We arrive in Rome from Paris at 5PM. Our plan was to go to Florence, Venice, AC and then spend the last few days in Rome. Rather than overnighting it in Rome the first night, we thought of grabbing the train as soon as we arrive.

We want to use our time most efficiently and thought if we are spending the day travelling from Paris, might as well get it all over with in the same day.

My questions:
How convenient is it to catch the train from the airport?
How long will it take to get to Florence (including time to get from the airport, travelling time, etc)?

Thanks fellow fodorites!

I have never taken the train frm the airport, but others speak well of it. I would think that a taxi MIGHT be marginally faster. The rush hour traffic is headed the other way, but then of course, the train is not impeded by traffic at all.

There is Eurostar service at 18:05 18:30, 18;55 and 19:30 (and more). Takes 96 minutes. Of course you still hve to get your stuff to hotel and drop it off. But worse case, that makes you arrive at a restaurant at 9:45 or 10, and you have a shot at an hour sooner than that, I predict.

Maybe a snack with you for on plane or on train consumption and I think your plan is sound.

Best wishes,

Rex

If you really want to go to Florence why fly from Paris to Rome? Wouldn't it make more sense to fly from Paris to Venice and then move on to your other cities ending up in Rome?

Hi tt,

Assuming that you have to arrive in Rome:

We had a plane scheduled to arrive FCO at 0800. It wasn't very late. It took 1 1/2 hr to get our luggage. We arrived at Roma TE at 11:30.

Why not have dinner in Rome and go on to Florence later? You can check your luggage at the train station.

Train schedules are at www.trenitalia.com/en

Absolutely you can make it to Florence in time for a late dinner. You should easily be sitting down to dine around 9:00-ish or so.

We are flying on FF miles. We are allowed one stop over (Paris), therefore we have to fly in and out of Rome.

We really don't want to break up two days in a row travelling. From the responses it looks like it is doable.

Thanks.

Teach -- Your itinerary doesn't make sense. AC is south of Rome while the other two are north.

Depending on your airline alliance you could go Paris to Venice and then take train south. Less travel time used and no doubling back.

If you get into Firenze 9:30 - 10 go to Il Latini, the early tourist crowd will be going home by then.

Ira is right. I've flown into Rome at least a half dozen times and always wait for baggage.

You clear customs in no time and then stand around and wait and wait and wait. I think that Rome has probably to slowest baggage system of any major city.

The trains from FCO to termini run every 30 minutes so if you just miss it, you wait some more. If you miss the 1930 train to Florence, you won't arrive there until after 2200, and you'll still have to worry about getting rid of luggage and checking in to hotel.

You would have a lot less stress, if you eat in Rome and take a later train to Florence; there are many places near termini where you can eat. There are a couple just across the street where you can have surprisingly good food and very reasonable prices and still be able to catch the 2130 train which, for all practical purposes, is the last one since later trains don't go to SMN station.

If you have carry-on luggage, you can easily make it to Florence in time for dinner. I can attest to the fact that eating dinner in Florence at 10pm is not uncommon. I have only checked luggage once and even though we waited a long time for it from an 8 am arrival, I still arrived at the hotel in Rome before 10 am.

If the REAL issue here is just being able to get something to eat without having to hang around in Rome to do so then you'll have all kinds of opportunities to do so on the way to Florence I am certain, e.g., at termini, on the train itself, etc., etc.
On the other hand, if the real issue is having dinner IN Florence...sure, you'll get there but to be safe I wouldn't plan on reaching the city/eventual restaurant beofre 9 PM.
In reality, I honestly wonder if you'll be able to hold out that long between Rome and Florence..but sure, it's easily doable. I'm suprised the usual anal retentive posters haven't creamed you yet with their usual, and very imperious, "you're trying to do too much in one day" routine.
Enjoy the ride and try to resist those candy bars on the way!!