Arrivals
A Rome layover is worth leaving the airport for from about 6 hours, and the non-stop train takes 32 minutes to the centre.
Rome Fiumicino Airport (FCO), also called Leonardo da Vinci, is on the coast south-west of Rome, with its own train station. Allow about 2 hours from landing to stepping off the train at Roma Termini, the main station: an hour for the border and the walk to the platform, then the wait for a train and the ride.
- Your terminal. Flights from outside the Schengen area land at Terminal 3, and flights from inside it at Terminal 1. Both lead to the train station: follow the signs for trains.
- Bags. Booked on one ticket? Your checked bags should be tagged through to your final airport, leaving you with hand luggage only. On separate tickets you pick them up after passport control; left luggage in Terminal 3 international arrivals, by the bus station, is open 7am to 11pm and costs €10 a bag for up to 24 hours, paid when you collect.
- Tickets. Tap a contactless card, phone or watch on the gates for the Leonardo Express: €14, one card for each traveller. The ticket office (6:45am to 10:12pm) and the machines sell tickets too, including four for €40 if you’re a group. In town, tap the same card on the Metro: €1.50 covers 100 minutes of travel.
- What to wear. St Peter’s, the Vatican Museums and the Pantheon turn away bare shoulders and short shorts or skirts, so keep a layer in your hand luggage.
- Phone. The airport’s Wi-Fi is free. For directions from the Metro to the sights, set up an eSIM before you fly.
Left luggage, showers and rooms: at the airport.
eSIM
Data before you land
Rome's sights are a walk from the Metro, and a map on your phone saves wrong turns on the way to the Trevi Fountain or St Peter's. An Italy eSIM set up before you fly works as soon as you land.
Get an eSIM from Airalo (opens in a new tab)Get a Saily eSIM (opens in a new tab)
Border
Your passport decides whether you can go into Rome; where your flight came from decides whether there’s a passport check at all.
Not needed when you stay airside.
- Schengen, in brief. Italy belongs to the Schengen area: most EU countries plus Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland, with open borders between them. Flying in from London, New York or Dubai, you queue for passport control at Fiumicino; from Paris or Frankfurt, you skip it.
- Visa-free passports. US, UK, EU, Canadian and Australian passports need no visa for a short stay. Your passport must be valid for 3 months after you leave the Schengen area and issued within the last 10 years.
- India and other visa passports. Going into Rome takes a Schengen short-stay visa, arranged before you travel.
- Staying airside. Between two flights outside Schengen, you stay in Area E, Fiumicino’s non-Schengen area, with no passport control. Nationals of 16 countries, including Pakistan, Nigeria and Bangladesh, need an airport transit visa even for that.
- Time. Allow about an hour from landing to the train. EU citizens and holders of US, UK, Canadian, Australian and other electronic passports can use the e-gates; at the desks, non-EU visitors give fingerprints and a photo, which slows the queue. A long wait only shortens your time in Rome: the time to start back doesn’t move.
Who needs which visa: visa and transit rules.
Into Rome
The Leonardo Express is the way in: non-stop to Roma Termini in 32 minutes for €14, with a train every 15 to 30 minutes.
Not needed when you stay airside.
| Ride | Into town | Fare |
|---|---|---|
| Leonardo Express to Roma Termini, the best for most | 32 minutes, non-stop | €14, or €40 for four |
| FL1 regional train to Trastevere, Ostiense and Tiburtina | 48 minutes to Tiburtina | €8 |
| Taxi | About 45 minutes to an hour, our estimate | €55 fixed fare within the Aurelian Walls |
Leonardo Express trains leave the airport from 5:38am to 11:27pm, every day. Most of the day they run every 15 minutes, but at some hours only every 30, so allow for the longer wait. At Termini they use platform 24, at the far side of the station from the Metro: allow about 10 minutes to walk between them. Metro lines A and B cross at Termini, and every plan in this guide starts there.
Tickets, the last trains and taxis: getting into the city.
What to do
Start with the Trevi Fountain or the Colosseum, each two Metro stops from Termini; the Pantheon, the Spanish Steps and St Peter’s need a longer layover.
Not needed when you stay airside.
The fastest plan for a short layover
- Take the Leonardo Express to Roma Termini, 32 minutes from the airport.
- Walk to the Metro and take line A towards Battistini, two stops to Barberini-Fontana di Trevi.
