Getting to Venice from Rome

[2KentuckyCats]

Our cruise ends in Rome. We plan to stay a few nights and then travel to Venice. This is our first trip to Europe. We had thought about taking a train. Is this the best way and could someone help me with how to book and any helpful information 

[Karae]

Train for sure.  You can google finding train route and buy tickets before you go.  Just make sure you that the fast train.

[euro cruiser]

Yes, in Italy city-to-city travel is generally better by train.  In this case, it takes about the same amount of time as flying (when you factor in the time to get out to the airport in Rome and in from the airport in Venice, plus time for security, time for baggage, etc.) and usually costs about the same, or less when you add the cost of transfers to and from town.

 

The biggest benefit is that you depart from downtown and arrive downtown with a lot less hassle.

 

The biggest hassle, for many folks, is dealing with your luggage.  However, for a small fee even that annoyance can be taken off your hands.  Trenitalia has a partnership with a firm that transports luggage, they'll pick it up from your hotel in Rome and deliver it to your hotel in Venice.  

 

There are two train companies that run high speed trains in Italy, Trenitalia (the state rail) and Italotreno (a private competitor).  It's best to book directly with the train operator rather than through a third party.

 

Here are their web sites:

 

https://www.trenitalia.com/

 

https://www.italotreno.it/en

 

Luggage transfer service info:  https://www.trenitalia.com/tcom-en/Services/Luggage-transport-services

Edited January 13, 2019 by euro cruiser

[cruisemom42]

In my opinion, the train is the best and probably the easiest way to get from Rome to Venice. Flying is the other option (assuming you don't want to drive), but if flying you have to get yourself to the airport in Rome -- far from the city center -- and once in Venice you have to get from the airport there into Venice proper. If you take the train, you go from city center to city center. Plus, it's a pleasant trip on the fast trains.

 

(Edited to add:  I've only used Trenitalia, and have been happy with them, so the info that follows is only for booking via them. As euro cruiser points out, there is another option, but I have no experience with them.)

 

The website to use for booking is trenitalia.com  -- this is the official site, so there is no markup on tickets purchased. There is an English language version -- just look for the small flag icon on the far upper right corner.

 

For booking, you'll get the better fares if you book farther in advance (best fares start around 3 months in advance and tend to steadily increase as the actual date gets closer.)

 

Your departure station, assuming you'll be staying in central Rome, will be the main train station: Roma Termini  (<< enter it just as I've typed it here.)

 

Your arrival station will be Venezia S. Lucia.

 

Enter your date of travel remembering that in Italy it is "dd/mm/yyyy' not the other way around which we generally use in the US.  (Or just use their calendar option to select date.) . Also select a time -- generally I just select the hour that falls at or before my desired departure. In other words, if I want to leave at 9:30; I just select 9:00.  The results will show you all trains at or after your selected time for the next several hours but will NOT show trains before your selected time, if that makes sense.

 

Once you do all of this, hit Enter and view your options.  Look for trains labeled 'Frecciarosa" -- these are the fast trains with few stops. They involve no change from Rome to Venice and take about 3 hours 45 minutes.

 

After reviewing the list, if you see a time that works for you, click on the small down arrow at the right of the column to expand the entry and view the pricing categories. There are several options on the fast trains ranging from Standard class (which is fine on these nice trains, a bit like 'coach class' on a plane but with more room, lol) to Premium and Business class, which offer slightly nicer seats with more room.  If you're booking far enough in advance, you'll see the option to book cheaper rates for those classes -- labeled 'Economy' and 'Super Economy'.  I don't think the ticket is any more restrictive, it's just a better fare for booking earlier and I have taken advantage of it several times...

 

Select your seats and purchase, following the prompts. NOTE:  If you want to select your own seats, there is a small prompt just above the 'Continue' option on the fare page -- check the box there. Otherwise, the system will choose seats for you.

 

Once you have purchased, you'll get an email with an attached pdf that has a bar code. This is what you need to show the conductor onboard (you can show it on your phone, or a printed copy).  There is no need to validate your ticket before boarding. 

 

Your ticket will have your seat numbers and also your coach number and train number. At the train station in Rome, you will wait in a central area where you can see one of the large boards with arrival/departure info.  Usually the track number ('Binario' in Italian) is not posted until about 20-15 minutes before your scheduled departure. Once it's posted, walk immediately to the track and look for your coach number -- usually you can board right away.

 

 

Edited January 13, 2019 by cruisemom42

[GeezerCouple]

7 hours ago, euro cruiser said:

Yes, in Italy city-to-city travel is generally better by train.  In this case, it takes about the same amount of time as flying (when you factor in the time to get out to the airport in Rome and in from the airport in Venice, plus time for security, time for baggage, etc.) and usually costs about the same, or less when you add the cost of transfers to and from town.

