The other threads regarding Italian train travel are great and I've gotten lots of good info. Thanks. But I still have some unanswered questions.

Has anyone gotten the trentalia site to work in English. I've tried many times and different results, but never anything useful. It does work in Italian, I'm just not entirely sure what it says, I mean, I can guess but I'd feel more comfortable in English.

Why do raileurope.com and railsaver.com have prices that are so much higher than the trentalia site. Is it all profit? Can't think of any other reason but it's a little disconcerting to see for example on trentalia Milan to Florence is about 29€ and on rail europe its 39€ (and on railsaver its 38) Plus rail europe says you need a seat reservation (even on eurostar) for another 16€. Info in the other threads says you do not need reservations (or rather that they are included). Am I correct about all this?

On the trentalia site there are ES and IC trains. There's also something marked with an "R". Does that stand for regional? They are cheaper. What are the differences and should I avoid them for any reason?

Is it safe to arrive in Milan and expect to be able to get a train to Florence without a reservation made in advance. There seem to be trains every hour. How frequently do they fill up completely? I'd rather not buy a ticket on line ahead of time because I won't know if the plane will be late, how long it will take to get to the train from MXP, etc.

Thank you all you Italian train experts.

The trenitalia site only works in Italian for me, although a few weeks ago I saw somebody post another link for the English site that actually works. You might want to do a search.


I've never used railsaver but I can tell you that RailEurope should be avoided at all costs. I purchased a ticket through them a couple of years ago from London to Paris and mistakenly threw it away. They won't even discuss replacing or refunding a lost ticket. For this they charge you extra plus shipping.

It's a company with which I will NEVER do business again. I will walk first.

I have intermittent success with Trenitalia in English. I live in Italy right now and use it in Italian and English both, upon occasion but really only to seek info on schedules and not to purchase. Do be warned that some of the best deals you see are reserved for Italian citizens i.e. you must use the Italian equivalent of a Social Insurance Number.(sorry I don't know US term for this...)

The R stands for regional and generally means it stops frequently. You can ascertain this by checking both the departure and arrival time of several offerings in different categories.

You don't mention the time of year you are visiting. That is the only thing that prevents me from saying "forget about reservations" for that Milan-Florence connection. Don't chance this in August(Italian vacation season), otherwise you should be fine. My hubbie and I do a lot of train travel here and have literally never booked more than one day in advnce.

I am sure others will fill in the blanks.

Hi Isabel,

I finally got the trenitalia site to work yesterday. I found a post that had the trenitalia.com url. I had been using trenitalia.it which didn't work either in Italian or English. I just tried it again and it worked.

One problem I discovered is that the site doesn't recognize abbreviations which used to work, i.e., Venezia SL. Now you can only use Venezia S. Lucia to get a schedule.

The trenitalia site has driven me crazy. But I have finally used this link to bookmark it, and when I go to it, everything works fine in English. If I go to it another way and click English, I can't get it to work.
Try:
www.trenitalia.com/en/index.htm

Sorry, this is a question, not an answer. We travel with our bikes and have found the German/Austrian/Dutch rail systems very obliging, clearly marked cars etc., how does the Italian system compare?

Hi isabel,

You can use Patrick's link or this one
www.trenitalia.com/en they both work, mostly.

You can use http://www.freetranslation.com/
to translate text or the entire page. It is a machine translation, so don't expect too much.

Think of raileurope and railsaver as booking agents. Their prices are higher because they have additional expenses and wantto make a profit.

>rail europe says you need a seat reservation (even on eurostar) for another 16€. Info in the other threads says you do not need reservations (or rather that they are included)<

Both are correct. If you buy a ticket on an Italian ES* in Italy, the seat reservation is included in the price. If you buy it anywhere else, it is sold as an open ticket and a reservation, at additional fee, is required.

Buying a ticket after arrival for a convenient train is usually safe for an ES* unless you are arriving in midseason on a weekend or other high traffic day. Don't fear, you will get a ticket.

For IC, D, R, etc where reservations are not required, you just get on with everyone else and, at worst, stand in the aisle. It's only about 3 hr, and the time will just fly by.

Hi Richard,

On the trenitalia site, click on the red arrow. At the right hand of the menu you will see "travel options". Look for the bicycle icon.

Not all trains have it.

Thanks guys. I'll try some of those other urls for trentalia, and as I said, the site in Italian seems to work most of the time. Thanks ira for clearing up the reservation questions. That makes sense.

I'll be trying to do the Milan to Florence route on Wednesday, July 14. Plane gets into MXP at about 8am. For all my other train travel I'll just book it once I get to Italy, that first one is the only one I'm concerned about, and as I said, I'd rather wait till I get there. I just don't want to spend the entire day in Milano Centrale waiting for a train. If I had to wait a few hours I guess it would be no big deal (I could always go see the Duomo).

Hi Isabel,

Have a good trip.

Ok, I have tried all the links, and nothing seems to work. I put in Venezia, S. Lucia (also tried Venice, Venezia, Venezia, S.L., Venezia, SL) and Salzburg (and Salzburg, Hbf), then put in a date this week (since my actual date is in Sept), and click search. Nothing! Tried it several times, several links. I can get a schedule on the german website, but not a price.

