fae

We plan to turn in a rent car in Orvieto and then train into Rome Central (Termini). I cannot find this on the Trenitalia website so maybe we have to go to another station and do a transfer?

fae

Disregard. Sorry but I finally figured out to type in Termini first.

Tesana

Ciao fae; i have been to Orvieto several times and planning a trip there on this October, you will love it! i have never taken train to Roma Termini from there, i always drive, but i am familiar with the service. the station is at the bottom of town, there in NO direct service to Termini, you need to book a train ticket ORVIETO to ROMA AURELIA. this route stops at TERMINI station . you need to get off the train when it stops at TERMINI. should be 1.5hr+ by train. driving it is 100k (60miles). make sure you buy your tickets well in advance.

Tesana

so i just learned something, all the time my friends were doing it wrong. thanks for the info fae.!!

PalenQ

there are direct trains every hour between Orvieto and Rome Termini - taking about 80 minutes or so. Most of these are regional trains with a flat fare and no reserved seats possible - thus no reason to buy ahead of time - just buy at station - even if all seats are full by some chance you can always hop on. IC trains run about every 2 hours and cost more and are marginally faster - when you get a ticket on them it comes with the mandatory sear reservation and to use that ticket on another IC train means changing the seat reservation.

But there is absolutely no reason to be ahead of time like on trenitalia.com - not on these trains - absolutely no reason on regional trains because the same ticket you buy at the station will be the same fare and there are no reserved seats possible - dealing or buying online from trenitalia.com often means untold headaches as many Fodor's posters have complained about for years now - so just buy in Orvieto - a rather sleepy station with ticket machines that are easy to use and rarely long lines IME there at ticket windows.

If taking any trains in Italy then the high-speed trains like those between Rome and Florence (which mainly do not even go thru Orvieto) then that is a different story - advance booking for discounts in advantageous in saving money but not on most trains from Orvieto.

Great sites for lots of great dope on Italian trains - www.seat61.com; www.ricksteves.com and www.http://www.budgeteuropetravel.com/id12.html.

And the trains are direct to Termini mainly - no change of trains required. Not sure why advice above was to book to Rome Aurelia - just book Orvieto to Rome Termini - forget about Rome Aurelia.

kybourbon

>>>> there in NO direct service to Termini, you need to book a train ticket ORVIETO to ROMA AURELIA.<<<

That's not accurate and not what you want to do. All of the trains from Orvieto go to Rome Termini (they don't even stop at Roma Aurelia) so you don't have to enter anything, but Rome (or Roma if you have it on the part of the website where the name autofills) when searching. To get prices to show for these trains, you must enter a date within the next 7 days. I use an old version of Trenitalia to search the R trains as it works better for them. Just enter Orvieto and Rome. You will see all end at Termini with many making a stop at Tiburtina before Termini.
http://www.fsitaliane.it/homepage_en.html

To see the stops for any of the R or IC trains, select a train, click details by selection, scroll down and click info and the list of stops will appear below.

The IC trains are only 10 minutes faster and cost double.

The high speed trains do not stop in Orvieto. You can watch them speed by at a distance (different track further away) when you are up in the hilltown. At the top when you get off the funicular there is a park area with great views.

FYI - If you aren't used to catching trains, you need to know that most of these trains stop in Orvieto for ONE MINUTE. A few are scheduled to stop for 2-3 minutes. You must be ready to get on as soon as the train stops and there will be people getting off. To see how long the train will stop, search Chiusi and Rome, find the train you plan to take (note train # from your Orvieto/Rome search) and then follow my directions above for the list of stops. You will be able to see how many minutes it stops in Orvieto.

PalenQ

And you may well want to get off at the Rome Tiburtina station instead of going on to Rome Termini - Tiburtina is a lot less hectic station than Termini and say if you are getting a taxi it is perhaps easier than at chaotic Termini and Tiburtina also has metro connections so everything Termini has but less crowds - it is only a few miles from most hotels.

gawlergirl

Hi Fae we are planning a similar trip this year and just wanted to know which car hire company you used that has an office in Orvieto to drop off at

PalenQ

gaw- you may want to make a separate post with this query as many others will know as well and Fae probably is not coming back to this thread.

DRJ

FYI, Hertz has an office around the corner from Orvirto train station.

BTW, if you are in Orvieto lunchtime do NOT miss I Setti Consoli.

kybourbon

There is a Hertz a block or so from the train station. Most people use AutoEurope (a broker) because the rates are better than booking directly. They have a 3 day minimum. Where do you plan to return your car?

PalenQ

Most people use AutoEurope? Do you have any proof for this - that more Americans use AutoEurope than Hertz? I guess you must to say that but I am curious as to how you know?

kybourbon

Just search AutoEurope on this board and you will turn up hundreds of posts. Also, Hertz socks you with DCC (it's in their contract) and you won't have that problem with AutoEurope.

PalenQ

AutoEurope is though a middle man and with Hertz you are dealing I believe directly with the company that actually gives you the car - any complaints can be handled on site, not having to call some phone number of AE back in Maine I think. One thing to consider.

AutoEurope rents more cars in Europe to Americans than Hertz - I would be very surprised if that were anywhere near the real truth. Not saying AE is not a good choice.

kybourbon

>>>AutoEurope is though a middle man and with Hertz you are dealing I believe directly with the company that actually gives you the car - any complaints can be handled on site, not having to call some phone number of AE back in Maine I think. One thing to consider.<<<

Wrong. AutoEurope is a broker and you can end up with Hertz, Avis, etc. AutoEurope will actually handle the complaints and take care of them. Many of the Hertz offices are Italian franchisees and don't care if you have a problem. Orvieto Hertz office is a franchise, not a corporate office.

Orvieto Railway Station
Address: Via 7 Martiri 32/F
Orvieto
Italy

Phone: 0763 301303
Hours of Operation:
Mo-Fr 0830-1300 1500-1900, Sa 0830-1300, Su closed
Location Type: Independent Licensee

Europeans also rent through AutoEurope and use the websites for their countries as do some Americans because the rates are better. The various country websites have the contact information with the main contact in Germany although there are UK offices and I'm sure others.

KONTAKT

Auto Europe Deutschland GmbH
Landsberger Str. 155
80687 München
HRB 149828 AG München
Reservierung
Tel: 089 - 24 44 73 600
Fax: 089 - 24 44 73 333
Öffnungszeiten
MO - FR: 8:00-21 Uhr
Samstag: 9-19 Uhr
Sonntag/Feiertag: 10-20 Uhr
Kundendienst
MO - FR: 9-13 Uhr
Tel: 089 - 24 44 73 605
oder 0800 - 000 4516
Fax: 089 - 24 44 73 367