- Walk about 7 minutes to the Trevi Fountain. It’s free to see from the square at any hour; going down to the edge of the basin costs €2, from 9am to 10pm.
- Back the same way. Leave the fountain about 3 hours before your flight.
Would you rather someone else handled the timing? Fiumicino has no airline transit tour, but private tours with a driver who meets you at arrivals are sold online: GetYourGuide (opens in a new tab) and Viator (opens in a new tab) list them. Add about 2.5 hours to a tour’s length for getting out of the airport and back before your flight.
Watch the calendar
- Sundays. The Vatican Museums are closed, except on the last Sunday of the month, when entry is free from 9am to 2pm and the queue is long. St Peter’s Basilica, the Colosseum and the Pantheon stay open.
- Holidays. The Vatican Museums also close on church holidays, among them 8, 25 and 26 December and 1 and 6 January. The Colosseum and the Pantheon close on 25 December and 1 January. No holiday timetable is published for the Leonardo Express, so check your train back on the day.
- Winter afternoons. Until 28 February 2027 the Colosseum’s last entry is 3:30pm, so book an early slot. St Peter’s is open 7am to 7pm.
- Strikes. Italian rail strikes can delay or cancel the Leonardo Express. They’re announced ahead, and ADR posts them on its news page, so check before you leave the airport. If the trains aren’t running, the €55 taxi is the way in.
Timed plans from 6 to 24 hours, from a quick look at the Trevi Fountain to the Vatican Museums, and one for night arrivals: itineraries.
Transit tour
Private tours from Fiumicino
A driver meets you at arrivals, takes you round the sights and brings you back to the airport. Ask whether the tour's hours include the drive, about 45 minutes to an hour each way, and add about 2.5 hours for the border and being back before your flight.
See tours on GetYourGuide (opens in a new tab)See tours on Viator (opens in a new tab)
Head back
Be back at Rome Fiumicino Airport 90 minutes before departure, with your onward boarding pass.
Not needed when you stay airside.
- Time. Be at Termini 2 hours 45 minutes before your flight: that covers the walk to platform 24, the wait for a train, the 32-minute ride and 90 minutes at the airport. That makes 6 hours the realistic minimum: about an hour in town, and 8 hours gives about 3.
- Why 90 minutes is enough. With your onward boarding pass in hand and nothing to check in, all that’s left is security and, for a flight outside Schengen, the passport desks before Area E. If you still need to check in or drop a bag, allow longer.
- Your terminal. Flights within Schengen leave from Terminal 1, and flights outside it from Terminal 3. Your boarding pass says which.
- Late at night. The last Leonardo Express leaves Termini at 11:05pm and reaches the airport at 11:37pm. It matters only if you spend the evening in town before a morning flight: on a same-day return you’ll leave Termini much earlier. After it, a taxi costs the fixed €55 and takes up to an hour, or Cotral’s night bus costs €5. The first train from Termini, at 4:50am, reaches the airport at 5:22am.
Time in town at each layover length: how much time you’ll have.
Departures
Best for your layoverStaying at the airport instead: the lounges are past security, but every bed is on the landside.
Fiumicino has no airside hotel or sleeping pods, so to sleep you need to be able to enter Italy.
- Lounges, past security. Which you can use depends on your next flight. Leaving the Schengen area, you have Plaza Premium in Terminal 3, open 5am to 10:30pm, from €30 for 2 hours, and Prima Vista Portus, 5:45am to 10:45pm, at €40 for adults. Flying within Italy or Schengen, there’s Plaza Premium in Terminal 1, 4:30am to 9:30pm, from €29 (seen November 2026), and Prima Vista Domus, 5:15am to 9:45pm, at €40. All have showers.
- Hotels by the terminals. The Hilton Rome Airport is under 10 minutes’ walk from the terminals through a covered walkway; the Hilton Garden Inn is on a free shuttle that runs around the clock, every 15 minutes; and HelloSky rents rooms for a few hours as well as for nights. Prices change by date, so compare them when you book.
- Overnight. No lounge opens at night, and Fiumicino doesn’t say whether its terminals stay open, so book a room rather than plan to sleep in the terminal.
Rooms, lounges, showers and left luggage: at the airport.
Hotel
Hotels by the terminals
The Hilton Rome Airport, the Hilton Garden Inn and HelloSky are all before passport control, so you need to be able to enter Italy. The simplest choice for a night landing, with the first train into Rome at 5:38am.