slawecki

the only time to think in dollars is when your wife goes shopping. at 1.3$ to the €, or 2$ for a £, everything looks so cheap, and no tax.

i remember when the dollar bought 2000 italian lira. went shoe shopping, and could not figure out how much the shoes were because a price looked like 400000. or was it 4000000.

dishonest bars, and restaurants had a field day putting extra zeros on your bill.

JDiver

Your query has been merged into the Rome airports master transportation thread for member convenience. - all in one thread when others are searching, with a title that makes it easy to find. Buon viaggio!

JDiver, Senior Moderator

RinR

The Terravision Bus Service is open to all customers and you can even book online. They restarted service at FCO in July 2011 and they've been running a special lately for only 4 Euro from the FCO airport! See this link for more info: Terravision Back at FCO

tangoll

I just took on 9th September the Leonard da Vinci express train from Rome Termini Stazione to Fiumicino; cost is 14 euros one way, but the train that day was not air conditioned. Don't know if trains at other times are non air con, but since temp outside was about 28 deg C., inside the coach must have been over 35 deg C with only a few slits open for air to flow in. It was brutal inside the coach.

Alice11

All trains have air conditioning but they're very old...
The procurement of new trains is already in place, hope to see some decent equipment on this line soon.

Alice11

Here we go: some upgrade to the Leonardo Express.
The first 2 'Minuetto' have got the new livery, on Sept 18 according to Wikipedia.
The new platform at Termini will be the 24/25. They should be far closer to the underground, and aligned to other platforms. FS made some change to the platform for this service.

http://www.ferrovie.it/ferrovie.vis/...vp.php?id=2827

What's strange, this equipment is not brand-new, while I remember a call for tender issued some months ago about that. Maybe the financial troubles of the public bodies led to this decision.

rove312

There's a big difference between 24 and 25: 24 is the last in the main part of the station, while 25 is back in the Ferrovie Laziali area.

Alice11

Correct, there's some inconsistency online. Well it's wikipedia - Ita, Esp - that still reports both platforms, while the press article reports only platform 24, and according to the first official announcement issued by Regione Lazio, the train will be moved to the
main area.
BTW, there's still no announcement @ fsnews.it, the official source for this sort of news.

Mr. Bob

My wife and I are flying to Rome next week. We arrive at 11 a.m., first van from the hotel is at 2:30 p.m. -- not good. :-)

So, I am making a reservation with Rome Shuttle Limousine. Many thanks to all who recommended their service.

Is there an standard amount to give the driver as a tip?

Bob

Trastevere

Tipping is not standard in Italy. You can give a driver 10% if you want but by no means is it a custom like it is in the U.S. In Italy, a tip is actually earned (well, sometimes) instead of just assumed. Even when you go out to dinner, if you want to leave a euro or two that's just fine but 20% is simply tourists not understanding the culture. It takes some getting used to but it's the norm.

Alice11

New Leonardo Express, official announcement.
http://www.fsnews.it/cms/v/index.jsp...008916f90aRCRD

Start date: Dec 11
Platform at Termini: 24 - dedicated - the closest to the underground, to the long-haul trains, the shopping&service area, and to the bus area.
690 pax, 280 seats, ad hoc layout, no steps.

The PR adds that the revenue of this service generates 50% of the resources allocated to the regional mass transit system.

RinR

To supplment Alice11's post, this updated article , has pictures of the new Leonardo Express trains and a video of a double Minuetto train.

The Minuetto series is not new to Trenitalia. They've used these trains on many shorter commuter runs for years. The LE versions are supposed to be set up differently - we'll see. This is a reduction of 109 seats versus the "older" Leonardo Express trains. So about 28% less seats per run, but plenty of additonal STANDING room. As per their plan, 60% of the planned maximum occupancy of this train will pay to stand on thier trip into Rome.

lalala

Depending on your final location, the local service from FCO might be faster than the LE. We tend to stay in the centro - either near the pantheon or campo de fiori. For this we take a local train to the trastevere station and then transfer to the tram located outside of the station that stops at largo Argentina. Much faster route than going all the way to termini abd then schlepping to the bus terminal and figuring out which is the right bus to take or dealing with the hoarded of scammers within the station proper.

Boraxo

So from FCO to my hotel near Via Veneto it looks like the car service options are:

(1) http://www.romashuttle.com/

• E45 for 2 persons
• +20% after 9pm

(2) [http://romaairportshuttle.it/

• E45 +11%vat +3.5%visa/mc
• +30% after 7pm

(3) http://www.romeshuttlelimousine.com/FiumicinoE.htm

• No price on webside

The last comes highly recommended here, can anyone compare the others?

sk3

I originally chose Rome Shuttle Limousine, the third on your list, based on recommendations and the fact that there was no prepayment required, you didn't have to provide a credit card to make the reservation and you can pay with either cash or credit card. Rome Airport Shuttle, the first one on your list costs more and you have to provide your CC so I never tried them. Your link for the second choice doesn't work - so I don't know who you're referring to.

I've lost track on how often I've used Rome Shuttle Limousine, but I've never had a problem. But to be fair, I've never been picked up in anything as pristine as the Mercedes shown on their website and I have had drivers who barely spoke any English. But the cars have always been clean and the drivers have always been professional and friendly and knew exactly where to take me.

The link you provided for Rome Shuttle Limousine didn't work for me either. (And they do have prices on their website if you know where to look).

The price is €40 for up to 3 ppl, and they charge €5 extra for night hours 21.30 to 06:00. There is no additional charge for VAT and no additional charge to pay with a CC.

Here's the main site:
http://www.romeshuttlelimousine.com/

Then you need to click on "Services" seen towards the top right of the screen

Then you need to click on "Transfers to and from the major airports in Rome (from any city to Rome and viceversa)"

And then (finally!) you see their prices:
http://www.romeshuttlelimousine.com/...t-transfer.php

I usually receive an email reply from Charlotte, sometimes Nina, within 24 hours.

Hope this helps.