Rome

Rome (Italian: Roma), the Eternal City, is the capital and largest city of Italy and of the Lazio region. It’s the famed city of the Roman Empire, the Seven Hills, La Dolce Vita (the sweet life), the Vatican City and Three Coins in the Fountain. Rome, as a millenium-long centre of power, culture (having been the cradle of one of the globe’s greatest civilisations ever) and religion, has exerted a huge influence over the world in its roughly 2800 years of existence.

The historic centre of the city is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. With wonderful palaces, millennium-old churches, grand romantic ruins, opulent monuments, ornate statues and graceful fountains, Rome has an immensely rich historical heritage and cosmopolitan atmosphere, making it one of Europe’s and the world’s most visited, famous, influential and beautiful capitals. Today, Rome has a growing nightlife scene and is also seen as a shopping heaven, being regarded as one of the fashion capitals of the world (some of Italy’s oldest jewellery and clothing establishments were founded in the city). With so many sights and things to do, Rome can truly be classified a “global city”.

More information on Wikitravel

Rome (IATA: ROM for all airports) has two main international airports.

• Leonardo da Vinci/Fiumicino International Airport
  Fiumicino, IATA: FCO, +39 06 65951 – Rome’s main airport is modern, large, rather efficient and well connected to the city centre by public transport. However, late-night arrivals may limit you to an irregular bus into town unless you can afford a taxi.

  Airport Transfer

  • Train
    From the Leonardo da Vinci/Fiumicino airport, there are two train lines that will get you into Rome:

    The Leonardo Express leaves every 30 minutes to Roma Termini, Rome’s central train station (35 min trip). Tickets cost €14 and are available (within 7 days of departure) online. Tickets sold at the departure platform are €15. So if there are three of you it is cheaper to take a taxi and you get delivered to your door. You can’t buy a ticket for a specific train; it’s just a general ticket for a specific route (Termini), but it’s good for any time. Get your ticket stamped in a yellow validation machine just before boarding the train: it will expire 90 minutes after the validation. At Termini, the Leonardo Express stops at platform # 24.

    The suburban train (FL1 line) does not stop at Termini. Get off at Tiburtina or, before that, at the Ostiense train station, where you can connect to line B of the Metro; alternatively, you can get off at the Roma Trastevere train station and from there take the # 8 tram (direction: “p.za Venezia”) to go to Trastevere, Campo de’ Fiori, largo di Torre Argentina and piazza Venezia. Tickets are €8, plus €1.50 for a bus-tram-Metro ticket. The extra cost of the Leonardo Express is for the convenience of a direct ride to Termini. If you are going somewhere else close to a Metro station, Tiburtina and Ostiense stations are as convenient. Get your ticket stamped in a yellow validation machine just before using it.

  • Bus
    Terravision bus is probably the easiest and cheapest connection between Fiumicino airport and Rome city centre, but the journey takes 55 minutes. You can either book online (€4 one-way) or buy the tickets there (€6 one-way, €11 round-trip). The bus departs near Terminal 3 of the airport and arrives at Termini station (the same applies for the route in reverse). There are other buses that go to Termini station and, during the low season, you can hedge your bets and see which one leaves earlier.

    Note: When boarding one of the Terravision coaches from Termini to either airport, you must trade in your ticket for a laminated card called a “Boarding Pass”. The €6 ticket is good for any bus in the day of purchase, but there’s a limited number of seats available on each bus – and the Terravision office hands out these boarding passes on a first come, first served basis. For example, you may go to the station at noon and buy the 14:30 ticket to Ciampino. The ticket agent will however be giving you a generic ticket; you must then come back (they recommend 30 minutes earlier) at, let’s say, 14:00 and trade that ticket in for a boarding pass valid for the 14:30 bus to Ciampino. In rare cases, these passes may have already run out by the moment you show up at the office – our advice is to get onto the bus before the one you actually want to ride. The agents speak decent English, though, so just ask them if you are confused.

    COTRAL/Schiaffini operates buses from both airports to the city. Don’t forget to validate your ticket after getting on the bus.

    From Leonardo da Vinci/Fiumicino, the public bus stop is located outdoors at ground level, at the bottom of the Terminal 1 (Domestic Arrivals). You can buy tickets at the tobacco shop in the Terminal 1 baggage area, with the blue sign (Tabaccheria).

    The nighttime timetable is not kept very well; buses may be half an hour late or not arrive at all. Perch on the bus stop, don’t give up – the bus will come.

    An inexpensive choice from Fiumicino is to take the bus (COTRAL) to the “EUR Magliana” stop, which belongs to line B, and then take the Metro. It’s the cheapest way to get to the centre (€2.50 bus + €1.50 Metro). The sign on this bus reads “Fiumicino-Porto-Magliana”.

