Travel through Italy

Old Apr 22nd, 2014, 05:23 AM
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Travel through Italy

Hello all!

I'm heading to Italy for my honeymoon in a month! I have the flights booked, flying into Milan and out of Rome, but I have a question about the trains between the stops.

My question is, which train stops would you recommend buying in advance (if any) and which are OK to just buy at the station. Also, whats the best website to buy and look at train times?

Lake Bellagio- Parma- Cinque terre (monterosso)- Rome

Thank you!
Yayalala is offline  
Old Apr 22nd, 2014, 06:36 AM
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congrats on the wedding

trenitalia is the basic vanilla but there are some competitors, the website is a little creaky and you have to know the correct italian for a "stop" or station. you may also find seat61.com a useful guide to the details.
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Old Apr 22nd, 2014, 07:46 AM
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You'll also have to know the Italian place names: e.g., Roma...
StCirq is offline  
Old Apr 22nd, 2014, 10:14 AM
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Is there really a Lake Bellagio? Perhaps you mean the town of Bellagio on Lake Como. The train station is Varenna-Esino and although this is a regional train (not normally requiring advanced tickets) you must buy your ticket ahead since there is no one at the station selling tickets.

Parma to Monterroso is also a regional train so no need to buy ahead.

I'd buy the La Spezia to Rome tickets ahead.

Normally I use the German web site since it's very easy to use but you can't book tickets in Italy from that site and it doesn't list Varenna-Esino.

http://www.bahn.de/i/view/USA/en/index.shtml

The Italian site is:

http://www.trenitalia.com/

Do what bilboburgler has said and read seat61.com for lots of information.

Once you get to Milan I would buy all the tickets at one time and have that done. Write down the origin and destination, dates, and times on a piece of paper to hand to the ticket person.
adrienne is offline  
Old Apr 22nd, 2014, 01:38 PM
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Hi Yayalala,

The site I always use is http://www.italiarail.com/
You can book in GBP to avoid any charges your bank may impose and I find it much simpler to use than the trentitalia site.

The trains that are normally not worth booking in advance are the regional trains. These come up as "Regionale" (slow trains) or "Regionale Veloce" (slow trains with less stops). The prices don't change whether you buy in advance or on the day and you have much more flexibility if you buy on the day and you happen to miss a train at some point due to a quick connection.

The other trains, such as Inter City, Frecciargento etc. are worth booking in advance as you could save a decent amount of money booking in advance.

As per the other posters, Seat61 is a great site to give you an overview and will show you what each of the trains look like depending on their classification and type.

Hope you have a wonderful trip!

Rx
rilelja is offline  
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