Rome’s main railway station and public transportation hub is Rome Termini. From here you can take bus, tram or metro to anywhere in Rome or elsewhere in Italy. The Rome hostel Chaplin Bed and Breakfast is only a two minute walk from Termini while the B&B Little Italy Rome is less than 10 minutes away.
Rome Termini Opening hours
Roma Termini closes after the last train has come in, at 00.40am (unless trains are running late) and opens again at 04.00am.
Phone number
The service number of Rome Termini is 06-4775 and can be called from 7am to 10pm.
Police and carabinieri
There is a police (polizia) station beside track number one. (It is actually quite a walk, at least 300 meters inside the railway station. This is where you will have to go in case of theft. The carabinieri have an office in front of track 16.
Tourist Information
After the railway station was privatized the tourist office got moved further and further from the main part of Rome Termini, since there is no money to made from giving people information. At the moment it is situated beside platform 24 (way down platform 24). The tourist office supplies you with free maps of Rome and sells the Roma Pass. It is not allowed to make hotel reservations for you. If you want to book a room in Rome Termini you will have to go to the Rome Hotel Reservation office in front of track 19 (Of course the fact that the privatized railway system gets a commission off the commission the Hotel Reservation claims to not be getting for their bookings has nothing to do with the fact that said Hotel Reservation office is a lot more visible and central than the tourist office and I am just a cynic for thinking that.)
The people walking around with badges saying they are (hotel) information people are clearly not (hotel) information people. Either they own the places they are sending you to, or they get commission from the hotels, bed and breakfasts and hostels in Rome they recommend.
Railway information and ticket offices
There is a small desk in front of platform 6 (facing the side where the platforms are, not facing the main hallway). The ticket office is in the second, smaller hallway, located between the main hallway and the bus square. To save time you can use the ticket machines that can be found near the main entrances of Rome Termini. For smaller distances tickets (so-called chilometric passes) can also be bought at tobacconists and newspaper stands. This also goes for the tickets to and from Rome Fiumicino airport. Remember to validate your tickets before you board your train in the small yellow machines you find at the beginning of the tracks.
Rome Termini luggage storage
You can leave your luggage for the day in the luggage storage one floor below the main level beside track 24. The rates are €3,80 for the first five hours (regardless of whether you leave your bags or suitcases for 5 seconds, 5 minutes or 5 hours, you will be charged €3,80). For the next 7 hours you pay €0,60 per hour and for every hour after that €0,20 per hour.
Post Office
The post office is located on street level beside track 24. If you need to send a package, you need to line up in the queue on the right. (Note that you can save a lot of time by buying normal stamps for postcards at tobacconists.)
Car rental
Most major car rental places have their offices beside track 24 as well. From the main hallway you walk alongside track 24, take any entrance on your right and turn left into a long hallway. Walk past the post office and all the travel agencies till you come to the car rental places at the end of the hallway.
Waiting room
There is a small waiting room to the left of track 1. The Club EuroStar travelers have their own luxury waiting room where the tourist office used to be, between the main hallway and track 4.
Money
There are cash machines near the Via Marsala and Via Giolitti exits and also at the level below Rome Termini. Note that during the weekends the ATM’s often run out of cash and will not be filled up before Monday mornings.
Supermarket
There is a supermarket one level below the main hallway near the Via Marsala exit. As with everything else in the shopping mall called Rome Termini, it is a lot more expensive than the alimenari or supermarkets outside the station.>
Trains
Most trains leave and arrive on any of the tracks from 1 to 24. The train from Leonardo Da Vinci (or Fiumicino) airport always departs from and arrives at track 24. Most of the trains that stay within the borders of the province of Lazio, however, leave from track 25 till 28. This is basically a station within the station, called Laziali. Walk all the way along track 24 to find those tracks. If you go one level below Termini you can use escalators for most of this walk.
Buses: Piazza Cinquecento
Piazza Cinquecento (or Piazza Cedera) as it is still called by, mostly elderly, Romans,is the main bus square in front of Rome Termini. There is a bus information office in the middle of the square. Buy your tickets before boarding at newspaper stands or tobacconists.
Via Marsala
Via Marsala is the street that borders Rome Termini on the north. The Terravision and SIT buses from Ciampino Airport have their final stops there (in front of the Hotel Royal Santina). Facing the hotel, you turn right and after 200m you will find the closest entrance to Rome Termini on your right.
Taxi
Rome Termini’s main taxi stand can be found right in front of the Piazza Cinquecento exit. A smaller one can be found at the Via Marsala exit, to your right when you exit from the platforms. A third stand is at Via Giolitti, but at the exit near platform 28 instead of near the main Via Giolitti-exit. The people who come up to you jangling car keys and parroting the word “taxi” are not recognized taxi drivers: ignore them!
Why is the central station called Termini?
Termini gets its name from the Baths of Diocletian (Terme Diocleziane, in Italian) across the road from the Piazza dei Cinquecento. The official name, as of December 23rd, 2006, is actually: Stazione Termini – Giovanno Paolo II (after the late Pope John Paul II).