Geneva to Florence by Train
Jan 21st, 2008, 05:10 PM
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Geneva to Florence by Train
What is the best train route for travel between Geneva, Swiss. to Florence, Italy?
Is there a website to check schedule and fares?
I assume there are high speed trains between these two cites.
Any help and information would be appreciated. Thanks
Jan 21st, 2008, 05:37 PM
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Mike, Check at www.sbb.ch
One route may take you to Brig and Stresa, and the another via Lugano. If you have a preference then enter that. Both will likely end up in Milan and then Florence. I would do Stresa and spend some time.
One route may take you to Brig and Stresa, and the another via Lugano. If you have a preference then enter that. Both will likely end up in Milan and then Florence. I would do Stresa and spend some time.
Jan 21st, 2008, 07:00 PM
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rail.ch will take you right to the English version of the Swiss Rail website. The shortest journey is about 7.5 hours, via the high speed Cisalpino, see the rail.ch website or http://www.cisalpino.ch. It requires one change in Milan. I've done this from Zurich a few times (which joins the route after a while), it's a pleasant trip with some good scenery. Door to door you are not going to save much time if you fly, so the train is a good option.
I see on your other posts that someone has given you the treinitalia site, you can use that too. However, the rail.ch site will give schedules for all over Europe, including within Italy, and I find it easier to use than the Italian train website.
You can usually find fares on the ciaslpino.ch site. The sbb.ch or rail.ch site won't calculate fares for journeys that are not entirely within Switzerland, but you can send them an e-mail for the fare. If you want to take a slower "regular" train, then contact rail.ch via e-mail for the fare (or call, 011-41-900-300 -300). You can also try Raileurope.com to estimate fares, if you buy them yourself in Europe, they will be a little bit less as Rail Europe charges a fee for the tickets. You may also have a pass like a Eurail pass or a Swiss train pass which will reduce the fare.
In high tourist season or on weekends you might want to buy a ticket ahead of time. On some trains reservations are required (like many Cisaplino trains), on others they are recommended, check the rail.ch website. If a reservation is not required, IMO on weekdays or in low season like April you should be fine buying a ticket a few minutes before the train leaves. (Exception might be a very early morning train when commuters might be taking a train for a day business trip to Milan, i.e. to reach Milan by 10 am or so.) In first class you can reserve seats, good if you are travelling in a group. On Italian trains, IMO, going first class is better as cars are newer and nicer and you have more room. On Swiss trains it makes very little difference. On the Cisalpino which are generally new trains refurbished pretty regularly it does not make a lot of difference which class you go in, IMO.
I see on your other posts that someone has given you the treinitalia site, you can use that too. However, the rail.ch site will give schedules for all over Europe, including within Italy, and I find it easier to use than the Italian train website.
You can usually find fares on the ciaslpino.ch site. The sbb.ch or rail.ch site won't calculate fares for journeys that are not entirely within Switzerland, but you can send them an e-mail for the fare. If you want to take a slower "regular" train, then contact rail.ch via e-mail for the fare (or call, 011-41-900-300 -300). You can also try Raileurope.com to estimate fares, if you buy them yourself in Europe, they will be a little bit less as Rail Europe charges a fee for the tickets. You may also have a pass like a Eurail pass or a Swiss train pass which will reduce the fare.
In high tourist season or on weekends you might want to buy a ticket ahead of time. On some trains reservations are required (like many Cisaplino trains), on others they are recommended, check the rail.ch website. If a reservation is not required, IMO on weekdays or in low season like April you should be fine buying a ticket a few minutes before the train leaves. (Exception might be a very early morning train when commuters might be taking a train for a day business trip to Milan, i.e. to reach Milan by 10 am or so.) In first class you can reserve seats, good if you are travelling in a group. On Italian trains, IMO, going first class is better as cars are newer and nicer and you have more room. On Swiss trains it makes very little difference. On the Cisalpino which are generally new trains refurbished pretty regularly it does not make a lot of difference which class you go in, IMO.
