mandig

Hi everyone!

New here, would appreciate some advice.

Fiance and I are traveling to Italy for our elopement and honeymoon. We land in FCO and will be making our way down to Sorrento. Our flight gets in at 9:00am and we'd like to purchase our train tickets in advance. My thoughts were to book our express shuttle tickets around 10:00am, I read there's a 90 minute flexibility window from departure time so that gives us about 2.5 hours to get out of customs, baggage claim, etc.. then 1:30pm departure time from Rome Termini to Naples. Is this too much time or not enough?

We may have to stop for a quick bite at Termini and will definitely be making a stop to grab our SIM cards. We need get our timing right because we're booking a private transfer to pick us up from Naples to Sorrento, and don't want to leave him hanging around waiting for us!

TDudette

Welcome mandig, and congrats in advance. This is Pre-covid info so double check! In my notes, I wrote that it took only 15 minutes after we landed in Rome...no checked baggage..to get to the train. We followed the icons and caught the train to the Rome train station...that trup took 36 more minutes. At the Rome train station, we had an hour wait for the train to, in our case, Perugia. If that one experience is any example, allow at least 2 hours to catch your train to Naples. In today's world, you can simply call the pick up service to confirm that you made it to the Naples train and expect to be on time. A non-stop trip to Rome and no checked luggage will be helpful. Others can confirm or clarify.

Seamus

Given the rampant craziness in air travel throughout Europe I'd probably just wait and buy tickets on arrival. That way if you encounter one or more sources of delay (late arrival, long passport control lines, slow bag claim...) you won't be stressing. Land, grab your coffee and SIM, then buy your tickets for the next train. Trains from FCO to Roma Termini run every 20 minutes, as do trains from termini to Napoli Centrale. From Napoli Garibaldi to Sorrento trains run every 30 minutes. More info on rome2rio.

Jean

I agree with Seamus. Air travel is just too crazy right now. The departure time for your flight to FCO could change multiple times before your travel day.

Falcio

The airport trains from FCO to Roma Termini have no reserved seats and therefore can't sell out. Getting these tickets in advance is not just risky, it's totally pointless.

Since there is free WIFI at FCO, you can download Trenitalia's app at home, get used to it and buy the FCO-TERMINI tickets at the arrivals. Assuming you can't / prefer not to buy a through ticket from FCO to Naples at the ticket machines or at the counter.

From Roma Termini to Naples you can choose between 2 competing companies. You can save some money buying in advance online a discounted-but-non-refundable train ticket. Otherwise you can get the tickets to Naples at the last minute at Termini, but paying the full, walk-up fares.

What you should NEVER do is paying in advance the walk-up fare, Even if it's displayed on the train sites. Trains do not sell out, so there is no reason to pay in advance if you don't get a big discount in exchange.

TDudette

Great advice all except OP needs to give her driver an idea of pick-up time in Naples, right? In that case, would allow a 3-hour cushion, check the scheduled train trips to Naples in that time frame and agree with pick-up folks to contact if things change be a workable plan?

progol

As others said, I'd wait till I arrive to purchase the tickets. The driver in Napes is probably aware that an exact time is not possible, though a time frame of when they hope to arrive is a good idea. I would make sure that I had a way to contact the driver in order to confirm the pickup time when you've scheduled the train. I have WhatsApp on my phone and many people in the tourist industry also use it. Find out the best way to get in touch before you arrive.

mandig

Thank you everyone for this info! We're not seasoned travelers, nor do we keep up with travel news. We had no idea European flights and airports were so chaotic right now. We're traveling in October. Crossing fingers it will be a little smoother around that time. But we'll wait to purchase our tickets there, or from the app when we arrive as someone suggested.

alandavid

Agree with the others on getting your Leonardo Express (Airport to Termini) ticket after landing in Rome.
https://www.rome-airport.info/leonardo-express.html

Download & register for the Trenitalia app ahead of time. (https://www.trenitalia.com/en.html)
Safest is to buy your ticket after landing.
Trenitalia does offer a ticket (Economy) that allows 1 change & it only costs a few euros extra. (there may be a fare difference when you change as well)
Buying your ticket 7-10 days before your flight might give you a cheaper rate, even with the added fee. (Miss your train, & you'll pay extra to rebook, but not lose the value of your current ticket)
(Example: A ticket bought today is $48, A ticket for next week is $36)

***Be certain you're buying an express train ticket, not a local! - 1:15 vs 3 hours of travel time***

Also: If you have a good data plan, consider enabling the TravelPass (Verizon) for $10/day over switching SIM cards - so much easier & can use your phone just like you're back home.

Sassafrass

You are already taking a train from the airport to the Rome station and another train to the Naples station. Since you will already be toting luggage around and will be right there at the station anyway, why not just continue by train to Sorrento? You walk about two minutes from the main station to the Circumvesuviana line. The line ends in Sorrento. Get a taxi there to your hotel. Then you have no worries about timing. Frankly, while I usually like to push on the first day, Rome airport to a hotel in Sorrento has at least three legs of travel, so I would consider staying that night in Rome or Naples.

AJPeabody

Caution. There are several Circumvesuviana lines, only one of which goes to Sorrento. We made that mistake but luckily were directed where to get off and change to the correct line before traveling too far.