I am looking for recommendations for a driver or limousine service from Rome to Venice. Anyone used a company they could recommend. We would need transportation from FCO Rome airport to Venice. Thanks for any help or advice.

Is there any particular reason you would not fly/train? It would be much much faster...

I am open to flying or taking the train. I guess it is just fear of arriving in Rome jet-lagged and overwhelmed and trying to get a train ticket or buying a ticket in advance and our plane being late and missing the train we booked in advance. We are meeting other family members in Venice that are fluent in Italian and acting as our tour guides for the trip. This will be the only portion without them and I am truthfully frightened as this is our first trip to Europe and I do not know what to expect as far as stories I have heard about gypsies, pickpockets at the train stations. The price I got for RT Rome to Venice was about $400 each and not on airlines I particularly want to fly.

I strongly recommend that you fly to Venice from FCO. Just book one way. But the time you have spent 48 hours in Italy, you'll see what a snap it is.

Planes are fine in Italy. If your plane is late and you miss a connecting flight, you'll be helped and gotten on to another one, and someone will help you call your family in Venice, or show you to a place where you can send an e-mail.

Hiring a driver to take you from FCO will be more than $400 and exhaust you.

How are you getting home from Venice? If you haven't booked your flights yet, fly back to the US from Venice. If not, again fly back from Venice, but you might have to spend a night in Rome or in a hotel near the airport if your departing flight is very early in the morning.

Taking a train from Rome to Venice is painless and pretty much stess-free. Just take the Leonardo Express from Fiumcino (airport) to Rome Termini (train station) and then train to Venice - go to trenitalia.com website and you can see what trains they have. The cost for first class on Eurostar is 67 Euros/person and second class is 45 Euros/person, and the journey takes about 4.5 hours. Looks like there are trains every 45 minutes to 2 hours (depending on whether you take the one direct to Venice or change trains in Bologna).

Although we bought our tickets online before we left the US, you can certainly buy them once you arrive at Fiumcino or Termini.

I think a limo or driver from Rome to Venice would be very expensive, and there's no need for airline (although I can't speak to the cost).

KC

Also, don't worry about not speaking Italian. In the airports and train stations signs are in English and most people working there will speak it pretty well.

Personally, I think six more hours of travel after a transatlantic flight is a lot. A car trip would be even longer.

But if you do decide to take a train into Rome from the airport, remember than after you buy your ticket (you will see signs pointing to the ticket booths), you will need to stamp your own ticket in the ticket machine. You will see other tourists doing it at clock punch machines. If you don't see that, ask another tourist.

Likewise, when you buy your ticket to Venice in Rome's Termini station, you will have to stamp your own ticket in the clock-punch machine.

If you are traveling by train, it is best to pack light.

Hi MT,

If you leave 3/12 hr from the time you are scheduled to arrive at FCO to the time your train from Rome TE departs, you will not have to worry about missing your train.

If you arrive early, there is a nice self-serve restaurant at the Rome TE station.

The Leonardo Express leaves the FCO station at X:05 and X:35. It takes 0:30 hr and costs 9.5E.

You buy your ticket at the station.

See www.trenitalia.com for schedules, prices and tickets to Venice San Lucia.
You want the ES* reserved-seat trains.

If you buy online (same price as in Italy) you will get a confirmation.

That and your passport are all you will need.

You can also buy tickets from Rome to Venice at the FCO station when you buy your ticket to Rome.

It is not difficult to find the train to Rome. Follow the signs that have a picture of a train.

Have a nice visit.

Thanks everyone for you kindness in helping me. I feel much better now about taking the train. We are definitely packing light.

Thanks again!

I just got a quote for you from one of my driver friends--he will do it for 600E--are you game?