travel_jean

My husband and I are staying in Rome for 8-9 days at the end of the month. Our plan is to do day-trips every other day out of Rome. We'd like to get up early one day, take the train to Venice, spend a whirlwind day in Venice, and take a late train back to Rome.

We're having trouble figuring out how to do this. I've searched train schedules, but don't seem to find any early (6am time frame) and can't find any evening trains that return to Rome.

Advice? Has anyone done this?

Thanks in advance for your advice!

travel_jean

To clarify - we want to do Same-Day travel.

Rome to Venice = early train
Venice to Rome = late train

We're aware that we would be traveling from Termini in Rome to Veneiza Santa Lucia.

Palenque

Advice? Has anyone done this?>

I would seriously doubt it but that don't mean you should not. For most 3 hours each way on a train is not appealing and leaves you with about a half-day in Venice. Plus it is expensive, paying for the return train fare. But i suppose if that is the only way to see Venice - IMO the world's more sublimely beautiful city then go for it. Go for it IMO!

bobthenavigator

Too far for my tastes, but it is your call. Once you get to the stazione, you still have :40 to San Marco and it will crowded mid-day by then. That will be close to 8 hours travel time in one day--and costly. Your call !!!
Include Orvieto in your day trips.

vjpblovesitaly

I think it's too expensive for a day trip.

The earliest I see on trenitalia choosing a random weekday at the end of June puts you at the Venice train station at 10:33 am.

The latest I see leaves the Venice train station at 23:30

greg

Where are you looking at the train schedule?

www.trenitalia.it shows, for a sample, a trip 6/11 return 6/11, there is 6:45am Termini to 10:17 Santa Lucia (ES9400) returning 19:27 Santa Lucia to 22:55 Termini (ES9427).

Are you anchored in Rome for some reason?

Palenque

The latest I see leaves the Venice train station at 23:30>

that may well be the overnight train that arrives in Rome the next morning

travel_jean

We chose to anchor in Rome for the trip due to price of flights when we booked. We're staying within 5 minutes of Termini in Rome for our day trips to Pompeii, Florence, and (hopefully) Venice. I hadn't considered a night train to arrive back in Rome the next morning. I'll look on Trenitalia again since I didn't see that one.

We're planning a walking tour in Venice along with a boat ride. We think we'll purchase the 3-4 day train pass for Italy, which is much cheaper than purchasing 3 or 4 individual round-trip fares.

jabez

Have you been to Rome before? You can spend your entire time there and never see it all. It's your trip, but you will spend a lot of time traveling AWAY from a great city.

travel_jean

I've been to many places, but never to Italy. We know that we'll never be able to see it all. My husband REALLY wants to visit Venice so I'm trying to make that happen.

Palenque

Station/Stop Date Time Platform Products
Venezia Santa Lucia Fr, 09.07.10 dep 23:30 ICN 771 InterCityNight
Subject to compulsory reservation, 2nd class only seated accommodation, Global price, Sleeping-car, Couchettes
Roma Tiburtina Sa, 10.07.10 arr 06:56

here are details of the overnigh train Venice to Rome's Tibertina station (linked by shuttle trains to Termini)

and of course it runs the other way as well

I eschew trenitalia.com for schedules and use the Wunderbar IMO German Rail Web Site which has schedules for all of Europe and is easier for me to use than Trenitalia's - to access the English schedule page of the German Rail site you can go to www.budgeteuropetravel.com and on the home page click on the link Best European Railway Schedule (or some such wording) and it brings up the English schedule page where you put in from Venise (a glitch - the site wants Venise rather than Venice even though in English) and Rome and the date and time - i reference this home page link because they give you several valuable tips on using the German Rail site (www.bahn.de) that may not be obvious at first glance - more details than pop up at first. With a railpass the pass pays the train fare but you have to pay extra for your choice of sleeping accommodations - and with the 7pm rule for overnight trains even though the train leaves before midnight you put in on your railpass the next day as you unlimited travel day - meaning the pass will also be valid for the whole next day upon arrival in Rome - to do a day trip somewhere and only use one day all told on your pass - note you can also get off the overnight train in Florence and spend the day there and then go back to Rome - though the train would arrive in Florence pretty early in the morning!

