Roma to Ancona via bus? Train won't work?

Question

Need to get from Rome to Ancona by bus-flight gets to Rome at 1600,Ancona ferry at 2200-train arrives late.

Answer 1

The train from Rome to Ancona takes about 4 hours.  The trick is getting through customs and to Stazione Termini to get the train.  You can find train schedules at Trenitalia.com.it.

You didn't say whether you will be arriving at Ciampino or Fiumicino airports.  From Fiumicino it will be easier.

Answer 2

There is one train that would get you to Ancona by 10 pm depending on how long it takes you to clear passport control & customs and pick up your bags. From the airport, you need to go to Roma Termini station. If you're arriving at Fiumicino airport, take the Leonardo express which takes about a half hour. If you're arriving at Ciampino take the shuttle bus to the train station and catch the train to Roma Termini. There's a Eurostar leaving Roma Termini at 7:40 pm arriving in Falconara Marittima at 8:41 pm. The Eurostar Link train leaves from there at 8:51 pm arriving in Ancona at 9:05. That gives you 55 minutes to get to the ferry which is 10 minutes from the train station. Knowing the trains here, the 10 minute connection time would make me nervous.

There are no direct buses from Rome to Ancona as far as I know. There is a schedule showing connections from Rome to Ancona here: http://www.italybus.it/coincidenza1.asp?... The site is in Italian, but you should be able to read the schedule. You need to enter Roma in the box for partenza, Ancona in the box for arrivo and click on "Go". On the next page select Roma from the top of the list of possible options and click on the control button to bring up the schedule.

None of the bus connections will get you to Ancona within your time restrictions; the bus is a slower option than the train.

Your best bet is to hire a car and driver. Under ideal conditions, it's almost a 3 and a half hour drive from Rome (Fiumicino Airport) to Ancona - maybe slightly less from Ciampino. For all practical purposes, it will take somewhat more than that due to traffic. This is especially true in your case since it will be rush hour by the time you get out of the airport in Rome. Hiring a car & driver for that distance will be very expensive. You could rent your own car and drive yourself, but it is also likely to be tight at best since you won't be familiar with the route.

I wouldn't have a particularly high confidence that any of these options will get you there on time although the train or driver are at least not physically impossible. You really either need an earlier flight to Rome, and/or fly into an alternative airport - Bologna would be a reasonable option if you can't find a Ryanair flight into  the Falconara - Ancona airport. Trains from Bologna to Ancona take 2 to 3 hours depending on the specific train and there are a couple of options per hour. It's about 10 minutes from the train station in Ancona to the ferry landing.