Since we only have ten days in Italy we were thinking of taking the train from Rome to Venice at night. We don't want to waste our precious time travelling. Are there compartments in which a family of four could sleep? Is it safe to travel at night? Would like to hear if anyone else has done this. We won't consider it if we arrive too tired to enjoy the next day.

Hi Richard,

Sorry I am not sure about the sleeping compartments for this particular route. I do know it's like a 5 hour train ride on the eurostar. How would you be planning that, leave in the middle of the night and arrive early early in Venice?

I understand you don't want to waste time on train travel and I think energy wise and not wanting to arrive too tired it may be best to leave on an early morning train from Rome and arrive in the afternoon. How long would you be staying in Venice?

My experience on other trips traveling Barcelona to Paris and Paris to Venice at night I felt very safe.

E

Richard - The overnight Rome-Venice ICN train leaves from Roma TIBURTINA Station (NOT Termini) at 22.37, arr. Venice at 05.55.

You can find compartment info on
www.trenitalia.it

Hope this helps ...

Steve

I looked into this once and was told the Eurostar and no other express trains run after midnight which means you have to take a local which adds almost two hours onto the trip. Considering the Eurostar is only 4 1/2 hours from Rome to Venice, it seemed smarter to get a good night's sleep and take the train, either very early in the morning or as late in the evening as you can. Who can sleep on a stop-and-go train for such a short distance anyway? I opted to go during dinner and ate on the train.

Steve above is right about the night train's times and it is direct -- no change. But you should also be aware that this train makes 11 stops along the way. I don't know about you, but I have great difficulty sleeping on a train. The jolting stops and squeals the train makes and then the jerky start ups (this is not an ES train) would compound that problem for me. Then arriving at 5 in the morning groggy and grumpy would not make for a very pleasant day to me!!!

But you have good information now and need to decide what is best for you and your family.

Richard,

We've done this on a few trips to save time, (Paris/Venice, Florence/Paris) plus we find the experience enjoyable. We love waking up in the morning, being served coffee and anticipating our next stop as we approach the station. We were able to sleep so we arrived rested.

We are a party of two so we have always gotten a private sleeper in first class (one trip with a sink, toilet down the hall, another with sink, toilet and shower in our room). You could lock the door for privacy/security.

I'm not sure if they have these for a party of four, maybe someone else has had that experience.

Dianne

Hi Richard,

Rome to Venice is a pleasant train trip. You get to see the city and the lagoon as you cross from Mestre to Venice.

You might want to consider leaving Rome in the PM and spending an evening in Venice.

Ira, what a great idea. I've always left Rome early in the morning to head to Venice (or stopped in Florence on the way), but I can't imagine a better introduction to Venice that arriving in the evening and taking a boat along the Grand Canal to your hotel -- then heading to St. Mark's for a late evening of music under the stars (if the season and weather are right).
You can leave Rome at 4:55 after a full and busy day of sightseeing, relax on the train, and arrive in Venice at 9:27 -- one of the shortest ES trips. So what have you missed during those 4 and a half hours? Not much, plus you get to see the countryside and if you want eat on the train.

The reference library of a city near you may have the Thomas Cook European Timetable. Table 620 shows trains from Rome to Venice. By day the fast Eurostar restaurant trains take 4 ? hours. As Steve James says, by night the Marco Polo InterCity Night train leaves Rome Tiburtina at 2237 and reaches Venice Santa Lucia at 0555, an unsuitable hour, groggy and grumpy as Patrick says. Since Italian train fares are cheap, the solution is to overshoot your goal. Leave Rome Tiburtina 2237, reach Pordenone 0726, pick up a coffee, leave Pordenone 0758, wash in the bathrooms (toilets) at ends of corridors, breakfast on board (good coffee, light breakfast, omlette), change at Venice Mestre 0920 to 0932, reach Venice Santa Lucia 0942. As Ira says, you see the lagoon as you cross over to Venice. I can add that the moment you step out of the station and see Venice laid before you is one to savour, a brilliant start to a day.

The Marco Polo Express carries 2 berth sleepers in second class, and two of those might well suit you. I am afraid it has no 4-berth sleepers nor couchettes, nor has it sleepers with private toilets. There is a note on getting the best from sleepers and couchettes at http://www.twenj.com/tipsnighttrains.htm/.

People who cannot sleep on trains, and find them jerky, cannot sleep on trains. Others, like me, sleep like babes.

Please write if I can help further. Welcome to Europe.

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Be aware that the Tiburtina station is nothing like Termini. I would not want to be there at night.