome&deptDate0=08%2F30%2F2010&time0=morning&from1=Rome&to1=Civitavecchia&deptDate1=08%2F30%2F2010&time1=afternoon&nA=2&nY=0&nC=0&nS=0

 

hopefully the last link will work for you, It gives the train schedules for that day, depending on when your ship docks you want the earliest train possible...more than likely the one around 7:30. it's very, very easy to do because you won't need a cab to the station.

[hubofhockey]

Lew, thanks for that schedule. I do have a couple of questions. Does the fast train cost more? Are there restricutions on the tickets?

 

Second question for me relates to taxis. Are taxis readily available outside the Rome train station? We will have our two kids with us and I think that a couple of cabs in between the longer trips might make sense.

 

Last question is an opinion question. Do many of you believe a guided walking tour of the Ancient City (Colloseum, Form, Palantine Hill) adds a great deal of value? Our kids will be 13 & 11 and might benefit.

 

Thanks in advance to the regulars here.

[XSYTD]

Thanks to all for the such helpful information....the website shows a train fare of 32E per person for the fast train...other posters have mentioned something like 9E return? Is the fast train that much more and also what is the price difference between the 1st class and regular tickets?

[XSYTD]

The trains are commuter trains, meaning they have actual seats in rows, two to a side. It is not like the Metro where you'll be standing the entire time and packed in like sardines.

 

Are there many stops in between?

[cruise kitty]

Thanks to all for the such helpful information....the website shows a train fare of 32E per person for the fast train...other posters have mentioned something like 9E return? Is the fast train that much more and also what is the price difference between the 1st class and regular tickets?

 

Hi, I posted that site just for the schedule, i would not buy my ticket on it. (they charge extra) (& the site is showing USD$) Just get your ticket at the station that morning...& buy your return ticket at the same time. As for # of stops, I honestly don't know, Our cruise started in Civ., & we took the fast train.. if you're worried about missing your stop, don't be. There will be signs at each station, & people on the train are very helpful.

[-Lew-]

One very important fact has not been mentioned: purchase a BIRG ticket.

 

You need to purchase a BIRG ticket for your one-day visit to Rome. It costs €9,50 and with it you will get round trip transportation, Civitavecchia / Rome, as well as public transportation while in Rome.

 

Here's a link with additional BIRG info.

 

Lew

[XSYTD]

Hi, I posted that site just for the schedule, i would not buy my ticket on it. (they charge extra) (& the site is showing USD$) Just get your ticket at the station that morning...& buy your return ticket at the same time. As for # of stops, I honestly don't know, Our cruise started in Civ., & we took the fast train.. if you're worried about missing your stop, don't be. There will be signs at each station, & people on the train are very helpful.

Do you remember how much you paid for the fast train...is it the BIRG ticket?

[-Lew-]

 

Do you remember how much you paid for the fast train...is it the BIRG ticket?

Here's a link to the Trenitalia web site. You can enter your dates and times to compare rates. The faster intercity trains do cost more.

 

I don't believe you can use the BIRG tickets on intercity trains.

 

Some of the regular trains take only a few minutes longer than the high speed trains. Do you really want to wait until 9:17 to travel to Rome and not arrive until 10:14? You could take the 7:33 or 7:59 and arrive a lot earlier.

 

Lew

[jccruiser]

for my dates it is showing that nothing is available - is this just for purchase ahead of time, and is there always space available for passengers who purchase BIRG tickets?

[euro cruiser]

Do you remember how much you paid for the fast train...is it the BIRG ticket?

The IC train, which leaves Civitavecchia at 9:17, costs 9,00 Euro in second class and 11,50 in first class. You cannot use the BIRG ticket on this train, only on the regional trains.

 

Although you are not guaranteed a seat on a regional train, odds are you can find one. We took a regional train last July, on a day when there were several ships at the port. There were eight of us and we were not able to get seats together, or even in the same car, but we all got seats.

[euro cruiser]

for my dates it is showing that nothing is available - is this just for purchase ahead of time, and is there always space available for passengers who purchase BIRG tickets?

You can always get on, but you are not guaranteed a seat. As I said in the previous post, odds are you will find one.

 

Trenitalia only loads the full schedules a few months in advance, so if you are putting in a date several months from now, you won't find it. Look at a similar day (weekday, or Sunday, whichever) next week and you'll see the times and the prices.

[euro cruiser]

Are there many stops in between?

It depends on the train, not all regional trains stop at the same stations. You can expect between four to six stops before Rome, and up to six stops in Rome.

