How to take the Rome to Florence train | explore top the picks
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Hey guys, coming to you today from Roma Termini, Rome’s main train station. We are about to head off to Florence. Now, as you know, we have the Florence-wise website and a lot of Florence content on this website. But in today’s blog, I’m not going to be talking to you about things to do in Florence. Today, I want to share with you what it’s how to take the Rome to Florence train.
I’ve heard concerns from many of you about things like how safe it is to navigate the train station, how early you have to get here to catch your train, where to store your luggage once you’re on the train, etc. In today’s blog, I’m going to show you how and where to get your tickets, how to find your track and board the train, where to store your luggage, what it’s like on the train, and what happens when you get to Florence South. Let’s get started. how to take the Rome to Florence train.
Trenitalia vs. Italo
As you can see behind me, there are these little kiosks for purchasing your tickets, and there are two companies: Tren Italia, which is a state-run company, and Italo, which is privately owned. So, the first question is, which one is better? You guys, we take both of these companies all the time when we’re going to Florence.
We just look to see who has the best offer. Since the journey is only an hour and a half between these two cities, it doesn’t really matter that much what kind of car you get, but we always try to book a premium car just to have a little bit of extra leg room, and usually, these don’t cost that much more. Also, when it’s available, we love to book the quiet car.
One major difference between these two train companies is that Trenitalia offers regional and inner-city trains along with their fast trains, which are called Freccia, whereas Italo only offers fast trains. Now, when it comes to buying tickets for the train between Rome and Florence, you’re going to want to buy tickets for the fast train. The fast trains between Rome and Florence take an hour and a half, while the regional and inner-city trains between Rome and Florence can take two to three hours, or even longer. So, be sure to check the length of the journey before you finalize your booking.
Now, I’m showing you that there are kiosks here in the station, so yes, you can come to the station and purchase your tickets when you’re ready to go. But I do suggest purchasing your tickets in advance. First of all, it saves you any unnecessary stress here in the station. Second of all, you often can get deals the further out you book. The closer you get to the time you’re leaving, the less likely it is that you’re going to find seats in the kind of car you want, or perhaps seats together. So, booking in advance will give you a lot more flexibility.
Italo has a pretty easy-to-use website. You just have to choose the English version and poke around, and you can figure out the site pretty easily. But I strongly recommend using Trainline. Trainline allows you to see so much more all in one spot. You can see all of the trains on offer from Trenitalia and Italo, but also international trains. So, for example, if you want to go from Rome all the way up to Nice, you can look that up on the Trainline.
Arriving Early at the Station
So, by all means, come here and get your tickets if you want to do it last minute, or if you’re not sure what time you want to go. But I would suggest booking in advance and using Trainline to get the best deals and see all of the options you have available. It’s very easy to use and very easy to pay for your tickets.
A question I’ve been getting a lot is: How early do you have to get to the train station to catch your train? Catching a train is not like catching a flight. You do not have to check in, check your luggage, go through security, and all of that. You do, of course, need to allow just enough time to find your track, get through a small line where you have to show your QR code, and get over to the tracks, find your train, and board it. So, in theory, you really only need to arrive at the station about 20 minutes before your scheduled departure time.
However, I’m going to recommend that you shoot for getting here about 45 minutes to an hour before your train is scheduled to leave. First of all, unless you’re staying right near the train station, you have to consider the time it will take to get here, whether you’re taking a taxi, the metro, a bus, or some other means of transportation. You want to build in a little bit of a cushion for possible delays.
Second of all, if you’re unfamiliar with the train station, you just may want that extra comfort level. One of the members of the Romewise Facebook group told us how she got to Termini train station and discovered that her train was actually leaving from Rome’s other train station, Tiburtina. Luckily, she had built in a little bit of time, so she was able to make it over there to catch her train just in time.
Now, this is actually not a normal occurrence, but I’m just saying you might want to give yourself just a little extra cushion in case of some unforeseen delay. This is not really normal that your train would be leaving from Tiburtina as opposed to Termini. Most trains actually do leave out of here, and if you were to get a train from Tiburtina, it would say it on your ticket. This was an unusual event.
Finally, we just like to get here a little in advance so we can catch our breath, sit down, enjoy a coffee.
Ensuring Safety and Enjoying Your Train Journey
And wait for our train. If you do sit down, make sure you hop up and go over to take a look at the screens and keep an eye on your train’s departure time and gate number.
Alright, we are going to quickly address the issue of safety in the train station. Many people have expressed concern about this, especially because they’re hearing stories about people being pickpocketed in Rome, in particular here in the train station. I’m not going to say it’s not an issue, but I’m also going to say please do not let fear and paranoia ruin your trip. As with just about any big city, certainly a train station in a big city, you’ll want to be aware of your surroundings, aware of your belongings, and try to avoid being an easy target.
Now, when I say to avoid being an easy target, I don’t mean that you should try not to look like a tourist. I think this is almost impossible, and Rome is full of tourists, so please don’t worry too much about that. What I mean is to use common sense. Try to avoid going around with large amounts of cash. Don’t carry all of your credit cards in the same place. Certainly don’t carry cash and credit cards in your wallet in a front pocket or someplace that’s easy for somebody to dip their hand into in a crowded situation.
