Civitavecchia to Rome train trip

[ian moore]

We are going on a Princess Med. Cruise in June and are calling into Civitavecchia for a day. The Princess tours to Rome are expensive (even the 'do it on your own',which we generally prefer having been to Rome many times).

 

We see that it is quite easy to get a train at the station near the port all the way to Rome.

 

Has anyone done this train trip? Is it reliable,as we would be concerned if there were delays etc.

 

There will be another cruise ship in the port on our day so it could be crowded etc.

 

All advice welcomed.

 

Ian Moore

[insanemagnet]

Yes it is easy to get a train direct to Rome.

 

To get to the railway station is either a 20 minute walk from where the port shuttle bus drops you off, or a short ride on a town bus - https://maps.google.com/maps?saddr=42.0880529,11.7979894&daddr=42.0971957,11.7875532&sll=42.0926038,11.788034&sspn=0.0122289,0.0219729&dirflg=w&t=m&z=16&geocode=FXU2ggId5QW0AA%3BFSxaggIdId2zAA

 

A train ticket to Rome is €5 each way on the normal commuter trains, or (more sensibly) you can buy a BIRG ticket for €12 which is a return ticket and covers travel on the metro and buses in Rome. There are faster express trains, but they cost more and are not a lot quicker. The trains are commuter trains, so can be very busy. You MUST validate your ticket in one of the yellow boxes BEFORE you get on the train.

 

You can get train times from http://www.trenitalia.com but the times only show for the next couple of weeks.

 

You can either ride the train all the way to Rome Termini, but it makes more sense to get off at San Pietro for a short walk to the Vatican, or Ostiense and use the metro to get to the Colosseum. This map shows this, and some of the key highlights - https://maps.google.es/maps?saddr=Roma+Ostiense,+00154+Roma,+Italia+(Roma+Ostiense)&daddr=Piramide,+Roma,+RM,+Italia+to:Coliseo,+Piazza+del+Colosseo,+Roma,+Provincia+de+Roma,+Italia+to:41.8935821,12.4946653+to:Piazza+di+Spagna,+Rome,+Province+of+Rome,+Italy+to:fontana+di+trevi,+via+delle+murate,+90+to:41.9004357,12.4788172+to:Pante%C3%B3n+de+Agripa,+Piazza+della+Rotonda,+Roma,+Provincia+de+Roma,+Italia+to:Piazza+Navona,+Roma+RM,+Italia+to:Corso+Vittorio+Emanuele+II+to:41.9015459,12.4638938+to:41.9017771,12.463171+to:Via+di+Porta+Cavalleggeri+to:Via+Innocenzo+III&hl=es&ie=UTF8&ll=41.888221,12.482786&spn=0.053609,0.092182&sll=41.897645,12.459869&sspn=0.008066,0.021136&geocode=FYrtfgIdNX2-ACFUsGqaI2bI3ikPwrFMK2AvEzFUsGqaI2bI3g%3BFZH1fgId4He-ACmZXCW-LGAvEzFTuwTJUhK8Ww%3BFaIxfwIdx52-ACHEA4WQLsjxKCmtEyBTtmEvEzHEA4WQLsjxKA%3BFc4-fwIdSae-ACmxqX29sGEvEzH0eD2hjwDeCg%3BFe1vfwIdkHq-ACH45phgsYYKoikVbpkjVWAvEzH45phgsYYKog%3BFcBYfwIdcXW-ACFryD5pe52wQynlK13fUmAvEzFryD5pe52wQw%3BFZNZfwIdYWm-ACnFy80wUmAvEzG2-2YYSSoh0g%3BFS9WfwIdAmK-ACFfHawIYHc0AimpQIZnT2AvEzFfHawIYHc0Ag%3BFYxUfwIdvlO-ACl5VT_7T2AvEzEBKOsyYIdnMw%3BFR5MfwId4k--AA%3BFeldfwIdFS--ACkBnxzhXGAvEzFO_34H63M-Mw%3BFdFefwIdQyy-AClv1sEVXWAvEzGDtHD_PjMtnA%3BFd5YfwIdag--AA%3BFSFLfwIdNAu-AA&oq=Piazza+Navona&dirflg=w&mra=mi&mrsp=13&sz=16&via=3,6,10,11&t=m&z=14

 

On the way back, you can either get the train from Termini or San Pietro. If you get on at San Pietro it is likely to be quite full. If you get on at Termini, it doesn't go from the main station, but from a small concourse at the back (Google maps shows it as platform 26). The nearest tube station is Termini Laziali NOT Temini.

 

Do allow plenty of time for the return journey, and factor in that you may have to walk back to the shuttle drop off as the local bus often cannot cope with the numbers of cruise ship passengers coming back on the 'last' train.

 

Is it reliable? Probably. Italian's do have a habit of going on strike, but if push came to shove, if it was me and the trains were not running, and I was going to miss the ship, I would just get a cab. It wouldn't be cheap, but it would be cheaper than missing the ship.

[SuiteTraveler]

Be sure to allow plenty of time from the train station in Civitavecchia to catch the port bus at the end of the day because you may have to stand in line and wait for the bus to drop off 2 or 3 busloads of cruise passengers before you can board to get back to your ship. Obviously the express train is preferable to a local. We left Rome by train around 3:30 and had no trouble getting back on the ship with an hour to spare. We started our day at Rome Termini and then took the train back from the station near the Colosseum.