irinigk

Hello!

I am researching the quickest and most cost effective way to get from Cinque Terre to Linate Airport outside of Milan. Our flight leaves at 2:00 PM on a Saturday, and we have our room reservations in Cinque Terre for that Friday that we cannot change! If anyone has experienced booking with rewards points, you understand that sometimes, you have to take the flights that are available from the closest available airport! I was hoping to fly out of Genoa or Malpensa Airport, but Milan Linate was the closet available airport!

Option 1: Rent a car and drive to the airport (2 and a half hour drive. Unsure of the logistics of renting a car in La Spezia and returning at the Linate Airport on a Saturday)
Option 2: Train from Cinque Terre to Milan Center then bus from Milan Center to Linate Airport (almost 5 hours travel time)

Any suggestions are GREATLY appreciated!!

Dukey1

You do not need a BUS from Centrale to Linate...get into a TAXI. You do realize where the airport is actually located, right?

Dukey1

And where are you coming up with this "five hour trip" stuff? You can take a train from LaSpezia to Milan in about 3.5 hours depending on the timing you choose.

irinigk

I was using this link for a travel estimate:
https://www.rome2rio.com/s/Milan-Lin...N/Cinque-Terre

After your comment, I did a little more research and realized it may not be as far from Milan Centre as I thought! I feel much better in knowing that it will not take 5 hours!!

Reading54

Which town in Cinque Terre will you be starting your train trip from?

Also, what Dukey1 tried to tell you is that Linate Airport is much closer to Milano Centrale than Malpensa airport is.

irinigk

Oh! I didn't realize that it was closer to Milano Centrale than Malpensa! I'm still trying to do my research. This is helping so much!

Vernazza! Thank you so much, Reading54!

Reading54

Go to www.trenitalia.com, choose English language from upper right, then in the FROM field, start typing and select Vernazza. In the TO field, start typing and select Milano Centrale. Select your travel date (I used a Saturday, 9/17 as an example below, and choose 06 hour for 6am.) My train search yielded two candidates:
06:19 Vernazza departure, arriving 09:55 at Milano Centrale,
07:24 Vernazza departure, arriving 10:55 at Milano Centrale.

Each journey starts with a regional train, then changes at Genova to a faster Intercity train. Fare is 29.10 Euro/pp. Since regional trains are not always on time, I'd shoot for the 06:19 departure to be safe. Write back if you cannot find the same results as I did.

For driving distance from Milano Centrale to Linate airport, just google "Linate Airport", click on the google map. In the map, click on "Direction" to get a driving direction from Milano Centrale Railway Station. The driving distance is about 8km, and the driving time is about 18 minutes. Allow for a bit traffic on a Saturday noon, a taxi may take up to 25 minutes. Make sure you tell the driver Linate airport, so that he does not drive you to Malpensa airport which is about 50-min away from Milano Centrale on the opposite direction.

Jean

You're still going to have to leave Vernazza early. Assuming you need to check in for your flight 2 hours before departure, you'd need to depart Vernazza on the 7:24a train, change at Genoa, to arrive at Milano Centrale at 10:55a. It's 20 minutes by taxi to Linate, depending on traffic.

But this leaves you only a 30-minute cushion to allow for any train delays, and if you don't make the connection in Genoa you'll be in a pickle.

The transfer time at Genoa is 12 minutes which if all goes well is enough time but probably not enough time if the train from Vernazza is more than 5 minutes late. If that makes you nervous, you could take the next earlier train from Vernazza departing at 6:19a. The transfer time at Genoa for this earlier option is 14 minutes, but you'd also have the safety of a later train from Genoa that would still get you to Centrale in time.

http://www.trenitalia.com/tcom-en

nytraveler

Just remember that returning to the US from Italy you need to arrive at the airport 3 hours in advance for security reasons - so need to plan to arrive there by 11 am.

Reading54

OP's flight departing from Linate Airport is unlikely to be a direct flight to USA. It most likely will be an European commuter airplane for a short hop to another European city to connect to a flight back to US. If that is the case, then 2 hours should be fine.

irinigk

Thank you all so much! This helps!! We are traveling to another European city before boarding our flight to the U.S.!

bvlenci

I would definitely leave Vernazza on the earliest train possible.

Rome2rio is a fairly useless website.

Jean

I also would leave Vernazza on the earliest train. If you cut the timing too short, you put yourself at risk for cascading misfortune should you miss the first connection in Genoa.

StCirq

You won't like this response, but one of my cardinal rules of travel is never to be more than a taxi ride away from a departure airport on the day I depart. I would never attempt what you are trying to do. Even if you know your way around and speak the language, so very many things could go wrong. I would forgo the reservation for the last night in the Cinque Terre, call it a day, and have a safe trip back to Milan the night before. I say this from experience.

PalenQ

Yes St Cirq, as usual, is spot on in her advice to be near your departure airport the night before your flight if non-changeable non-refundable. Italy has too many too strikes for one thing and things can close rail lines -slides, etc.

greg

If you do a simple timing analysis, you can quickly find that the car rental is a risky and an expensive option.

Computing backward:

- 2:00pm flight
- noon done with car return. Head to counter.
- 11:30am arrive at Linate. Get done with rental return process in 30 minutes.
- 9:00am leave La Spezia. 2.5 hour drive optimistic case.
- 8:30am arrive at La Spezia rental at opening time. Lucks out and get done with the rental process in 30 minutes

If you get backlogged at La Spezia rental office, you miss the flight.
If you encounter traffic jam on the way , you miss the flight.
If you get into an accident on the way, you miss the flight.
If you get lost on the way, you miss the flight.
Additionally, one day car rental is very expensive for what you get out.

too many risks for my taste...