 

The biggest benefit is that you depart from downtown and arrive downtown with a lot less hassle.

 

The biggest hassle, for many folks, is dealing with your luggage.  However, for a small fee even that annoyance can be taken off your hands.  Trenitalia has a partnership with a firm that transports luggage, they'll pick it up from your hotel in Rome and deliver it to your hotel in Venice.  

 

There are two train companies that run high speed trains in Italy, Trenitalia (the state rail) and Italotreno (a private competitor).  It's best to book directly with the train operator rather than through a third party.

 

Here are their web sites:

 

https://www.trenitalia.com/

 

https://www.italotreno.it/en

 

Luggage transfer service info:  https://www.trenitalia.com/tcom-en/Services/Luggage-transport-services

 

Oh my!

 

We did NOT know about this!

What a help it will be.

 

I'll need to check if the appropriate trains use this service.  Our biggest problem was changing trains in small stations (or getting off/back on in small stations).  The lifts were out of order, and there were DEEP stairs to go under the tracks and then back up again.  Not good at all...ut 

 

But we'll have a trip in May where we'll probably only use the fast trains, which would be included.  GREAT to know - thanks!!

 

GC

[dogs4fun]

14 hours ago, GeezerCouple said:

I'll need to check if the appropriate trains use this service.  Our biggest problem was changing trains in small stations (or getting off/back on in small stations).  The lifts were out of order, and there were DEEP stairs to go under the tracks and then back up again.  Not good at all...ut 

You won't encounter these issues if you book the Frecciargento or Frecciarossa trains. These trains are direct from  Rome to Venice and there are lifts and escalators in Termini (Rome) and you will actually arrive on street/canal level in Venice - no need for schlepping bags up/down steps.

Cruisemom42 has provided you with excellent, detailed advice. I love European trains and, in Italy, it is my preferred mode of transportation (I refuse to drive in Italy as I am far too cowardly).

[GeezerCouple]

12 minutes ago, dogs4fun said:

You won't encounter these issues if you book the Frecciargento or Frecciarossa trains. These trains are direct from  Rome to Venice and there are lifts and escalators in Termini (Rome) and you will actually arrive on street/canal level in Venice - no need for schlepping bags up/down steps.

Cruisemom42 has provided you with excellent, detailed advice. I love European trains and, in Italy, it is my preferred mode of transportation (I refuse to drive in Italy as I am far too cowardly).

 

This may help others, but we are not going to Venice on this trip.

 

As I mentioned in the section of my earlier post that you quoted:

 

"I'll need to check if the appropriate trains use this service.  Our biggest problem was changing trains in small stations (or getting off/back on in small stations).  The lifts were out of order, and there were DEEP stairs to go under the tracks and then back up again."

 

We are NOT sure that the right trains serve the specific cities we'll probably be stopping at.

The difficulty we described above was at the train station at Orvieto.  We had a similar problem at another station near Florence, but thank goodness the tracks were somewhat raised so the "tunnel" under the tracks wasn't nearly as deep.

At the major city train stations, we've never had problems like that (yet!).

 

And we aren't sure whether the trains we'll be using work with the  luggage service mentioned.

They also seemed to offer a luggage transfer that wasn't linked to the trains, but we are relying upon Google translate.  And it seemed that this was just until March, so we don't know if this will be extended through the end of May (or when we'd be able to find out).  

The message I sent to the service used a form that seemed to be for commercial usage, so we may not even hear back from them.

 

Ordinarily we'd ask the hotel in Rome for assistance with this, but we aren't sure we'll be staying in Rome.  We might head straight to Florence or elsewhere the day the ship docks.  We are finalizing those plans now.

We might ask our destination hotel if they know... once we know where we are going. 

 

GC

[dogs4fun]

4 minutes ago, GeezerCouple said:

This may help others, but we are not going to Venice on this trip.

Apologies - thought I was quoting the OP that is traveling to Venice. Good luck with your planning.

[Moxiefurball]

I’ve been checking and Italotreno seems to have better prices than Trenitalia for Venice to Rome high speed . .  So this is a luggage question.   Will I be able to bring a 30 inch piece of luggage on the  Italotrno train ?   If so will it fit on those overhead bins , or would I have to set it at the front of car where there are luggage areas and if so would I have to worry about theft?

 

any pros cons between taking the state run Trenitalia vs private Italotreno ?  Also, are the high speed trains nonstop from Venice to Rome and if not how many stops and where .  Thanks ahead for any responses 

 

 

Edited February 25, 2019 by Moxiefurball
Added itinerary