In the description below, I’m linking to some of my very favorite pickpocket-proof items you can wear when you travel, whether to Rome or anywhere. But beyond that, as I say, use common sense. Don’t leave your belongings alone, even for a minute. Try to avoid looking distracted or even being distracted. And if you find yourself in a crowded situation, in particular in a place like the train station, with your luggage and your personal belongings, just keep everything close to you and stay super aware.
A final word—and I absolutely do not mean to diminish the trauma if this has happened to one of you—but honestly, please do not let fear and paranoia take over your vacation.
For today’s journey, we have booked with Italo. The tickets are on our phone. Whenever you book with one of these companies, you get an email confirmation that will have a PDF attachment, So, you’re going to want to open that attachment because that’s where you’ll find the QR code that you’ll need when somebody asks to see your ticket.
Alright, here is the screen showing the different trains. So, what you want to do is look for your train number, not the city you’re going to. Because we are going to Florence, but the train is going to Torino, it’s that train leaving at 8:40, and it’s showing that it’s at track three. So, let’s go.
Boarding Your Train and Enjoying the Ride
Once we get over here towards the binari (tracks), we need to look for where they’re letting people in. Our track is over this way, so we’re going to go to the entrance over here. It doesn’t really matter; you can go through any one of the entrances, but we’re just going closer to where our track is. It’s not really a security check per se, you just have to show your tickets, and we’re in. You can’t come to this part of the tracks without a ticket, so you just look for these numbers and find your track.
Do I have to validate my ticket? No, you do not. When you have a ticket on your phone with a QR code, you have a car number and a seat number, and that’s all you need. You do have to validate any ticket that is a regional or intercity train that doesn’t have a specific time on it. So, if you’re taking one of those kinds of trains, you look for one of these little machines where you can validate your ticket, or you will be fined.
So, this is where you can store your luggage, and it’s perfectly safe. You just keep it here until you’re ready to get off the train, and then come and get it. But you can also put it overhead if it fits there.
Depending on which level of service you book, you might get food and beverage service for your trip. Most of the most basic tickets between Rome and Florence do not come with food and beverage service, but in any case, you’ll find vending machines or a bar car, or even both on some trains. You’ll find just plugs, and on other trains, you’ll find plugs and also USB ports. The train ride is an hour and a half.
So, you will know when you’re getting to Florence, but they do announce it, so you’ll have plenty of time to start gathering your belongings and getting yourself ready. Like Rome, Florence can have another train stop, so make sure that you get off at the correct stop in Florence. The main train station is Santa Maria Novella—that’s where we’re going to be getting off.
Florence’s Santa Maria Novella station
we made it to Santa Maria Novella train station here in Florence, but we are not done. I have a trick for getting us out of the train station, so let’s go. Okay, first of all, to get out, you can’t go out through the red X’s; you’ve got to find the green light. There’s one over here, and there’s one on the other side too.
Guys, as you can see, Santa Maria Novella train station here in Florence is not quite as big as Roma Termini. See the sign behind me? So, that exit behind me is where you would go if you want to walk out onto street level, and if you go that way, that’s where you can get a taxi or other forms of public transportation if you want. We always walk because Florence is not that big, and we usually pick a hotel that’s not that far from the station.
So here’s the thing: When you go out onto street level, you have to contend with a very busy intersection, where you’ve got all these tram tracks. You have to cross over a whole bunch of cars and bicycles coming from all different directions. It’s pretty hectic, and I think it’s a little bit stressful. Instead, I’m going to show you a better way to get out of the train station, so let’s go.
You guessed it, guys—the underground tunnel to get out of Santa Maria Novella train station is, in fact, a giant shopping mall. Now, there’s really more than one way to get out of here, but it doesn’t really matter. The idea is to bypass all of those tracks, trams, cars, bicycles, and people with luggage, so you really can’t get lost. So, let’s just take one of these tunnels and head out.
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Alright, guys, there is a reason I chose this direction. First of all, there is a ramp, but also there’s a really cool thing I want to show you on your way out of Santa Maria Novella. Let’s go.
Yeah, you just never really know exactly what’s going to happen in that tunnel. There have been lots of interesting things in there. I’ve seen something like an aquarium with whales and sharks; that was really cool. Sometimes they do publicity, and other times it’s just some sort of random optical illusion. Anyway, as soon as you come out of that tunnel, you see these stairs in front of you, but we’re going to go this direction and take the ramp.
We’ve arrived in Florence. We just took this ramp, and we are right here near Santa Maria Novella train station, and of course near the church by the same name. We bypassed all that crazy traffic in front of the train station. So now it’s time to get out our Google Maps and find our hotel.
I hope you found this blog helpful. For more Florence content, check out my website Italy travel page and I mention it right here.
Thank you, and that wraps up our how to take the Rome to Florence train. Do you agree with the places we chose, or is there somewhere you visited that you feel should be on the list? leave us a comment.
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