• G.B. Pastine/Ciampino International Airport
  Ciampino, IATA: CIA, +39 06 794941 – Located to the southeast of the capital, this is the city’s low-cost airline airport, serving Easyjet, Ryanair and Wizzair flights, among others. This small airport is closer to the city centre than Fiumicino but has no direct train connection. There are plans to move the low-cost airport much further out of Rome, but this is unlikely for some years. Note that at Ciampino cash machines are available only in the departures area. This is a relatively small airport and it closes overnight; you’ll be locked out of the airport until it opens again for the first check-in around 04:30 or 05:00. Flying into Ciampino, try to sit on the right of the plane – it will fly just to the east of the city centre. While the plane’s reaching Rome, you can see the Tiber and then the Olympic stadium, Castel Sant’Angelo, St. Peter’s and the Colosseum.

  Airport Transfer

  • Bus and Train
    From Ciampino airport the cheapest way is a combination of bus and train. For the first part you can take the Atral/Schiaffini bus (roughly every hour or 30 minutes on weekdays) from the stop located outside the terminal building to either Ciampino train station (5min) or to the Metro line A Anagnina stop (10min or more) for a cost of €1.20 to either way. From the Ciampino train station you can take the train to Termini station (20min) for €1.50. Because Ciampino is the first or second train stop on the way to many destinations from Termini, there are around 5 trains per hour and this is probably the overall fastest way (if you are going from Termini to Ciampino by train, you can enter “Ciampino” in the automated ticket machines and it will offer the different destinations/times). From Anagnina Metro station the ticket costs €1.50 (good for any public transport for 100 minutes, see single-ride ticket) and this should be the best way if your destination is near a Metro line A stop, but not Termini station. It’s not possible to walk the 4km to the local train station, as there are no footpaths. If you miss the train station to airport bus and can’t wait for the next one, a taxi ride will cost you €15-20.
  • Direct Bus
    There are a few direct bus services from Ciampino, all of which arrive at Termini station in downtown Rome:

    Sit Bus Shuttle. They run a bus line whose ticket costs €6 one-way (€10 round-trip); the ride takes approximatively 40 minutes and there are about 25 rides a day.

    Terravision. This is a dedicated airport-city transfer that takes approximatively 40min, with a service every 30min, provided just for the major low cost airlines. The price is €4 one-way or €8 round-trip. You can book on-line, inside the airport or outside near the bus stops (look for the employees with fluorescent vests writing “€4 city transfer”). Passengers should, on their return trip from Termini, board the bus three hours before their flight’s departure time.

    COTRAL. This carrier’s ticket costs €5 one-way (the ride will take some 40min), but has far fewer departures than Terravision. These buses are not mentioned on the airport website yet, but you can find them on Schiaffini’s own site. This bus line may come in handy if you arrive at a time when the Metro is closed.

Taxis in Rome are white. There is a fixed fare of €48 from Fiumicino airport to downtown Rome (the area within the city’s Aurelian Walls) and vice versa. Sometimes, taxis in the queue at the airport are not from Rome but from the nearby town of Fiumicino: these are not bound by the fixed fare rule and are best avoided. The fare from Ciampino airport to the city centre and vice-versa is €30; between the two airports, the fare rises to €50. For most other destinations, fares are not fixed and are based on the meter. Generally, Roman taxi drivers are hard-working honest people; however, there’s a hard core of crooks who tend to work the airports and the main station. Do NOT negotiate the price for the city centre and be sure your driver activates the metre (all licensed taxis have a metre) when he/she starts driving to any destination not covered by a fixed fare. Drivers at the airport may try to talk you into paying more than the fixed fare, saying that your destination is ‘inside the walls’ or ‘hard to get to’; if they try to overcharge you at your destination, threaten to call the police. They will probably back down. Licensed limousine drivers may approach you at the airports, especially Fiumicino, where there are several companies (mainly cooperatives) with booths close to the exit. A drive with them to the centre could reach as high as €80 but if you are in a group a large limousine or “van” could be cheaper than two taxis. Be aware as well of unlicensed “taxi” drivers. Go directly to the taxi stand and ignore touts.

At the airport in Ciampino, there should be an organised taxi queue – however, the drivers will often negotiate amongst themselves if you are going somewhere the cab at the front doesn’t want to go to. There are reports that late-night licensed cabs at Ciampino are asking €100 to take people into town, so try to avoid late flights or take the bus that connects with the flight. If you have to take a cab just pay the legal fare at your destination; if, instead, you have no stomach for the resulting argument then you can phone a cab from one of the numbers listed under the “Get Around” section.

A shared airport shuttle can be hired for around €15 per person to take you from Ciampino airport. However, since the shuttle is shared, it may take longer to reach your destination if other customers are dropped off before you are.

Rental cars are available from all major companies at both airports. Providers can be reached easily in the arrivals halls at both Fiumicino and Ciampino.

Another option, is to book a licensed limousine in advance on-line. The prices are often cheaper than a taxi especially for minivans and in Fiumicino even for sedans. One disadvantage however is that you normally need to book at least 24 hours in advance so you need to plan ahead.