Travelling through Rome to Siena
 

My college age daughter will be travelling from the airport in Rome to Siena by herself. I know she needs to take the train to another station from the airport where she will catch the bus to Siena. My question is whether she needs to worry about pickpockets and the like, since she will have her hands full with a luggage bag and her backpack. Any advice is appreciated. Sorry, I'm not trying to insult Rome or Italy, as I would have this concern in any large city train/bus station scenario anywhere.

I would worry too, and I did worry when one of our daughters was in a similar situation in the early 90's. Yes, there are pickpockets in Rome. If your daughter intends using public transport, she should be aware at all times of what's going on around her and she should be prepared to be unfriendly to people engaging her in conversation, including children. She could avoid all this unpleasantness by engaging a limo company to meet her at the airport and drive her to the bus station. One such company has the url
http://www.romeshuttlelimousine.com/
and you can find others on the internet.

It's not easy to make your way to the Tibertina Bus Station alone with suitcases.Staircase an escalators. Use the shuttle, I use www.rome-shuttle.com

There are many bus lines in the station area. You're most likely to be taking the Sena line. The ticket office is not much bigger that a booth and not marked as clearly as a tired traveler would like. It's located across the street from the train station

Avoid the bus/train station area after dark. My daughter missed the last train to FCO once and waited overnight for the morning train. She stayed inside not to far from the police booth. She said it was fine but her parents had a rough night.

Hi Oly - There is a direct train service from FCO airport to Tiburtina station - with departures approx every 15 minutes - so absolutely no need to use a taxi. This is the FARA SABINA/ORTE train from FCO.

Alternatively - depending on her arrival time - it might be more convenient to go to Siena by train (- via Roma Termini) rather than by bus.
www.trenitalia.com

What time does your daughter arrive?

Steve

Steve, it looks like she will be getting around 7 to 8am in the morning on either American Airlines or United. Is the train really an option to Siena directly from the FCO airport.

No direct connection from FCO to Siena.

Steve's forst suggestion is a local train to Tiburtina station in Rome. She would then take a bus from Tiburtina to Siena.

Steve's alternate route involves taking a different train, the Leonardo Express, to Roma Termini, and then a train to Siena (which might involve another connection).