|
Trains in Italy
MAIN ROUTES & TRAVEL TIMES
Here are the routes you are most likely to use, with the MINIMUM travel times and MINIMUM number of train connections (changes) between destinations, plus some generalizations about whether there is much to see along the way. |
| |
Rome to Florence ~ As little as 1 hour & 23 minutes. No connections. This is generally a very pleasant journey, fairly scenic with nice hilly terrain most of the way.
Florence to Venice ~ 2 hours & 3 minutes. No connections. The distance is actually about the same as Rome to Florence, but you go over some mountains, and you stop in Bologna and Mestre (near Venice), and so the trip takes longer. The first part of the trip, over the mountains between Florence and Bologna, is interesting and generally scenic. The remainder, the longer segment, is over the flat Po River plain, with little if any scenic interest.
Rome to Venice ~ 3 hours & 46 minutes. No connections. As to scenery, see the segments above.
Venice to Milan ~ 2 hours & 35 minutes. No connections. The route is entirely over the flat Po River plain, with only occasional scenic interest.
Florence to Milan ~ 2 hours & 9 minutes ~ No connections. Some interesting scenery on the shorter mountainous segment from Florence to Bologna, but not much to see except the flatness of the Po River Plain on the longer segment from Bologna to Milan.
Rome to Naples ~ 1 hour & 18 minutes ~ No connections. The scenery is generally interesting, with hilly terrain much of the way.
Lucerne to Milan ~ 4 hours & 10 minutes ~ No connections. This is a mixed bag. Approximately the first one third of this journey, coming out of Lucerne, is highly scenic. The remainder of the journey through Switzerland, to the city of Lugano, is mountainous, and generally interesting, but not as highly scenic as you may expect of Switzerland. The final segment from Lugano to Milan is less scenic, except for the interesting segment at Lake Lugano. NOTE: there is a notable stop at the Switzerland-Italy border for passport control, during which time police, with dogs, will come on the train and expect to see your passport.
Milan to Como ~ 33 minutes ~ No connections. Not notably scenic. |
|
TICKETS VERSUS PASSES
A ticket is from one specific location to another, such as a ticket to ride between Rome and Florence, or between Florence and Venice. We refer to these tickets as "point to point." That's all the ticket is good for, that one rail segment. It is NOT to be confused with a rail pass. A rail pass allows you to ride on multiple train segments, between any number of cities, within the constraints of some time period. There are many kinds of rail passes. Some permit you to ride as many trains as you like for a consecutive number of days. Others allow you ride on a certain number of days within a broader time period. At first blush, it may seem like a no-brainer to get rail passes instead of tickets. But there are some catches. |
|
A big catch is that if you have a rail pass, that is often not enough for riding certain trains. That's because on the fast, modern trains, and even on some less modern trains, you are required to have seat reservations in addition to your rail passes. And since trains can fill up, you may not want to wait until the last minute to try and get your seats. So you may want to plan in advance which trains you will ride, and buy seat reservations along with buying your rail passes. Key segments between Rome, Florence, Venice, Milan and Naples, all require seat reservations to ride the fastest trains. |
Cost is another issue with rail passes. We can say with confidence, based on years of purchasing rail tickets and passes for the clients of our travel agency, that for most trips in Italy, tickets are cheaper than rail passes. We rarely buy passes, because we are always trying to save money for our clients, and the passes are often too costly. The issue is that rail passes are great for bigger trips across Europe -- more trains, on longer journeys, on more days -- but within Italy the distances are usually short enough that a rail pass is overkill. |
|
HOWEVER, it still may be attractive for you to buy rail passes, because you may find it simpler to do so, compared to buying individual tickets, even considering the variety of rail passes. And if you have the flexibility to wait until you get to Italy to decide when you will travel, and are willing to buy your seat reservations at the stations as you go, rail passes could make it easier for you to get your trip off the ground. Dealing wtih the point-to-point tickets can be problematic sometimes, or even a big headache. Just ask the person in our travel agency who gets the tickets for our agency clients ! There are times she is tearing out her hair about the difficulties with getting tickets, like when the Italian train system is changing its schedules, and tickets are just not available until the last minute before some trips. |
|
At those times, it would be much simpler to just buy rail passes. Of course, there would still be the need to buy seat reservations in Italy, and we never like to send our clients over there without those reservations. But for your do-it-yourself trip, maybe you are flexible enough, or adventurous enough, to start with only the rail passes, postponing the issue of exactly which trains you will ride until during your trip. |
CAN YOU GET THERE? WHEN? CHECK THE SCHEDULES
Do this in advance, even if you plan to travel with a rail pass and choose your trains later. Be familiar with the possibilities before you go. If nothing else, you should know how long it takes to get from point A to point B, and whether you need to change trains. Certain trains are much faster than others, but only run at certain times of the day. Some trains are regionals, and don't stop between your destinations, while others are locals, take twice as long, and make many stops. There is also the very big issue on some trips that only certain trains will stop where you must get off. That is a common concern for trips to the Cinque Terre, where many of the faster trains do not stop at the Cinque Terre villages, and where you must transfer to local trains. |
|
Check the schedules early in the planning process, to avoid disappointment later. For example, let's say you were planning on going from Provence, in France, to the Cinque Terre, as one of our clients wanted to do, and on a map, it doesn't seem all that far. Then you find out how many train connections there are, and how many hours it will take, and it's no longer appealing, and your dream itinerary starts unraveling.
