Thinking of a trip to Venice. Options are to fly US to Rome and train to Venice, or KLM from EWR through Amsterdam to Venice directly. Any idea how long the train ride from Rome to Venice is? Thanks.

Djlawman

The pendolinos are fast. You can get the schedules by fax from Rail Europe at 800-4EURAIL.

The express trains are about 4 and a half hours Rome to Venice

http://www.trenitalia.com

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Have a great day!!
~~Missy~~

Also, if you do take the train from Rome to Venice, you could also stop off in Florence or Bologna along the way, which could be fun...

The trains are fairly fast and comfortable, if you get the faster express trains. If you wind up on a local, well, bring a book and maybe a lunch! (So if you just show up at the train station, make sure you check what type of train it is...)

Dan

Do consider advance reservations for the trains. While I don't know about the express trains, the local trains can be very crowded any time of year and without reservations you may end standing the whole way.

Don't know if you've considered a flight into/out of Venice, but you may want to look into that as well.

Been there, done that...the whole way...two months ago! On the other hand, the line in the train station for reserved seats is so long that you may spend almost as many hours standing in it as you would on the train

An odd phenomenon you may notice is that your ears pop when the trains enter tunnels north of Rome. There must some tunnel ventilation trick that they failed to use in tunnels along the first 100 km or so north of Rome.

And surely you know of the pickpockets in the Rome train station. If you'd like to meet one up close and personal, utilize one of the Rome train-station ATM's and wait 2 minutes. In our case, he just clumsily reached into a front pocket...no finesse or anything. Fortunately for us, he "picked" the wrong front pocket to pick.



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Middle_Seat

We avoid the train station line by having the hotel concierge purchase the tickets.

If no concierge, most Italian travel agents will sell first class tickets.

This year, we went Venice - Rome by air for $90. No pickpockets and less hassle.

However, one big advantage trains have over air is that the train stations are generally fairly centrally located in the city, while the airports aren't...

Dan

Particularly Venice, where you walk out the front of the station, down the stairs and into the Grand Canal. It's startling the first time you see it.



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Middle_Seat

and verona, plus siena as a side trip from firenze.
if u dont plan to stop over, better take the plane as discussed above



[This message has been edited by pegasus8228 (edited 09-02-2001).]