We are flying into Rome but want to immediately proceed to Florence. How and where do we get the train and how much time do we allow from the arrival time of our flight to the departure time of our train?

You take the train to Termini, and from there board to Florence. See www.trenitalia.com for schedules.

You can probably catch the Rome-Florence train 90-120 minutes after your plane's (scheduled) arrival (if it arrives on time).

On rare occasions, a taxi (at four times the price might cut 15 minutes from your time to Termini. Other times (like morning rush hour), it might ADD 30 minutes. As I understand it.

I have personally only done this "inbound" with a hired driver (it was very slow, stuck in traffic, due to an accident right outside the airport) and outbound by taxi, twice (lightning fast at 4:45 in the morning, for a 7:30 am flight; arrived WAY too early, 19 days after 9/11/2001).

Best wishes,

Rex

Hi scw,

You can buy your ticket to Florence when you buy your ticket to Rome at FCO.

You can also buy tickets online. See
Trenitalia Tickets Online
http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34465647

It took us about 3 1/2 hours to get out of the airport and into Rome TE because it took about 1:15 hr to get our luggage.

Thank you for the info, would you think it is risky to wait till we get to Rome to purchase a ticket to avoid missing a train due to delay?

scw07: No, you can wait until you get to Roma Termini station to buy your ticket to Florence. I would do it that way, you don't know how long you will be detained once you arrive at FCO, then travel to Roma Termini station, etc. so it would be risky to buy it in advance at FCO. There are several daily trains from Rome to Florence so catching a train won't be a problem.

An economical suggestion/alternative to the limo/taxi would be to take the Leonardo Express from FCO into Rome. At FCO, go to Terminal C (Lufthansa is there) and catch the "Leonardo Express" commuter train that runs to/from Roma Termini train station. They leave every 30 mins or so and the tickets are about ~11 euros each. The Leonardo Express takes about 40 minutes and arrives in Termini Station on either binario (track) 26 or 27. From there go out to the front of Termini where the info/ticket offices are and then purchase your Florence ticket. Limos and taxis are expensive options and IMO, are not really necessary when other equally effective modes of transport are available.

Trains leave from Rome to Florence all the time; usually at least several times an hour. I wouldn't think that it would be hard to purchase a ticket at Termini station once you arrive there. It may be a little tricker during peak times in the summer but as I mentioned above, there are so many trains traveling to Florence that you wouldn't have to wait long to catch one of them.

The best option IMO is to buy both tickets at FCO as Ira says. No point in queuing again at Roma Termini.

Allow 15 mins to cross Roma Termini station and find your train.

Steve

Thanks Steve.

SCW, Buy your ticket to Florence at the same time you buy your ticket to Rome at the FCO train station.

You will already be out of the airport and won't have to worry about delays on the way to Rome.

It takes about 10 min to walk from the track where the shuttle stops to the track where the train to Florence leaves.