Time needed from FCO to catching train to Florence

[nini]

We plan on landing in Rome and then catching the high speed train from FCO to Florence.

The flight we are looking at lands at 8:00 am and the train departs at 11:00 am.

 

Will that be enough time to clear customs, etc.?

Thanks

[hallasm]

Yes, should not take more than an hour to get the luggage. Is it a direct flight to FCO.

I normally calculate two hours.

[CruiserBruce]

Passport check (if needed...is FCO your first touch in Europe?) could take a few minutes, but you are waiting for your luggage much longer in any case. Customs after claiming your bag is the simple Green/Red system...takes 10 seconds. Literally.

 

Figure an hour for luggage...FCO is slow as any airport I have ever been at. It might come in 35 or 40 minutes if you are lucky.

 

The train ride to Termini to catch your high speed train runs very frequently...like every 15 minutes or so. The ride itself is 25 or 30 minutes. 

 

So 3 hours is good. By the way, as this really all ground issues, not really flight stuff, there is lots of info on the Italy board.

[nini]

3 hours ago, CruiserBruce said:

Passport check (if needed...is FCO your first touch in Europe?) could take a few minutes, but you are waiting for your luggage much longer in any case. Customs after claiming your bag is the simple Green/Red system...takes 10 seconds. Literally.

 

Figure an hour for luggage...FCO is slow as any airport I have ever been at. It might come in 35 or 40 minutes if you are lucky.

 

The train ride to Termini to catch your high speed train runs very frequently...like every 15 minutes or so. The ride itself is 25 or 30 minutes. 

I read that the high speed train departs directly from FCO; no need to catch separate train to Rome.

 

So 3 hours is good. By the way, as this really all ground issues, not really flight stuff, there is lots of info on the Italy board.

Yes, thank you. I figured since it had to do with the "efficiency" of an airport, that I would post here.

CruiserBruce- I always appreciate your knowledge and comments!

[CruiserBruce]

1 hour ago, nini said:

CruiserBruce- I always appreciate your knowledge and comments!

I am not aware the high speed train departs from FCO, but I could be wrong. I have taken it from Rome, but not from FCO. I have taken the local line to and from Rome to FCO.

[Twickenham]

20 hours ago, CruiserBruce said:

I am not aware the high speed train departs from FCO, but I could be wrong. I have taken it from Rome, but not from FCO. I have taken the local line to and from Rome to FCO.

 

Indeed, you need to take the train from FCO to Termini in order to catch the Frecciarossa to Florence - and that's where I think you need to allow for a little more time than you might think. Termini is massive, and the walk from platforms can be quite long.

[CruiserBruce]

1 hour ago, Twickenham said:

 

Indeed, you need to take the train from FCO to Termini in order to catch the Frecciarossa to Florence - and that's where I think you need to allow for a little more time than you might think. Termini is massive, and the walk from platforms can be quite long.

This discussion is also taking place on the Italy board. In non-Covid times, there has been 2 per day high speed trains to Florence from FCO...I wasn't aware of...but they currently aren't on the schedule into June.

[bennybear]

I would fly into Florence and avoid the luggage and train hassle. 

[Zach1213]

10 minutes ago, bennybear said:

I would fly into Florence and avoid the luggage and train hassle. 

 

Eh, I think this really, really depends. I love train rides, I am a generally light packer, and I am in good shape. Being able to fly nonstop in to Rome and then hop a train for a nice ride across Italy sounds lovely to me. It also doesn't impact the time much (and could be shorter) assuming Florence city centre is final destination:

 

Flying Rome to Florence (after immigration/customs) - re-clear security (30 min), wait (120 min), flight (70 minutes), wait for luggage (30 minutes), get transport from airport to city centre (40 minutes) = roughly 5 hours 

 

Train Rome to Florence (after immigration/customs) - get to train station (10 minutes), wait (20 minutes), train to Termini (30 minutes), wait (45 minutes), train to Florence (150 minutes), no need to get from airport to city centre = roughly 4.25 hours

[nini]

1 hour ago, bennybear said:

I would fly into Florence and avoid the luggage and train hassle. 

True, if Florence had an airport that takes International flights that are available

through Princess EZAir, etc.

 

True, I have a similar but different question on the Italy board. The one on the Italy

board specifically asks about the high speed train from FCO.

The question on this board is specific to the time in question getting through custome

in time to get a train.

 

I really do appreciate the input. You all are so very much more experienced than we are!

[Zach1213]

25 minutes ago, nini said:

True, if Florence had an airport that takes International flights that are available

through Princess EZAir, etc.

 

 

Not to pick nits, but I am a professional nitpicker so I'm gonna 😉

 

Florence has plenty of international flights, just that most of them are within Europe. Actually, I believe it's all European these days (be them Schengen or non-Schengen). A few years ago, Delta had a nonstop New York - Florence seasonal (summer) flight. It died before Covid and I would be shocked it it came back anytime soon. But, Florence has a terminal and immigration capable of accepting international (non-Schengen) flights. 

[nini]

1 hour ago, Zach1213 said:

 

Not to pick nits, but I am a professional nitpicker so I'm gonna 😉

 

Florence has plenty of international flights, just that most of them are within Europe. Actually, I believe it's all European these days (be them Schengen or non-Schengen). A few years ago, Delta had a nonstop New York - Florence seasonal (summer) flight. It died before Covid and I would be shocked it it came back anytime soon. But, Florence has a terminal and immigration capable of accepting international (non-Schengen) flights. 

LOL- No worries... it is in the "nitpicking" that we can learn some details.

I knew that there was an airport (thank to my Rick Steves book), but I was so

perplexed (and upset) that I can not force even a one stop flight from Princess

EZAir. We want to use the cruise line air to save some bucks and be able to wait

45 days before the cruise before we have to pay for the air, due to these crazy times.

[iancal]

A few years ago we landed in FCO and were making our way to CInque Terre by rail.   We purchased a Trenitalia ticket from FCO to Riomaggiore.

 

As luck would have it our bag did not make the plane from Frankfurt.  It came 90 minutes later on the next flight.   There was also a problem on the FCO-Termini railbed  that delayed all trains.

 

By the time we got to the rail ticket booth  at FCO Trenitalia had changed our reservations to reflect new times, etc.  We were relieved because we changed trains outside Rome, in Pisa, and again somewhere else.

 

We were thankful that we had rail reservations from FCO instead of Termini.   As an aside, it was the final straw that convinced  us to switch to carry on only.   We just made the last train from Pisa, otherwise we would have been stuck overnight somewhere.   We have traveled on Trenitalia frequently.  Great service, almost always on sched....with the exception of the Sicily routes.

[Zach1213]

53 minutes ago, iancal said:

As an aside, it was the final straw that convinced  us to switch to carry on only.   

 

For me that would have been the straw to push me to fly in to Genoa or Florence instead of Rome, especially if you're having to go through Frankfurt anyways 😉