Any clues, anyone? Is it because I am crossing a border? Just trying to get an idea of price. The best train leaves around 13:30, goes through Villach, and arrives in Salzburg around 18:30. Much better schedule than going through Munich (which makes it an 8+ hour trip instead of 5).

Thanks for any help!!

Anne

Anne - I can't get the Italian schedule to work either for trains originating or terminating outside of Italy. If you want a general price go to the Raileurope site. The prices will be higher there but at least you will have an idea of what you'll pay for the ticket.

isabel: my husband and I flew into MXP and planned to take a train from Milano Centrale about 4 years ago. Are you aware of the logistics involved in getting from MXP (Malpensa) to Milano Centrale?

The reason that I mention this, is that you may NOT want to have reservations in case you are delayed, but knowing the schedule can't hurt. That way you can just get tickets for whatever train leaves next once you get there.

To get to Milano Centrale (ferrovaria - I think) from MXP: there is a shuttle "train" from the airport. This will take you to the subway (metropolitana). when you get off, you take the stairs up to the street and then go down another set of stairs to get to the subway/metro that you in turn take to milano centrale. when you get off the metro/subway at the train station stop, you go up to the street level and I believe the train station is accross the street.

Also, and not to make you nervous with all of these transfers, you may want to have phrases for asking directions in Italian handy plus some directional words so you can understand the response. I mention this because when we did this we did not encounter a single person who spoke English (at the ticket counters) and had to rely on my self-taught Italian, phrase book, and universal sign language. It was a fun and an exciting, but also very exhausting, beginning to our vacation.

Hmmm - mamma love, now you really have me confused. Recently I read here a thread (cann't remember the title, I just copied the info, I think the poster may have been GAC) about getting to Milan from MXP. The info I have copied down says that the TRAIN (Malpensa Express) goes from MXP to Milan Cadorna Rail Station. To get from MXP to Milano Centrale (where the train to Florence leaves from) you would take a bus (Malpensa Shuttle). Did you take the train to Cadorna station (near the Duomo) and then the subway to Centrale? I was planning on taking the shuttle bus that goes direct.

Can someone confirm this (or set me straight if I'm wrong). Thanks.

And do you all still think it's safe to not have a Milan-Florence train reservataion for mid day, mid week, mid July. Thanks

isabel,
July is a very busy month and many people are in vacations.
If you are not able to make the reservation because you want to leave the same day,make certain that you travel first class..It is worth it, believe me..

Hi isabel,

I also can't find schedules on trenitalia for trains terminating outside Italy.

Try www.railsaver.com as well for estimates of cost.

Ok. I'm sorry that this was confusing, but the process for me, was a bit confusing.

I took the Malpensa Express (a train) to a railway station, of which I don't recall the name. From there we had to walk up a flight of stairs and go down another to get to the subway/metro (metropolitana in Italian). We took the subway to Milano Centrale (the train station we needed to get a train to Venice).

Let me see if I can find some links with maps and less confusing directions/instructions.

If you will be taking a train OUT of Milan (e.g. to Verona, Venice, Bologna, Florence, Genoa, etc.), and are arriving at Malpensa Aiport (MXP), you should take the Airporter BUS to Milano CENTRALE Train Station. The Bus leaves every 10-15 minutes, from directly outside the ARRIVALS area. There are two companies: Malpensa Express and Malpensa Shuttle. Fare is 5.50 and 4.50 Euros, respectively. There is little difference in service between the two companies.

By contrast, the Malpensa Express TRAIN goes to Milano CADORNA Train Station. CADORNA is a local commuter station and is different from CENTRALE. DON'T CONFUSE THESE TWO TRAIN STATIONS!!!!!!!!!!!!!! You need to take the subway to go from CADORNA to CENTRALE. Consequently, it is preferable to take the airporter BUS noted above if your destination is CENTRALE. Moreover, the Malpensa Express Train costs 9.50 Euros, or double the cost of the airporter bus: another reason to take the airporter bus, IF you're going to CENTRALE. (The airporter bus will take a little longer, because of traffic delays, but you avoid having to take the subway between CADORNA and CENTRALE if you were to take the Malpensa Express train to CADORNA. Is this clear?

Isabel, I would plan to take the 11:00 a.m. Eurostar Italia train (ES) to Firenze S. M. Novella (departing from Milano CENTRALE). This will give you three hours from plane scheduled touchdown to train departure. You just MIGHT be able to take the 10:00 a.m. ES to Firenze, but that's a long shot.

I would buy the ticket on arrival at Milano CENTRALE train station, either at the ordinary ticket windows, or (if the lines are very long) at one of the travel agencies you'll see when you get off the airporter bus, at the side entrance to the station itself.

Since you will be arriving on a Wednesday (rather than a weekend or a Monday morning), you should have NO PROBLEM securing a seat, either in first or in second class. If perchance the train is already full, you can take the Eurostar leaving at 12 noon. I would be very surprised if first class were fully booked.

Bear in mind that these ES trains ORIGINATE at Milano Centrale, so they tend to fill up (if at all) when they reach Bologna or Firenze. And because all seats are sold on a reserved basis, you can't board the train without a guaranteed seat. This is the great advantage of ES over IC trains.

Hi Isabel,

We arrived in Rome on a plane scheduled to arrive at 8:00 AM. We reached Rome TE at 11:30. It took 1 1/2 hr for our luggage to show up.

I suggest you go for the 12:00 train. At most you will have to have lunch in Milano.