Train from Salerno to Rome
 

Hello!
Is there someone familiar with the fast train from Salerno to Rome? If so, can you tell me if it's more desireable to sit on the left side of the train or the right as far as the best sightseeing opportunities? Do you recommend that we choose our seating rather then having the company assign our seats?

Thank you!

>>>Do you recommend that we choose our seating rather then having the company assign our seats?<<<

I like to select my own seats as I don't like to be too close to the restrooms or the very ends of the cars. The seats at the ends are more like airplane seats with flip down trays on the back of the seat in front of them. Other areas of the train have tables (denoted by a gray oblong on Trenitalia's seatmap).

You can't really tell which side of the train you will be on as the selection just shows a car, but no direction. We usually pick window seats facing each other with a table in between. Sometimes someone will have the aisle seat next to you, but not always.

On your left is the sea on your right is land you will get glimps of the town of Pompeii and its church, Mt. V. etc. To your left you will have some great sea views. And in some cases both sides are basically traveling through someones back yard. Some trains are double deckers which is nicer as you are up higher and see more.

>>>Some trains are double deckers which is nicer as you are up higher and see more.<<<

I'm not aware of any double decker fast trains in Italy. Some regional ones are double(Rome has just put this on the Leonardo Express to add capacity), but the fast train on this route is the Frecciarossa.

http://www.trenitalia.com/cms/v/inde...003f16f90aRCRD

....and don't expect to see much af the Sea, most of the itinerary goes through the hinterland

I have taken a train that is similar to our commuter trains from Salerno to Naples several times in the last few years and there is an upstairs. As far as I know it is not a ES train and it did make a couple of stops along the way but it was also not a milk train.

For the views, take one of the IC trains - and try to sit on the left in the direction of travel...

They take longer, but have by far the nicer route... fewer tunnels, almost none of the glass walls between which the Freccias have to run when passing houses, farms etc - plus you'll see the sea (Bay of Gaeta) in and around Formia!

On this rough map, that's the old line, through Latina - with the new Freccia trackway running further inland:

http://www.pbase.com/isolaverde/image/132089028

There's no way that I know of for ensuring which side of the carriage any particular seats would be on although there's perhaps more chance on empty ones in 1st Class (not too expensive on the ICs) - however, for the one of those I've just tried, they say "Seats will be automatically assigned"... so you'd be taking pot luck in any case?

Peter
http://www.pbase.com/isolaverde

As a PS... with all those tunnels under our many mountains, some of them dating back an awfully long while, don't expect to see any of those twindeck trains in Campania!

But note that the Freccias, and the ICs as well, all seem to do the stretch to Naples in a similar 30 to 35 minutes...

To achieve that they'll almost certainly be using the newer line - which runs around the inland side of Vesuvius... so you'll probably not see the sea, or very much else of any particular interest, on that part of the trip!

There's a wonderful old line, which runs through Vietri sul Mare, Pompei etc - however the trains that use it take some 80 minutes to do the same journey:

http://www.pbase.com/isolaverde/image/132271158

Great fun for sightseeing, but rubbish as a way of getting to Rome?

Peter

There is a new train line that goes from Salerno to Rome Tiburtina. It is very nice and easy to book on line. The website is Italotreno.it.