Anyone have a best guess on how long it takes to get through customs in Rome, get on the Leonardo Express to catch a train out of Rome?

Customs is really a nonissue,takes minutes as does passport control. The real factors are whether or not your flight arrives on time and whether or not you have to wait for checked bags. I've always gotten through this process within fifteen-twenty minutes.

Have been through Rome many times and customs is a breeze. Sometimes you have to wait for luggage, but they have a train station right at the airport to take you to the main terminal. Very convenient.

Thanks! Would you risk landing at 11:10 and making an online train reservation for 12:55? (We plan to check bags) Is a train reservation to Venice even necessary on a Friday in April?

Hi kdap
>Would you risk landing at 11:10 and making an online train reservation for 12:55? (We plan to check bags)<

Nope.

The Leonardo daVinci train leaves on the :07 and :37.

Your plane doesn't just land, you have to get to the gate and debark. You have to get your luggage. You have to go through immigration. You have to get to the train.You have to get to Rome. You have to walk about 1/2 km to the head of the tracks.

If all goes well, you will arrive at Rome TE at 12:37 or 13:07.

We had a "worst case" experience. Plane scheduled to land at 08:40. Arrived at the head of the tracks at about 11:30 and watched the train to Florence depart.

Take the next train.

Is a train reservation to Venice even necessary on a Friday in April?

Would you trip be ruined if you had to wait for one more train?

If it turns out that a seat reservation is necessary:

For what it's worth, here's what happened to me when I arrived at Roma Termini (with the Leonardo Express) and was unable to reserve on the ES train leaving for Ferrara because it was fully booked.

At the ticket window, they sold me the fare (without the seat reservation) and told me to go to the platform, find the "capo di treno" (the "head of the train&quot and buy a seat reservation from him. It worked, and my feeling (whether correct or not), is that they reserve a number of seats for latecomers. I do know that the Italian woman next to me had also bought her seat reservation at the last minute from the "capo di treno."

That's a great tip,Eloise. I had no idea about that.

Eloise,

Was your converation with the ticket agent as well as the Italian woman spoken in English or Italian? It sounds like it went smoothly for you, if you were speaking only English.

Just curious.

I hesitate to call what I speak "Italian," as I speak it with considerable ignorance of the grammatical rules of the language, but I do manage to make myself understood by well-meaning (and most of them are, thank God, well-meaning) Italians without slipping into English.