Land Travel to Rome and Venice in Italy

Manuel with (L-R) Usec Lagman, Labor Secretary Nito Roque & Labatt Douglas

(L-R) Pinkie, Gella and Abbi in Venice

        

Travel to Rome and Venice from Geneva (two days travel with overnight stay in Rome) as of July 09                    

Itinerary

Geneva                 depart 9:37 pm (Thurs)               Eurail Day 1 (12 hours travel)

Rome                    arrive  9:25 AM (Friday)

                                Overnight in ROME

Rome                   depart  6:50 am (Saturday)          Eurail Day 2 (4 hours travel)

Venice                  arrive 11:17 am

                             depart 4:17 pm                            (7 hours travel)

Geneva                  arrive 11:23 pm

Travel Arrangements

1.        Eurail pass needs to be validated at the ticket counter at Gare Station in Geneva. Do not  fill up or write anything in the Eurail Pass. Ticket officer will do this. Present your Eurail Pass together with your passport (note: residents are not qualified to use Eurail pass).

2.       Entering the travel date in the Eurail Pass.  Once validated, it is the responsibility of the passenger to write date of travel before boarding the train.  Please note that if your travel is after 7pm, you can write the date of the following day in your Eurail Pass.

3.       Days prior to your travel, make reservations from your seat or couchette as they only have few seats/couchettes for Eurail pass holders. Otherwise, you will be asked to purchase the regular ticket which will cost you about CHF 189 (one way on a couchette for 4 as of July 2009).  Please note that July and August are travel months in Europe and chances are trains are always full.

Couchette (Geneva to Rome)

1.       Couchettes come in second class trains only. There is no first class couchette. Prices for one way are as follows:

a.       Single                           CHF 304

b.      Double                         CHF 238

c.       Triple                            CHF 205

d.      Couchette for 4        CHF 189

e.      Couchette for 6        CHF 173

2.       If you are a Eurail Pass holder you only pay for your couchette reservation which will cost you only CHF 58 (round trip).

3.       Upon boarding, the train conductor will ask you to deposit your Eurail ticket and passport for checking by Italian immigration/police when the train passes the border of Italy.  These documents will be return to you by the train conducted the next day before the train arrives in Rome.

4.       Passengers in couchette rooms are provided with the following: pillow (but rather flat), blanket, while bed sheet and a bottle of drinking water.  Breakfast is served by the conductor at least two hours before reaching Rome. Breakfast consists of coffee and one panatonne or croissant.

5.       Passengers are free to take in their own food items and drinks (wine and beer are allowed).  Couchette coaches have no restaurant facilities. Toilets facilities are found at each end of the train coaches. Toilets are usually provided with toilet paper and liquid soap.

6.       Couchette have electrical plugs for computers  and mobile phones.

7.       Couchettes have very limited room for big luggage.

8.       Tips: try to bring an extra pillow, comfortable sleep wear or shorts, sweater (specially during winter),vanity mirror (for ladies),  sleeper, small flash light,  snacks and trash bag. You might also like to bring some magazines to read (there are reading lights for each passenger).

9.       Note:  You cannot lock the couchette door if your group does not occupy the whole couchette.  If you expect and “outsider” to join you or fill in the vacant couchette during your travel, mind attending to your own personal items and valuable. There are many reported incidents of theft and even robbery especially if you are asleep during the travel.

10.   Note: Euro Night trains stop at Florence at about 7am. So, you can decide to stay in Florence for a few hours before proceeding to Rome using another train.

Hotel Accommodation in Rome

1.        As we planned just to have a quick visit of rome in one day,  we decided to take a small hotel within the Termini Area. So, we got, using the internet (http://www.booking.com):

Hotel Marco Polo

Via Magenta 39

Rome, 00185

Italy

Tel. +39 06447 4091

Email: info@hotelmarcopoloroma.it

·         Two star hotel at Euro 69 per night (VAT, service charge and city/tourist tax included) with breakfast (which we did not try since we left the hotel the next morning before 7 am. Breakfast is from 7 to 10 each morning).