[euro cruiser]

Second question for me relates to taxis. Are taxis readily available outside the Rome train station? We will have our two kids with us and I think that a couple of cabs in between the longer trips might make sense.

There are five different stations in Rome, some have cabs available at all times (Trastevere, Ostiense, Termini), the others generally do not.

 

There is rarely a reason to go all the way to Termini, it takes extra time and you wind up doubling back to most sites. Decide what you want to see in Rome, then you can lay out the most efficient and comfortable way for your family to accomplish it.

 

Last question is an opinion question. Do many of you believe a guided walking tour of the Ancient City (Colloseum, Form, Palantine Hill) adds a great deal of value? Our kids will be 13 & 11 and might benefit.

Yes, I think a guided tour is a big help. At first blush, the Forum is just a bunch of rocks. Unless your kids are unusually imaginative, it may be hard for them to see beyond that. I found that the best combination, after taking the kids to the forum at various ages, was one of the books that have pictures of the sites as they are today, with acetate overlays that show what they looked like a couple of thousand years ago, along with a knowledgable, engaged guide.

[hubofhockey]

Thanks Eurocruiser. Always appreciate your advice. We shouldn't be taking more than a couple of cabs all day. Might be too tough to talk my wife into using metros in the city. The small victory is the DIY on the train. :D

 

We'll pick up a walking tour. They're not too cheap. But they are much cheaper than any ship excursion or private excursion from the cruise port. I see a couple are well reviewed on Trip Advisor. For Trevi Fountain, Piazza Navona, and Spanish Steps, we'll just provide commentary ourselves to the kids. But we'll give them some homework ahead of time on all sites that that they'll visit.

[euro cruiser]

This is the company I used for the tour with the kids a few years ago: http://threemillennia.com/.

 

Not terribly expensive, native English speakers, good with the kids.

[dfwguy62]

The trains are commuter trains, meaning they have actual seats in rows, two to a side. It is not like the Metro where you'll be standing the entire time and packed in like sardines.

 

It is indeed possible that you could end up standing the entire time. I did it last summer. When the train arrived, there were a lot of cruise ship passengers who were jockeying for seats on the car we chose to get in. After ensuring my senior mother found a seat, my father and I were left without a seat as were a handful of other people. There was enough room and we weren't packed in like sardines, but none-the-less, we did have to stand. I would not consider it overly confining, but there wasn't much room to move about. We might have been able to move to another car to find seating, but we did not want to split up the group and the aisle was not really clear to move anyway. At about the 1/2 way point, a nice younger man gave up his seat for my father. Virtually everyone in that car was from the cruise ships in port that day and we talked and compared facts and things to do, etc. so time went fairly quickly as we watched Italy roll by. Although, I had to stoop down to see anything since I'm 6'4" tall.

 

On the return trip from Rome, we had no problems finding seats. So I think the answer to this will depend on various time/date/ships factors.

[Hulmesy]

I decided to get the train last year from Civitavecchia to Rome Central and found this very easy train was very spacious and found seating very easily. There were quite a few stops before getting to Rome central and took about a hour and 15 minutes from what I can remember it was about 9 euros. I was with my elderly father who uses a walking stick and there wasn't much walking involved.

 

On arrival at Rome central we were greeted by people selling tickets for the open top buses which you can hop on and off at your leisure so you can see all the sights that was about 30 euros for the day for the 2 of us.

 

The train back to Civitavecchia was very easy to find as there are big information screens in the main lobby and timetables dotted all around as you walk to the platform.

[Lozzer4612]

Hi, friends of mine who have visited this port before have told me its about 3 miles from where the Princess boat docks to the train station and unless you book the Princess excursion, your only way to get to the train is to walk. Is this true? Its much cheaper to purchase train tickets rather than go thru Princess- thanks! :D

[euro cruiser]

Hi, friends of mine who have visited this port before have told me its about 3 miles from where the Princess boat docks to the train station and unless you book the Princess excursion, your only way to get to the train is to walk. Is this true? Its much cheaper to purchase train tickets rather than go thru Princess- thanks! :D

Friends are wonderful for many things, but in this case, accurate information isn't one of them.

 

First of all, Princess doesn't always dock at the same place, it's up to the port master and depends on what other traffic is in port that particular day.

 

Second, the port provides a free shuttle bus from wherever you happen to be docked to the port entrance.

 

Finally, from where the shuttle bus drops you off at Fortress Michelangelo to the train station on Via della Repubblica in Civitavecchia is half a mile, on flat terrain.