Given the geographical location of Rome, as well as the fact the city is the capital and one of the most important cities of Italy, its tourist opening goes without saying. People who travel to Rome (either for pleasure or for business) have several alternatives of getting here. Traveling by plane is obviously the most straightforward manner, but getting to Rome by train, by bus, by car and even by boat is also possible. This diversity of means of reaching Rome is always encouraging, from the point of view of a business travelers, as well as from the point of view of tourists who go to Rome for pleasure.
Leonardo da Vinci Airport, also referred to as Fiumicino Airport, is the largest and busiest airport of Italy. It is located some 35 kilometers west of Rome and it is the main landing venue for tourists who want to fly to the capital of Italy. Tens of millions of passengers transit the airport each year, but this is no surprise, given it is serviced by more than 150 airline companies which connect the airport with virtually the entire world (from Saint Petersburg to Buenos Aires and from Beijing to Tel Aviv).
The airport transfer means are reliable and efficient, making it possible for tourists to get in no time from Fiumicino to Rome. Depending on their vacation priorities, tourists can either get the train or the bus. They can also take a taxi or, why not, rent a car and cover the distance between the airport and the capital by car.
Ciampino International Airport is located only 12 kilometers from central Rome. It is one of the oldest Italian airports and, in fact, until the 1960s, when Leonardo da Vinci Airport opened, it used to be the only airport servicing the tourist, economic and military platform of Rome. After the opening and development of the latter, Ciampino International Airport gradually lost its importance in this respect.
Nevertheless, it remains an alternative at hand, in particular for tourists traveling on a low budget, since the airport is serviced chiefly by low-cost airline companies, such as Wizz Air and Transavia. The connection to the city is made by bus, but taxis and rental services for tourists who want to drive to Rome are also available.
The main train station in Rome is the so-called Roma Termini (in Italian, Stazione di Roma Termini). It is one of the largest train stations in Europe, being transited by some 150 million passengers yearly, receiving about 850 trains a day. It is, at the same time, one of the oldest train terminals (its history goes back to the 1860s). Its central location makes it possible for tourists who choose to get to Rome by train to enjoy the privilege of getting off the train and find themselves surrounded by the most reputed sights of the capital. The trains arriving at Roma Termini make connections with both national and international destinations, such as Vienna, Paris, Geneva and Munich. A tourist information office managed by Comune di Roma is also located here.
The terminal is located in Piazza dei Cinquecento, an area of crucial importance for the traffic infrastructure of Rome, since this square is also home to the main bus terminal of the city, as well as the place where the two metro lines pass across each other. In order to learn all there is to know about Stazione di Roma Termini, its history, development, modernization process and importance for the tourist platform of the city, please visit Grandi Stazioni.
Roma Termini is not, however, the only railway terminal in the capital. For regional or local trips, tourists can also check out the offers available at the terminals in Tiburtina, Ostiense, Tuscolana and Traverstere.
In order to learn about the national and international railway connections between Rome and other cities, train schedules, ticket prices, duration of a trip and bus connections, please visit Trenitalia.
If getting around in Rome by car is more of a nuisance than a rewarding tourist experience, getting to the capital by car is a whole different story. The city is literally surrounded by a ring road, suggestively called Grande Raccordo Anulare (the Great Ring Road), or GRA, which connects the city with several motorways of Italy: A24 (Strada del Parchi), advisable for people who come from the east of the peninsula, A1 (Autostrada del Sole), recommendable to tourist who travel either from the north Tuscan cities or from the south, and A12 (Autostrada Azzurra), linked to GRA by yet another shorter motorway, namely, A91 (Autostrada Fiumicino-Roma).
Finding a parking space after arriving to Rome is highly recommendable, given the congested local traffic.
Rome, as everybody knows, is a landlocked city, but getting to the capital of Italy by boat is nonetheless possible. The closest ferry and cruise port is in Civitavecchia, a commune located 80 kilometers northwest of Rome. Also known as the Port of Rome, Civitavecchia is one of the most important Italian ports on the Tyrrhenian Sea, establishing connections with sundry other major ports, such as Malta, Barcelona, Tunis, Sicily and Sardinia.
People who travel to Rome from such destinations should keep in mind the town has fine railway connections to Rome, the distance being covered in about an hour. In order to learn more about the train connections between Rome and Civitavecchia, please visit Trenitalia.
In order to learn all there is to know about the Port of Rome, its connections to the capital, port transfers and the like, please follow the indications below:
Obviously, Rome has fine bus connections with plenty of national and international destinations. Yet, traveling by bus to Rome is, by plenty of visitors' opinion, not the most recommended or even rewarding manner of getting to the capital of Italy, when compared with the fact flights are anyway much faster and train trips are much more scenic.
Eurolines, which manages the largest network of international bus lines in Europe, is a convenient alternative for tourists from all the corners of the continent who want to get to Rome by bus. In order to learn about departures, arrivals, ticket prices and the like, please follow the indications below: