Rome Ciampino Airport

Just had a lovely break in Frascati and used airport for the 1st time. When we arrived we were quoted €50 to take a taxi into Frascati. We declined and asked at information the best way. We were told to take bus to Termini in Rome and then a local train back. We did this no problem. Costing €5 each for the bus and €1.90 for the local train. But it was time consuming! We took a taxi from the hotel coming back for €36 not cheap but far easier than trying to time trains and flights. We have since discovered that we could have caught local train to Ciampino station and then a bus to the airport. Why is this information not given at the information desk in the airport? I agree with comments about the airport itself Flights all seem to go at the same time and very busy with nowhere to sit and nothing to do.

Complete and utter mayhem. Far too small for the amount of travellers using it. Not enough seats unless you include the floor. The only redeeming feature for this airport are the excellent friendly staff.

Just to add to John Spring's comprehensive post: the bus from Anagnina Metro station gets very crowded and although we got on it some unlucky passengers had to wait another 40mins for the next bus.

The hire cars are located too far away from the airport terminal. My wife is registered disabled and we had difficulty in collecting and returning our hire car.The airport was excellent but the lack of easily accessible transportation proved too much .

Thanks for the advice John Spring (Feb 2007) We followed it last week and it was fine. However please note that COTRAL now run a direct non-stop bus service from Ciampino to ANAGNINA metro station. These run approximately every half hour and only take 7minutes!! So the journey from Ciampino to Termini only took about 45mins each way and cost 1 euro for the metro and 1.20 for Cotral each way. People brought on large suitcases and the were no additional charges. Airport a bit crowded but not too much to separate it from Luton Airport. Whilst Luton is bigger and has more shops we experienced the same over-crowding and the same problems with access to shops and facilities during our out and inbound journeys.

Very convenient airport compared to Fumicino! 35 minutes to and from the historical center in the morning and late afternoon. Very quick check in and less than 15 minutes to get the luggage on arrival.

Very crowded not enough seats car hire a nightmare - the pick up point is now about 800 mtrs away (Avis etc). It used to be near the buses.

About 1000 people crammed in this little place not enough seats. I ended up sitting on the floor. Queues for everything were astounding. About 4 shops and after 5 minutes you were bored stiff.

Check in at Ciampino was quick Easyjet had three desks and for all destinations so we were checked in 4hrs before departure! Security was quick and efficient. Then the problems started. There are very few facilities small duty free for perfume gifts alcohol but tobacco is only sold at a newsagents shop and you have to pay cash. Two small snack bars which are totally inadequate the toilets were dirty and there were not enough seats - so don't do what we did and check in early thinking that a nice sit down or a wander round the shops is on the cards.

Check-in was slow. Staff was friendly but they had only 1 line for a flight with 180 pax. Security was ok about 10 min wait. Upon returning around midnight with only our plane to handle they took 45 minutes to get our bags- I just really resent the Italian working morale.