·         Two minutes walk from the Termini

·         Hotel is on the third floor of a building with another two hotels in the same building.

·         Elevator is small and can accommodate only 3 persons

·         Rooms are clean but small with small ref and mini bar inside.  Usual soap and shampoo are provided. My room had a bath tub but other rooms have shower cubicles.

·         Rooms are provided with small TV (flat TV in my daughter’s room and old conventional TV in my room) with access to local channels. No English channels. No CNN.

·         No parking

·         Accepts major credit cards

Alternative hotel (used by Willie and company in October 2009)

                                Mirage and Halifax Hotel

                                Via Milazzo, 4/6-00185 Roma

                                Tel +30 06 4455661

                                www.hotelmirage.org

                                email: info@hotelmirage.org or hotel_leale@yahoo.com

·         Hotel is located right in front of Roma Termini (it is closer to the station than Marco Polo)

·         Hotel is on the 4^th floor of the building but front desk is at the ground floor.  Entrance to the hotel lift is on a door just beside the lobby.

·         Rate for double room is Euro 100 and for triple room Euro 120 with breakfast. We did not try the breakfast as we left the hotel early morning.

·         There are plenty of restaurants in the area.

·         Hotel rooms are similar to Marco Polo. They are spacious and clean. Elevator is small. Rooms are with bathtubs.

·         Check in time is 10am on. We were given one room upon arrival where we left our luggage even if the room was still being cleaned.

·         Hotel does not accept credit cards

2.       As we arrived early in the hotel (around 9:30 am) our rooms, as expected, were not ready yet. We were asked to return after lunch.  Meanwhile, we requested that our luggage be deposited  for retrieval by the time we check in.  Front desk staff (who spoke English) asked that we leave our luggage beside the front desk and he said he will bring the same to the baggage room.  No luggage tags were issued. When we returned at 4pm, our luggage where still in the place where we left them.  I imagined the number of people to went pass our luggage that day. We were lucky we did not lose anything.

TIP: It might be wise to anticipate that your room will not be available if you check –in earlier than 12 noon.  If you are decided to leave your bags in the hotel, make sure you have them locked. If you have a number of small bags with you, it might be wise to bring a gadget that can chain your luggage together.

3.       Problem: my room’s AC was not working. I woke up early morning to request for an electric fan.

4.        There are  numbers of equally good hotels in the area near Termini with the same classification and rates. You can surf the internet for vacancies. If you identify one, try to read through the comments made by previous guests if not, ask a friend who have stayed in the same hotel previously.

5.       As you are expected to walk to your hotel from the Termini and back. try to get  a overnight bag with wheels .

Moving around Rome

1.       We used the metro system in order to save time.  Metro is the most efficient way to move around without traffic.  Get the Day’s ticket which will cost you only Euro 4.00 but will allow you unlimited travel by train or bus the whole day.  In order to avoid the long queue at the train ticket counters, buy your Day Ticket from any of the Tabac (candy and magazine store) within the Termini upon your arrival. Tickets are priced the same.

2.       An option is to the take the Hop-in / Hop-out tourist bus which you can board from the parking lot beside the Termini.  Ticket for the whole day will cost Euro 28 per person.  However, if you are pressed with time, it is recommended that you take the Metro instead. Hop-in/ Hop-out buses are subject to traffic and may take your time iduring rush hours.

3.       Metro system in Rome is simple and easy to follow. Signage are in English and Metro maps are widely available (you can down load them from the internet and study ahead of time your route for the day).

4.       TIP: As in may busy cities, take extra precaution in caring for your personal belonging s including your wallets, handbags , cell phones and cameras specially in the metro trains and buses.  Watch out for those Gypsy women and children.

What to see

1.        There are three basic sites to visit in Rome ---(1)  the Vatican plus the Sistine Chapel; (2) the Coliseum and the nearby ruins --- you can have an easy walk from Coliseum to the Victor Emmanuel Memorial;  and (3) the Travi Fountain plus the Spanish Steps which is within walking distance.

2.        All the above sites are accessible by the Metro system.  We were discouraged from taking the bus system in view of the high incidence of pick pocketing and theft.