Hello,
I've been reading these posts regarding Italy and they have been invaluable in helping me plan a trip to Rome this April with my 15 year old son and my 25 yr old neice.
We have very limited time - after a 5 day stay in Rome we want to spend a day in Verona and then go on to Venice for 2 days before flying out from there back to NJ. When I checked the train timings I see that if we were to leave Rome on the morning of the 13th we would get to Verona around 1 pm but we could leave the night before and arrive early in the morning.....is this advisable, is it safe?
Thanks for your comments,

meerao

Hi M,

>... if we were to leave Rome on the morning of the 13th we would get to Verona around 1 pm but we could leave the night before and arrive early in the morning.

I take it that you are planning on sleeping on the train. This could be rather expensive if you wish compartments.

My suggestion would be to take a fast Eurostar from Rome to Venice and do Verona as a day trip from Venice.

Rome-Venice 4.5 hours; Venice-Verona 1 hour and about 15-20 minutes.

Thanks for your replies.
Yes, I was thinking it would be good to be rocked to sleep on the train overnight from Rome to Verona, awaken in Verona spend the day and night there and then go on to Venice.
We would be missing the daylight view of the countryside but would be gaining some time....The sleeping accomodations on the train would probably cost the same as a hotel room in Venice, no?
worth it?
M

Listen, I'm probably the very <b>biggest</b> night train fan on this board but I think you need to seriously re-think this idea...why???

Because you can get to Verona from Rome in 4 hrs 35 minutes on a Eurostar.

You can go on a &quot;night train&quot; but it will almost udoubtedly require making soem sort of change/connection along the way....you will not get rocked to sleep..more like rocked awake!

Check those connections you looked at agin because I may be wrong about this...frankly, I would stop in verona along the way, see what i wanted to see (you do not say what your interests are) and either stay overnight there and go on to Venice early the next day or leave Verona for Venice that same night; store your luggage at the rail station if necessary.

If you are stopping to see the famous &quot;balcony&quot; please remember that the Italians never tell you that it is &quot;the&quot; balcony but one of many that existed at the time.

There are no direct night trains from Rome to Verona. Say if you take the 22:50 InterCity Night, you get to Venice Mestre at 5:12; then drag your half-awaken self across platforms for another train to Verona, arriving 6:47. I just don't feel you can get that much sleep with a schedule like this.

There are direct day trains from Rome to Verona that takes 4:30 to 5:00. You do lose half a day, but you won't be walking around Verona like a zombie.

Have you actually found an overnight train from Roma to Verona? I couldn't find one. The best option seems to be the overnight train from Roma to Venezia, so Eloise's suggestion of staying in Venezia and doing Verona as a day trip seems best. Train sleeping compartments are not the cheapest overnight accommodation, but then neither are hotels in Venezia, and using the night train will save a night in a hotel.

Ordinarily, I'm the poster who always says take the night train, because I love them, and it DOES rock ME to sleep and I find it very comforting. The train, however, also can rock you awake too, depending on how many stops you have along the way.

Here's what makes me suggest you take the day train: first, with 3 people, unless you go in the second class births (which will have 4 to 6 beds, and possibly strangers), you will have to purchase TWO compartments, a single and a double, which would cost more than a room in Venice. Second, arriving early in the morning in Verona may not necessarily be a good thing. You have to know what you want to see, and when it opens, and depending on what time the train arrives, you could possibly be sitting in the station or in a nearby cafe nursing coffee for several hours before anything opens. That actually happened to us in Cologne Germany a few years back, because I HAD to stop on the way from point A to point B to see the cathedral. Not a bad thing really, but no stores open, and hardly anyone around but workers heading to the office. Just know that you won't be able to see the inside of anything until they open up, so do check the opening schedules. One more thing -- do check the train service for April, because many of the night trains that run in summer do not run during the other months.

I need to check my posts before hitting send. I mean &quot;berth&quot; not &quot;birth&quot;!

Thank you all, we have re-thought our (un)rocking all night on the train and have decided to go straight to Venice. We will probably be utterly charmed by the city and will not easily consider the side trip to Verona.....

Thank you all,
we'll sleep well.

If you had three days in Venice, I'd go for the side trip to Verona. It's about an hour's train ride each way, then a very short bus ride to the town center.

There IS a strategy for traveling overnight by train - - poroposed here many years ago by the inimitable Mr. Ben Haines - - if you want to consider this.

Overshoot. You can get a direct train from Rome (Tiburtina) to Trieste, departing 22:50, and arriving 08:04 - - and yes, it makes 20 stops (including both Venezia Mestre and Venezia S. Lucia) - - but if you can knock yourself out - - you can have a long enough night to sleep - - then take the one hour train back from Trieste to Venice.

I wouldn't do it - - but I wouldn't knock any suggestion from Ben Haines either.

Best wishes,

Rex

Surfergirl, Rex,
thank you for your advice. No Rex, I don't think we want to overshoot with an overnight, that may be overkill, over the top, whatever;, I think actually dreaming on a day train looking out the window at a speeding horizon has a ceratin allure. We'll do that and then do a day trip to Verona.
Thanks, I am so excited, I have been dreaming of going to Venice since i was a young girl in India and now it's almost here!

M