Rome Airports
 

Anyone know why or why not I should fly into Rome Ciampino airport? I am looking into flying from US to London then taking Ryan Air to Rome for much cheaper, but it shows us flying into that airport - thoughts?? Advice??? Thanks!

A few thoughts:

Your flight from the U.S. probalby arrives at Heathrow; Ryan Air departs, I think, from Stansted. The transfer is not very easy.

If for any reason you do not make your Ryan Air flight, you will probably have to pay a complete new fare.

Getting from Ciampino to Rome is very, very much more complicated than from Fiumicino.

One more thought: I have not flown Ryan Air myself, but I gather from numerous posts here that they have quite stringent baggage limitations.

To get from Ciampino to Termini is easy. Just go to the arrivals hall in the airport to the Terravision desk and buy a ticket for the Terravision bus (8Euro). It will take you to Termini the main train/metro station. www.terravision.it

Easyjet flies from Gatwick to Ciampino, I don't know if that's any easier. Here is the information I have for getting from Ciampino to the city:

Ciampino airport is just 15km south east of Rome.

by road
Join the GRA Ringroad at exit 23; journey time 40 mins.

by taxi:
Order from passenger service in the baggage reclaim area; journey time 40 mins; cost EUR 25-35 depending on the amount of luggage you'll be carrying and the time of travel.

by bus and train:
Bus to Ciampino Station every 30-60 mins; journey time 10 mins; then on to train to Stazione Terminal, train leaves every 10-16 mins; journey time 20 mins. Validate your ticket by punching in machines provided.

We've flown Ryanair in the UK, and are planning to fly back to London from Rome via the Ciampino airport. A private car service is $42 Euros from just about any hotel. That's the easiest, but I gather there are busses from Termini, too.

It was six years ago that I used Ciampino for the first and last time. Getting from the airport to Rome was OK as there was a bus - I suspect I gatecrashed other passengers' package holiday bus :-) But getting back to the airport, alone, using public transport, was a nightmare. From Termini I had to get a metro to somewhere in the suburbs - presumably Ciampino station as referred to above by goatee. (Changing from the mainline train platform to the metro platform involved lots of walking and steps - all carrying my bags of course.) Then there was about a 10 minute walk to a deserted bus concourse, where I had to wait about an hour for a bus since the next one due had been cancelled. I was OK as I'd allowed lots of time, but some other peple weren't so lucky and I last saw them disappearing off into the deserted streets around to try to find a taxi.

All this was not helped by the fact I'd started my journey in Capri so had already had a walk, a funicular ride, a hydrofoil ride, a taxi and a train journey !

Of course, this was all before the budget airlines like Ryanair flew to Ciampino (I think I must have bought a spare seat on a charter flight, through a bucket shop). I believe Ryanair lay on their own bus, although I expect it will leave Rome inordinately early. In Paris I've heard the Ryanair bus leaves from a well-known Irish bar near Les Etoiles so I expect there's a similar arrangement in Rome.

If you can get a private car service for E42 I'd say definitely do that.

But I also share Eloise's reservations about getting from Heathrow to Stanstead, which is most quickly accomplished using the Heathrow Express train to Paddington, the Metropolitan line tube to Liverpool Street (horrendous if you're arriving during the rush hour) then the Stanstead Express train - all taking a minimum of 2 hours.

Actually, the easiest and fastest transfer between Heathrow and Stansted is the direct bus, about hour and 1/2 to 2 hrs. (Maybe a little faster in a car/taxi.)

Getting to/from Termini to Ciampino by coach seems easy now, although I haven't done it:

http://www.terravision.it