My family (2 adults/2 children) will be travelling on Eurail for the first time, and I was curious whether anyone has taken the train from Rome to Palermo...it seems as though travellers imply difficulties travelling south of Naples...any comments?

South of Naples, I've only travelled by train to Salerno ... didn't notice any difference (from Rome to Naples as compared to from Naples to Salerno). <BR>If I'm not wrong, there are no Eurostar trains south of Naples ... one has to use either an IC or Express train. <BR>Consider taking a cabin on the night express (leaving at 8:31pm and arriving at 8:35am) or on the night IC (leaving at 11:00pm, arriving at 11:05am). It's a looong trip! <BR> <BR>Paulo <BR>

Last June we took the train from Rome (leaving at 8:10 AM) and arriving at Taormina, Sicily at 5:10 PM. It was a very nice trip, we went first class on our pass, but made a reservation -- all first class cars were compartments. Our train split after crossing on the ferry, with the other part going to Palermo and I believe arriving about 6:30 PM. By the way, the kids will love the crossing -- there is something very exciting about being on a train, that is put onto a big ship and transported across the water, then hooks up to the tracks again. You can get off and go up on deck on the crossing, which only takes about 15 minutes --the hook up takes considerably longer.

Just checked the schedule. That 8:10 AM train from Rome gets into Palermo at 7:40 PM. It is a long day, but a very nice trip. Suggest you take food, the dining leaves a lot to be desired, but the IC train is very nice.

Paolo & Patrick: <BR>Thank you for your responses...it really <BR>helps <BR>Jane

We took a sleeper from Messina to Bologna in October and had no problems at all. There were a number of trains to choose from on that route. We had a first class sleeper but the only difference between 1st and 2nd class sleepers on our train was the number of people in the cabin (2 or 3). The compartments were in the same car and were identical except for a drop down berth. I mention this because Rail Europe had told us there were no 2nd class sleepers (only couchettes) and <BR>it would have been quite a bit cheaper. We had heard about problems on the route and secured our door well.