Haven't been to Roma for many years but am trying to get best information for travel by bus to Siena since I've read the bus is cheaper than train. The Sena bus website lists a 5 euro fare but that seems hard to believe for a 3 hour trip. Can anyone help with how to get tickets, what the normal fare is and what the departure times are from Rome. It looks like the departure station is Tiburtina. We are traveling from Rome on 3 October.

We travelled from Sienna to Rome on the bus (airconditioned coach)and it was great 3 hours and dropped you right in the centre of Rome. Going the other way you end up at Sienna station. Our luggage went underneath- just keep an eye on it at stops so that noone walks away with it- it was very pleasant and very cheap. The seats you get allocated do not necessarily go next to each other.We bought the tickets at the railway station.

Je - I've done this journey several times. Sena often have theses special offers for €5 each way. It is not quite as cheap as that - when you get to the booking process you find there is a €3 "Admin charge" as well. The normal. full fare when I last used the bus was around €20.

The buses leave from Tiburtina at 06:30, 08:30, 10:30, 12:30, 14:00 , 15:30, 17:00, 18:30 and 20:00.

the website is www.sena.it there is a lottle "English version" button on the top line, but it is virtually useless as only the front page is in English.

select the from Rome to Siena option. Make sure "Partenza" reads Roma and "arrivo" reads Siena and that dates are in the Euopean format of day/month/year then click the cerca viaggio button - this brings up the timetable and buy ticket options.

select your bus, click on the shopping cart icon - the page shows the date and time you have selected - if correct click the "Continua, scegli la tariffa" button.

On the next page select the number of tickets you want next to the " Tariffe speciali - 5 Euro" sign. The page tells you this is a special fare - not chanagable, not refundable, not transferrable. Scroll down the page and accept the terms and conditions (Accetto le condizioni di viaggio) and press the continue button.

You will need to register on the site - just the normal firstname (nome), surname (cognome), Email, address(inderizzo), city (cittá), province - choose "Stato Estero" from the drop down box. After you have done this, choose a user name (Nome utente) and password etc, then tick the box accepting the terms for data collection (Its to do with Italian law regarding collection of personal information) then click registrami.

It all sounds complex, but is quite straightforward. You eventually get an paper ticket to keep, and one to give the driver.

A correction to Sydgirl - the bus does stop at Siena Railway station, but it then goes on to the bus station near the centre of town.

The SENA bus is clearly the "way to go" between Rome and Siena.

Remember that you can always buy your ticket at the departure point, although you will forego the super cheap internet fare.

Willit: since you've done this trip several times, you might mention for the benefit of Fodorites whether there were lots of empty seats on the bus (an indication that buying the ticket at the last minute should not pose a problem).

GAC - my main problem with the seat issue is that I have always travelled at the same times - Early afternoon on Sunday from Rome to Siena and early morning Saturday for the return.

I have never seen the bus more than about 2/3rds full, and given that there is a bus every two hours, it would really surprise me if they were all full for a day in October.

Hi,

Last month we did the bus from Rome to Siena , departing on a Sunday morning. The bus was I would say half full. We bought the tickets in advance online for 5 Euros plus 3 euros fee, still savings from the 20 Euros regular fare.

We were planning to get off on Plaza Gramsci in Siena, which would have been walking distance to our hotel. Unfortunately, about 30 minutes prior to getting close to Siena we had a horrible thunderstorm which didn't show any signs of stopping. So we decided to get off at the Siena train station where we would have a roof over our heads. We had to wait around 15 mins for a cab which took us to our hotel.

Thanks to all and the details from willit. The only other detail I wonder about is determining the departure "gate" at Tiburtina since it appears there are numerous buses departing from the station. I guess I assume it's like the train stations in Europe with information displayed on a central display.

Hi je,

It is a bus station in the open, not like a train station. I didn't see any board with departures posted. I left my husband with the lugaggee where the taxi left us and went to an office that was selling tickets . They in turn told me to check with another office and that office told me under what number would the bus park. I suggest you get there at least 30 mins prior, it is a bit chaotic.

Hi,

We travelled from the Tibertina station in Rome to Siena by bus and it was a good service. We did not buy tickets beforehand and there was lots of room.

I agree with cruiseluv about the difficulty in finding the actual office to buy your tickets at the Tibertina bus terminal. There are no signs outside anywhere to direct you to the ticket wicket which is in one of the smaller offices beside the bus gates. It may require a little searching so leave yourself some time to find it.