Cruising from CIVITAVECCHIA, stay in town or Rome?

I'll be landing in Rome around 8pm the night before our Cruise embarking out of Civitabecchia. Is it smarter to spend the night in Rome, and make my way to port the next day, or go straight to Civitabecchia and stay there the night before? Being a smaller town, will there still be any restaurants open? Or does the local scene go to bed early here?

That time of night I would probably stay at one of the airport hotels. Then go to the port the next day.

Can you fly in sooner? Rome is such a wonderful city...hard to pass it by.

Marriott was a nice hotel close to the airport. I would spend the evening there and catch your transportation to the port the following morning.

Where are you coming from, and how are you planning to get to Civitavecchia?

If you're arriving at Rome from Europe, you likely won't be worn out from a long flight. It's up to you what you decide, but I'm not a big fan of airport hotels. The area around FCO (assuming you are flying in there; Rome has two airports) is really a no-man's land, so if you go to a hotel there, you'll likely be eating dinner there.

Civitavecchia isn't a favorite of mine, either. If you do decide to go there in the evening, it's possible you might have trouble finding a meal by the time you arrive, even though Italians dine late. You have to assume an hour to get through the lines and get your luggage, and an hour (optimistically, e.g., with private car or taxi) to get you to Civitavecchia.

If it was me I would just stay near the airport. There is a Hilton at the airport.

Keith

Best Hotel by a family mile at Rome FCO Airport is Leonardo de Vinci Hotel, including good in house restaurant open all hours. Book direct via Hotel website to avoid paying middle man commissions . Shuttle available between Airport and Hotel on a user pay basis, or a short taxi ride.

Hotel Miramare on the waterfront at Civitavecchia is excellent, but if you arrive mid to late evening getting something to eat is going to be a problem .

Whilst I would normally recommend pressing on to Civitavecchia we have sometimes arrived there around 9pm and struggled to find somewhere to eat so you would have real difficulty finding somewhere even later. Even though the Italians do eat late, it's a pretty quiet town on a night.

Thanks for all the replies. Cruisemom, we'll be arriving into fco after a brutal 18+ hours flight/ layover. Still trying to figure out how we're getting to port, but with a 6pm embarking time, we have some flexibility. I've read many people post to trust the train, but we're lugging luggage. Still a good bet?

If I were you, I'd arrange a car service from your hotel to the port. The train is probably fine, but you'd have to get from the airport to the main train station in Rome, then switch to the train to Civitavecchia. And after such a long travel day, and with luggage, that seems difficult. All of my research thus far suggests that the platform that the Civitavecchia train goes from is a good hike from the main platforms, and with luggage, I wouldn't do it.

I've read on TripAdvisor that transfer services are about 70 euros for two people. Your cruise line may also have transfers available. After such a long trip, I think it's worth the money.