Train Stations, Rome

The Termini Area is a very dangerous area, especially for those like me who are not used to beggars in the streets. If you are looking for accommodation in Rome, make sure its not in this area cause it might get rather rough at night. I was there in broad day light and I was still horrified. The place is very dirty, full of beggars, it stinks like rotten fish and it is full of thiefs. A young boy, maybe 10 years of age tried to steal my cousin's bag, so be careful of young children who would be running around alone especially in busses or station areas.

Termini? -> BEWARE

If you take the train at night, be sure your alert especially if you are a woman and on your own. I recently got on the train from the otherside of italy and thought i was quite safe until these two men came in my cabin and gave me a fright. ( i had seen them earlier at the station staring at me which was bad enough)

Anyway, not to be threatened i carried on listening to my music and reading my book whilst keeping close guard of my belongings. However, i think they clicked on i was English and started talking to me. I kept it minimal and told them lots of lies, in the end i think they became fedup.

i had the last laugh though, they wanted to turn the light off so they could go to sleep. i never let them. i never slept myself but they never slept either, so ha ha to them,

I had an unconvinient situation where I arrived to Rome Termini at 1 am and my flight back to Canada was at 7:30 am. So I had to find a transport to the Fiumicino airport. Termini station closes over night and there is no way to obtain any kind of information at that time. Of course you can always get a cab and pay 50E for the ride. However I heard that there is the night bus that takes you directly to the airport. Problem here is that the stop is difficult to find. It is hard to find someone suitable to ask for directions as at this time only people hanging around Termini are cab drivers and bums. Luckily I run into a guy that was very friendly and he explained to me where the bus stop is.

in rome it is not simply enough to buy a train ticket or travel card, you must also validate the tichet in one of the boxes in the station. it is important that you do this as playing the 'stupid tourist' does not work. As the trust system is in place you could find yourself with a hefty fine. DONT RISK IT.

NIGHT TRAINS- OK everyone knows they are not as safe as daytime trains, but it is they are convenient. Well me and my four friends get a cabin and are ready to sleep when Mr.18 year old Italian with white shorts freak comes in and practically sits on my friend. We speak 2 words of Italian and he speaks English about as well. We tell him we are going to sleep and he wont leave us (There were PLENTY of empty cabins) we whip out the guide book and uses the women defense page (serious) and tell him my friend has an an infectious disease (she did have a rash on her leg) this does not faze him, he was disgusting. After we ignore him he leaves....Only to return and do some 'exotic dancing' pelvic thrust in our door which he is blocking. A minute of this goes on so I MACED him (OK I did not MACE him I sprayed him with some Saniguard) My friends thought he was going to murder me but we pushed him out into the hall and all of us had to pull the door closed. Then we had to DUCT TAPE the door shut with about 20 pieces (it really worked when he tried to come in later in the night) When the ticket taker came for our tickets we had to spend 5 minutes untaping the door but when we told him we had been harassed he asked if it had been the guy with the white shorts. He had been harassing all the women in the train and he thought we were pretty clever with the duct tape.

I stayed in a hostel near the termini so i had no choice but to walk around the termini area late at night. Walking back to the hostel involved ignoring annoying men trying to speak to me and my sister. This plan worked we just sped up and walked past them and they left us alone. Another option is to trip over a moped and make an idiot of yourself that soon made the scary man leave us alone.

My hotel was near the Termini Train Station and on Christmas Eve the Metro stopped running early for the holiday...the Metro is located under the station. We wanted to go out and drink so we decided to catch a Taxi...as you know you can always find a taxi in front of a train station. So, we walked out front and a man stopped us and asked if we wanted a taxi and I said "yes how much." He told me 25euro...and I saw his car...he wasn't a real taxi just a guy trying to take advantage of tourist. I told him to "f*** off" as I noticed the line for the taxi stand to the over to the left. As we began to walk towards the stand we were immediately stopped by another person offering the same thing but for 20 euro again I said "f**** you do you think I'm dumb?" We made it to the taxi stand and waited in line for a bit and to shorten the story a bit the ride only cost 6euro. Hummmm I think 6 is less than 25.

Our train arrived at Temini on a rainy Sunday morning. Outside a man approached us and offered us a taxi to our hotel for 35 Euros. We had read on our hotel's website that the trip should cost 20-25 Euros, max. We declined the persistent con artist and grabbed a cab from the taxi stand. Total cost: 8 Euros. Don't be cheated!

Out of all the places in Rome, I felt the "least safe" at Termini. Everyone knows that tourists who fly into Fiumicino invariably come through Termini if they don't go by taxi. In a thiefs eyes, that means that Termini is the prime place to swindle or pickpocket unsuspecting tourist. Note that I said unsuspecting. Despite the feel that I got from the place, or more to the point, BECAUSE I felt that way in Termini, I paid so much more attention than normal to other around me. Its as simple as that. Always be on the lookout, never leave your bags, and keep valuables out of sight. Follow these rules and the chances of something happening are slim to none.

It also helps to put a scowl on your face and act crazy... :-)

Its really horrible thing to see a ticket machine broken down and u donot have any other alternative to get a ticket to take you bus or tram!!..you have to keep searching for a Tobaco Shop to buy a ticket ...:-(((