1

The shopping mall next to the airport maybe...

2

Seriously - you're saying I can't get a quick peak of the Jewish Ghetto, have a bite to eat, and return back in time?

3

Well, is it worth?

Landing at 3pm you'll need an hour or maybe more to get off the plane, wait for your luggage, and head to the station. Then wait for the train and reach the center, other 30 to 50 min depending by the waiting time.
Once at the train station you'll need to walk from platform 24 to the exit, with all your luggage, buy bus tickets and catch a bus to the center, usually very crowded; or catch a taxi waiting several minutes in line.
In the very best case you'll be at the ghetto at 5pm.

Your flight is at 10pm, this means you'll have to be at the airport at 8pm to checkin your luggage and head to the controls. Israel is out of the Schengen area, so 2 hours before is the recommended time. Calculating the times we did before, you'll have to leave the center by 6pm to be in a rush...

So, in the best case and without any inconvenience, you'd have max 1 hour in the center... and for that 1 hour you'll have to spend over €30 per person between trains and buses (or much more by taxi). Is it worth?

And I didn't consider it's December 24th: shops, cafes, restaurants, ... everything usually closes at 6pm so that people can go home and enjoy Christmas eve with their family, and I don't even know if the trains to the airport will run after a certain time.

4

Will your luggage be checked through to Israel : and are you flying from a Schengen country into Italy?

If so, you're in with a chance. Assuming nothing goes wrong - assume 30 minutes to get off the plane, and another hour to get into town. That gets you there 4:30 ish.

The latest you'd want to leave before going back to the airport is 7:15 ( hour transit from city to airport, and then 2 hours for check in + security )

2 3/4 hours isn't long : but should be enough for a sprint through the Jewish Ghetto and something to eat - if stuff's still open, it being Christmas Eve and all ( do shops in the Jewish Ghetto close down for this? )

Do some research before hand and look into train times and the airport map - to cut down on time wasted hanging around the station in the city, and so you don't get lost in the airport.

5

more info would be helpful indeed, like luggage and where you are flying in from. If you only have hand luggage you can be out of FCO in 15min...

whenever I've flown to Israel the check-in time was 3 hours before departure- due to the extreme security measures. (maybe a little less if you are a Jewish Israeli citizen). So you may want to check that.

I am not sure if things close early on Christmas eve- in some countries they do. Flapic would know better than I do.

Lastly, if going to the Ghetto, take the local train to Roma Trastever (NOT the express to Termini) and then the Tram direction Largo Argentina. Faster and cheaper than travelling via Termini.

Still, it's going to be tight.

6

I am flying in from Spain and my luggage is going to be checked through to Israel. All I've got is my computer bag, which i will leave in left luggage or a locker, whichever is available.

So on my return all I need to do is get stamped out, and go through security. I'm not sure how FCO is, but my experience is that there isn't one security screening for Israel AND one general one. So what I have to go through at the airport is Passport control + Security Screening + possibly a question or two from Israeli security (shouldn't be too bad as I speak Hebrew and have a work visa).

Thanks MTL for the train advice - definitely helpful!

7

In Fiumicino there's neither a lockers area nor a left luggage, so you'll have to bring your laptop bag with you.

I am looking for info about the trains, I'll post them when I find something, but for sure most places will be closed as official closing time in Rome for 24/12 is 6pm.

8

This is what I am seeing about left luggage:

http://www.airwise.com/airports/europe/rome_fco/luggage.html

The question is - if I am coming from Spain will I be landing in international arrivals? Worst case scenario, I can make my computer in my checked luggage.

Please ask around about the status of public transportation. I am of the understanding that it is operational until evening>

9

Depending what airline you're flying with, you can land at Terminal 1 (Alitalia, Air France, KLM), Terminal 2 (low-cost airlines) or Terminal 3 (other airlines). Flights to Israel (and USA) leave from Terminal 5 and have a separate security line. While Terminals 1, 2 and 3 are next to each other and can be reached with a short walk, Terminal 5 is pretty far and is connected to the others by bus.

The official Rome Airports website is www.adr.it. Info about a left luggage service (which I had never seen before!) are only in Italian: it's located at the arrivals at Terminal 3 and costs €6 per bag, confirming what your link says.

There's still no info about public transportation, but in 2011 everything ended at 21:00.

10

You will be landing in the SChengen zone and as such, there will be no immigration to deal with. Since you dont have to pick up luggage, you could be out of the airport 15mins after arrival of the plane at the gate. However, ther Terminal may vary but Terminal 1,2,3 are all very close.

Again, i would double-check the amount of time needed for a boarding a flight to Israel. When i last flew to Tel Aviv (from LHR, not from FCO) there was a completely separate security procedure for El Al. And it did take almost 3 hours.

11

El Al definitely has stringent security. In terms of personal wait though, the worst I experienced was having to wait around for 15 or so when they ran around passing my passport around to see if I would sweat because it is only valid for 2 years (it's a secondary passport used with the express purpose of visiting Israel while keeping the option open to visit Arab countries on my primary passport). A lot of the wait is waiting for other people to get through. So arriving at the El Al security with 1 hour to go seems like it would be okay as most people should have already gone through.

I am, however, flying with Alitalia. My experience has been that flights going to Israel do go through separate security (LOT at Warsaw airport and Austrian at Vienna). But all that meant was your hand baggage just goes through a scanner specifically at your gate. They don't ask you any questions and both times it was a quick process. I suspect Alitalia will be similar.

In terms of getting around – thanks a million for the train tip MTL, you just saved me some serious cash and hopefully time.

I’ll probably have some more transportation specific questions in a bit.

Just in terms of sorting out my options – given that its Christmas, is the Vatican definitely out for a visit?

By the way, would you consider this a good map for the transportation system?

http://www.emma.cnr.it/images/reteferrFMRM.jpg

12

Not sure I understand you. The Vatican is going to be.busy on christmas day- when the pope does mass and blessing on the square. On christmas eve there will be lots of people looking at the manger and the treeand of course midnight Mass but you will be gone by then.

However, I don't see any problem visiting- the square is big and there may be a short wait to get into St Peter's but nothing to stop you from going.

You seem to know your israeli security stuff so I think you have a pretty good sense of when to be back. Just allow 1hr to get back to FCO, provided the trains are running of course.