NOTE: the following websites are given for CHECKING rail schedules, but NOT for purchasing tickets. |
| |
~ The obvious website for checking train schedules in Italy is the website of Italy's national railway, Ferrovia della Stato, at... http://www.ferroviedellostato.it/homepage_en.html
~ You may prefer the different style and efficiency of the Swiss rail website, even if you are not traveling in Switzerland. You can expect to find all your Italian trains on this website. The Swiss trains website is found at... http://www.sbb.ch/en/index.htm
~ The German rail website is an old favorite of ours, and like the Swiss website, which it greatly resembles, it has been a reliable choice for many years for planning rail travel anywhere in Europe. See the website at... http://www.bahn.de/international/view/en/index.shtml
But what is generally NOT a good website for schedules is the Rail Europe website. You may wish to purchase your tickets or passes on Rail Europe, but we recommend that you study the schedules on one of the other websites shown above. Rail Europe does not post anywhere near all the options for trains. |
ARE YOU READY FOR TRAIN TRAVEL?
|
Before you read the following remarks, please take into account that the major alternative -- driving -- has just as many issues and drawbacks as does train travel. In other words, while we are about to describe some of the less desirable aspects of train travel, it is NOT our intent to promote driving as an alternative. As with all our comments on this website, we pull no punches and want you to know the pros and cons. |
| Luggage. If you look at any sales literature for train travel in Europe, you will see plenty of advantages listed, and mostly, they are valid. But they will never mention the luggage issue. You need to pack light to enjoy train travel. That means lighter than most of us want to pack, with fewer and smaller bags. Even if you consider yourself young and athletic enough to drag some heavy bags around the station and hoist them onto the trains -- and up onto the overhead bins -- you may not be able to find room to stow those bags on the train. In fact, if you travel during the busiest times, and you take more lugage than we recommend, we can almost guarantee difficulty with where to put those bags, and you may find yourself with your suitcase squeezed between your legs or on your lap. If you are not willing to pack light, then just plan to deal with the consequences, or rent a car instead. |
Dealing with "through stations." If your train trip is between major cities, such as Rome, Florence, Venice, Milan and Naples, this is not an issue. Those cities have large train stations where trains stop long enough to permit fairly relaxed boarding and departing of the trains and where you don't need to use stairs to get over or under the tracks. But if you will be traveling to smaller cities and towns, certainly including the very popular trips to the Cinque Terre, it is a very different matter. |
|
| The easiest way to describe this to most people to picture a subway train. The train comes in, stops for a short time, and pulls away. You must be ready to board quickly, with your luggage in tow. Getting off is another issue. You must be ready to get off...and that means ready with your luggage. If you are not ready, or if you do not recognize your stop until too late, you miss it, and who knows how much trouble it will be to get back? There is also the matter of steps at those stations, since you will probably need to carry your luggage up or down a flight of steps to go over or under the tracks. |
MOST POPULAR TRAIN ITINERARIES
Here are some time-tested basic itineraries that have worked well for many travelers to Italy. Use them as they are, or as starting points for customizing your plan for Italy. |
| ONE WEEK. With 8 or 9 total travel days, you can make good use of your time with the following combinations..... |
| |
Rome, Florence and Venice ~ Easily the most efficient combination of destinations in Italy. Spend 2 or 3 nights in Rome and 2 nights each in Florence and Venice. You have hotels at three locations, and you have two rail journeys. |
| ONE AND A HALF WEEKS. With 10 to 12 total travel days, these combinations work well.... |
| |
Rome, Florence and Venice plus a Tuscany tour ~ Expand your time in the cities, and add a day in Florence for touring in the Tuscany countryside. You still have hotels in only 3 locations, but you expand your time in those cities and add a trip into the Tuscany countryside. You really need 3 nights in Rome, plus 2 nights for Florence, and 2 or 3 nights for Venice. Then with the addition of a third night in Florence, you can devote one day for touring from that city into the Tuscany countryside. There are daytours, by bus, available from Florence to take you into the Chianti country for winery visits. You can also get a tour from Florence to the popular combination of the city of Siena and the the town of San Gimignano.
