Getting from Rome’s airports into the city

Rome has two airports: the big one, Fiumicino, 30 km from the centre, and
little Ciampino, 15 km out, where the low-cost flights land. There are four
ways in, and the right one depends less on price than on where you are
staying and what time you touch down.

Fiumicino: four options

The Leonardo Express runs every 15 minutes and makes no stops.
Its one drawback: it leaves you at Termini, and if you are not staying near
the station you still face the metro or a taxi with your suitcases.

The FL1 commuter train costs almost half as much and suits many
people better: it stops at Trastevere and Ostiense, closer to the southern
and western parts of the centre. It runs every 15 minutes on weekdays and
every half hour at weekends, with longer gaps on Sundays.

Buses are the cheapest option and the most vulnerable one: they sit
in the same traffic as everyone else. With children after a night flight,
fifty minutes on a bus is harder going than half an hour on a train.

Family arithmetic: the group ticket

Here is the detail almost nobody mentions. The Leonardo Express has a
Minigruppi fare: four tickets bought together cost EUR 40 instead
of 56. For a family of four that is EUR 16 less each way, EUR 32 there
and back.

Compare that with a taxi: EUR 55 per car to your door against EUR 40 by
train to the station plus the walk with luggage. For a family the gap stops
being decisive, and the choice becomes one of comfort rather than money.

One more thing about children: on Trenitalia trains only children under
four travel free. Do not confuse this with Rome’s city transport, where
they travel free up to ten. The rules differ, even though the ticket has the
same name.

If your flight lands at night

The trains do not run at night — neither the Leonardo Express nor the FL1.
That leaves two options.

• Buses are timed around night arrivals and run to Termini. But the
  wait is longer, and Termini at night is not where you want to stand with
  sleepy children.
• A taxi at the flat fare. And this matters:
  no night or holiday surcharge is added to the flat fare. At night the
  ride into the centre costs the same EUR 55 as in the daytime.

With children after a long flight a taxi is usually the right answer — not
because of money, but because it is the only way to reach your door in one
go. Take one only at the official taxi rank: the cars are white, with the
lettering on the door and a meter. Anything offered to you by voice in the
arrivals hall is not a taxi.

Ciampino

The airport is small and has no train line. The options:

• Bus to Termini — about 40 minutes, EUR 6–7. Services are timed
  around the low-cost flights.
• Taxi — a flat EUR 40 into the centre, inside the Aurelian
  Walls.
• Bus to Subaugusta metro station and on by line A. The cheapest of
  all, but doubtful fun with suitcases and children.

Choosing in under a minute

• Staying near Termini, landing in the daytime — Leonardo Express,
  and Minigruppi if there are four of you.
• Staying in Trastevere or near Ostiense — FL1: cheaper and closer.
• Landing at night, with children or three suitcases — a taxi at the
  flat fare.
• Travelling as two with hand luggage and counting every euro — the
  bus.

Once you are in town you will need city transport — we have a separate
guide to that:
the Rome metro, tickets and opening hours.
And if you are still planning the trip, have a look at
our Rome routes for families with children.