A stunning day visiting the colosseum in Rome, ice cream by the Trevi fountain and pizza for dinner before heading to bed on a sleeper train. Waking the next morning in the warm morning sunshine on the coast of Sicily, sparkling turquoise sea inviting you in. Hop off the train to a seaside hotel, dumping bags in your room ready to enjoy the glittering sea.
Does this sound like a trip for you? Well it’s as simple as a train ride away! Yes, there really is a sleeper train that takes you all the way from Rome onto the island of Sicily without any changes whatsoever. The last train ferry in the world, you can enjoy the feeling of being towed into the belly of the ferry whilst comfortable in bed, before crossing the sea, carriages unloaded at the far side. Read on to find out more!
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How To Book The Sicily Sleeper Train
The Sicily sleeper train is best booked online via raileurope.com or direct through the Trenitalia.com. Many of the options on the Trenitalia website are still in Italian even on the english version of the website. So it may be easier to book via raileurope.com.
When booking the sleeper you need to make sure you have chosen the night train, times change throughout the year. However, if you make sure you choose an evening direct train IntercityNotte, then you will be on the sleeper. Choose your beds before confirming, there is the option of the 4 berth couchette or the 1, 3 or 3 berth standard sleepers.
We chose the 4 berth couchette and due to covid restrictions it actually booked a single 4 berth cabin for each of the 3 of us. So technically we had 12 beds between the 3 of us. Rather inefficient, but we could still be in the same cabin together and the others were empty. Hopefully this will change soon and you can book a berth together more simply. Check the seat numbers are in the same cabin before you confirm.
Catching The Train At Rome Termini Station
Rome Termini isn’t too difficult to navigate. Check the departure boards for which platform that you will be leaving from. Then around half an hour or so before your train is due to depart you can go through the ticket barriers to wait at the platform. The train arrives only around 10 minutes or so before departure, so no need to rush to get there early!
When the train arrives board as normal and find your cabin. You will have to wait for the attendant to come in to put down the beds and lock the window, if needed.
Don’t forget to visit a shop before your journey, there is no cafe or any food available aboard. You will need to bring food and drink with you.
Sleeper Train Accommodation
The 4 berth couchette is the basic accommodation option, but perfect for families. If you don’t book the entire cabin then it will be shared with others of the same gender. The other standard beds in 1, 2 or 3 berths are better options if you don’t want to share. The standard option is also slightly better standard where the beds are already made up for you and you are given a pack of toiletries etc. too.
In the couchette you are given a sealed bag of bedding with pillow. Unlike the standard beds you will need to make this up yourself. You are also given water, a snack and some wet wipes.
Toilets are at the end of the corridor and shared with other occupants of the carriage. Bring loo roll in case it runs out!
The Rome to Sicily Journey
The journey is surprisingly smooth, well not in the physical sense I guess. The train does bounce and make a lot of noise on the tracks! But it’s easy to fall asleep with the clickety clack sound of the track. If you are like me and wake up when the train stops then you make wake up a few times when the train stops at other stations. I think I fell asleep somewhere after Naples, admittedly I was quite excited about the journey!
I did wake up when the locomotive was uncoupled and the electric turned off, around 5am in the morning. This was when the carriages were pushed onto the train ferry. At the other side the carriages were coupled up and left for around an hour without moving. So you may well wake up a bit earlier than normal with the lack of movement.
Sicily Train Ferry
I was hoping to stay awake until we were on the ferry, but I’m no good at the change in rhythm and woke up as soon as the electric humming and movement on the tracks stopped. So I simply lay in bed and peaked out the blinds to watch what was happening. The trains are pushed onto the ferry in two rows on the tracks. Once the ferry is moving it feels rather strange. The consistent forward motion of the train for the first part of the journey is replaced by the swaying of the ferry on the sea. It’s quite unusual to go from forward train motion to the swaying of a boat without leaving your bed! It doesn’t take long to arrive at Messina where the carriages are unloaded and wait on the tracks for the locomotive.
I chose to wake the kids at 5.30am to show them the train being taken off the ferry. It was quite exciting for them to watch too!
Not long later and we were racing down the tracks once more. We got dressed, had some breakfast and packed our belongings again. When we hopped off the train at Taormina-Giardini we were one of the only passengers to disembark. I think they were maybe a bit jealous when they saw how beautiful the sea was there! We arranged pick up by our hotel taxi, which made it easier and quicker to get to the beach for the rest of the day!
Verdict of the Rome to Sicily Sleeper Train
The Rome to Sicily sleeper train was the highlight of our journey. So you can imagine that I’m going to highly recommend a trip whilst you can!
The other train ferries that existed a few years ago have all vanished, so I recommend making this journey soon. You never know when they will remove the ferry part from the journey. But the ferry along with a sleeper train really makes the journey exciting and worthwhile. It’s also fabulous to go to sleep after visiting the colosseum and wake up by the beauty of volcanoes and sea on Sicily.
Read more about our other travels through Italy:
- Find out the best way to tour the vast ancient city of Pompeii.
- Take the train from the UK to Sicily, using the world’s only remaining train ferry!
- Learn more about what to expect from the Rome to Sicily sleeper train.
- Enjoy the best of both worlds with Rome Eurocamp on the outskirts of the famous city.
- Find out if a food tour around Rome is worth it with kids.
- Follow our tips and hacks on visiting the Leaning Tower of Pisa with kids.
- Embrace the tranquility of Tuscany at Villa Pia, an excellent family holiday!
- Find out 5 great things to do with kids in Tuscany.
- The 10 best places to visit in and around Venice with kids.
- Visit Italy from the comfort of a family friendly cruise ship, Symphony of the Seas.
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