~
Itinerary = 3 Rome + 3 Florence + 2/3 Venice.
Rome, Florence & Venice PLUS another area ~ Having 12 travel days and 10 nights to spend in Italy lets you add a fourth major destination, so that you are staying in hotels in 4 locations. Rome, Florence and Venice are still the most popular for 3 of those locations. Here are the best options for adding a fourth location. The following options provide a new dimension to your Italy experience, outside the big cities.... |
| |
|
Amalfi Coast ~ You can fly into Naples, instead of Rome, and start your Italy trip with 3 nights at Positano or Sorrento. Then head on to Rome and continue to Florence and Venice.
~ Itinerary = 2/3 Positano or Sorrento + 3 Rome + 2 Florence + 2/3 Venice.
Northern Lakes ~ You can fly out of Milan, instead of Venice, and finish your Italy trip with 2 or 3 nights at Lake Como (stay at Como) or Lake Maggiore (stay at Stresa or Baveno). Note that if you finish your trip at one of the lakes, you may want to arrange with your hotel for a transfer, with driver, to Milan's Malpensa Airport, since it can be time-consuming to use the trains to get to the airport.
~ Itinerary = 3 Rome + 2 Florence + 2/3 Venice + 2/3 Lake Como or Lake Maggiore.
Cinque Terre ~ On the way from Rome to Florence, you can make a diversion to the Riviera coast at the Cinque Terre.
~ Itinerary = 3 Rome + 2/3 Cinque Terre + 2 Florence + 2/3 Venice. |
| Something different ~ If you've already done Rome, Florence and Venice, try one of the following alternative itineraries.... |
| |
Northern Italy Art Cities ~ You can fly into Milan, Bologna, Venice or Florence and set up various itineraries with the appealing smaller cities of Verona, Bologna, Padova, Ferrara, Parma, Modena, Mantova, Vicenza and Ravenna, all of which are nicely linked by train service.
~ Suggested Itinerary = 2 Bologna + 2 Padova + 2 Verona + 2 Milan.
Riviera ~ Use the airports at Genova and Pisa, and do the Eastern Italian Riviera in the middle, with the option to add the wonderful town of Lucca, which is near Pisa in Tuscany (your hotel in Lucca can arrange a transfer to/from the Pisa airport). Your Riviera stay can include the Cinque Terre (stay at Monterosso) and Portofino (stay at nearby towns of Camogli, Santa Margherita, and Rapallo)
~ Itinerary = 2 Genova + 4/5 Riviera + 2 Lucca/Pisa.
Riviera and Lakes ~ Use the airport at Genova or Pisa at one end, and Milan at the other end. Combine the Riviera at the start of this itinerary and Lake Como or Lake Maggiore at the finish, with the option to add a stay in Milan in the middle or at the end.
~ Itinerary = 1 Genova + 3 Riviera + 2/3 Lake Como or Lake Maggiore + 1 Milan.. |
TWO WEEKS. With 16 travel days and 14 nights to spend in Italy, you can make a grand tour, with Rome, Florence and Venice plus as many as 3 other areas.
~ Suggested Itinerary = 3 Sorrento + 3 Rome + 3 Florence + 3 Venice + 2 Lake Como |
|
BUY TICKETS, PASSES & SEAT RESERVATIONS
There are many places on the internet for buying rail passes in Italy. For tickets, there are not so many choices. Everyone likes to sell you rail passes, because that means a quick and simple sale with a good profit margin. By comparison, individual tickets are a real pain to sell.
We mostly use Rail Europe in our travel agency. Rail Europe does not present all the choices for individual train tickets, but they show most of them. And if you learn from one of the train schedule websites we listed above that there is a train you want, but cannot find it on the Rail Europe website, you can call Rail Europe, tell them about it, and often as not, they can sell you the train you found.
Click here to go straight to the Rail Europe website. But be sure to keep this ItalySource Self-Service website handy in a separate tab or window.
As an alternative to getting your tickets from Rail Europe, you can buy them from the Trenitalia website, which is the direct sales outlet of the Italian State Railways. Just be aware that the Rail Europe website is specifically set up for selling to residents of North America, and you can telehone Rail Europe with any questions, so that you may be more comfortable placing your order there. |
|