Palenque

I meant to add the www.seat61.com often has lay-out details of various accommodations on overnight trains.

kybourbon

I'm not sure what price of flights has to do with staying in Rome. You could train to Venice upon arrival, spend two or three nights, train to Florence early morning and spend the day (store your luggage at the train station) before training to Rome that night for the remainder of your trip.

FYI - There are same-day round trip tickets Rome/Venice for 99€.
http://www.trenitalia.com/cms/v/inde...003f16f90aRCRD

janisj

kybourbon has it right -- even if you are flying R-T in out of Rome doesn't mean you have to stay in Rome the whole time.

Spending all nine days in Rome when you also want to see Florence and Venice doesn't really make a lot of sense.

Two days/nights in Venice, one or two days/nights in Florence, and the rest in Rome would be much better IMO.

travel_jean

We've already reserved and paid for our hotel stay in Rome. Thus, my question on making what we've already booked work best.

Thanks for all the suggestions and links to look at other train schedules. We're okay being early risers and coming back very late to pack in lots of sites. We really like the idea of Rome being our staging area/only hotel site and have made that work for many other trips in the past.

Palenque

t j - you seem to know what it all entails and are fine with it so ignore the naysayers IMO and go for it! I too like to base one place and take even longish day trips from it - like coming back home each time i return that day.

chazzarelli

I just did a simple search on www.sidestep.com to look at flights. I dont think the train will suit your needs, unless you plan to spend a night over in Venice, but with that said..check the following:

Depart – Tue Jul 27 2010
Alitalia Flight 1463 Departs: 9:20a Fiumicino (FCO) Arrives: 10:30a Marco Polo (VCE) 1h 05m | 254 miles

Return – Tue Jul 27 2010
easyJet Flight 986 Departs: 6:15p Marco Polo (VCE) Arrives: 7:15p Fiumicino (FCO)

That ticket is $141 bucks, but you really dont have but 4 hours available to view venice.

Your best bet would be to do the following:

Depart – Tue Jul 27 2010
easyJet Flight 985 Departs: 4:35p Fiumicino (FCO) Arrives: 5:40p Marco Polo (VCE)
Coach | Fare code: Y | Airbus A319 (Narrow-body Jet) | 1h 05m

Return – Wed Jul 28 2010
easyJet Flight 986 Departs: 6:15p Marco Polo (VCE) Arrives: 7:15p Fiumicino (FCO)
Coach | Fare code: Y | Airbus A319 (Narrow-body Jet) | 1h 00m

In this scenario, you go up the night before, spend the night in Venice, find a cheap hotel (dont worry too much on the hotel, since you will spend a magical evening wandering through Venice (you need a bed and a shower)) and then you have all day till about 330-4pm to explore some more. Leave your things in your hotel in Rome, just bring a small carry-on bag with a change of clothes. This ticket is $80 rnd trip.

It's just a thought, rather than spending 8 hours travelling by train. It really is a stretch, but if you feel you must, then I say go for it.

Palenque

look at flights. I dont think the train will suit your needs, unless you plan to spend a night over in Venice, but with that said..check the following

OP has considered everything and the train suits her/his needs as he/she stated.

Great info and kudos for taking time to sketch it all out but How much time is saved by flying at that huge extra cost (they will have railpasses to cover the round trip same day) - one hour out to Rome's airport - check-in - hour flight? one hour to get into Venice and then do it in reverse - maybe save 3 hours but lots more hassles flying than just getting on a train and relaxing point to point.

travel_jean

Thanks all! We found a train from Rome to Venice at 6:45 am (arrive at 10:17 am) and returns at 7:27 pm (arrive at 10:55 pm in Rome). We can fit in the major sites in that time frame, enjoy wandering the narrow streets, and also enjoy zipping through the countryside.

We appreciate all the advice and guidance!