La Spezia Central train station - how big is it?
 

We are making plans for train travel from La Spezia to Rome. We will be on a train from Monterosso in the morning that arrives 6:44 am in La Spezia and the train to Rome leaves at 6:53.

Is the station at La Spezia very big and can we make it from one train to the next in 9 minutes?

We do have an earlier option from Monterosso that would leave us a one hour wait at 5:44 am. I know this would be a safer bet - but wanted to see if the station is very small we might be able to make the other one work.

It's not a large station and pretty easy to navigate. 9 minutes would be enough time for me.

Luggage?? This could slow your speed down. 9 minutes should do it but you never know..an hour isn't that long for assurance sake.

I agree that 9 minutes is long enough to change. It's been a few years since we were there, but I recall that the station in Vernazza didn't open until 7am. If this is the case in Monterosso you might want to make sure that you buy your ticket in advance.

Thanks for all the replies - we will have carryon luggage on rollers - so all four of us should be very mobile. Thanks for the tip about the opening time of the train station - I had not thought of that!!!

Being conservative, I will probably plan on the earlier train.

Here's some pics. If you have to change tracks, it would take more time (usually stairs to go under the tracks).
http://www.stazionidelmondo.it/laspeziacentrale.htm

I have the exact same question (Santa Margherita Ligure to rome, switching in La Spezia )and am glad I didn't have to repost. The pictures were helpful too - we are traveling with a 3.5 and 6 year old so will be slowed a little but looks like 12 minutes will be enough time.

If you have to change tracks, you may have to take stairs to go down under the tracks. Sometimes you can locate a small elevator, but not always or it might not be working.

Looks like 7, maybe 9 different tracks. There is usually an underground walkway that connects all of the tracks. Usually the walkway is only accessible by stairs. I would assume that most trains use tracks 1, 2, and 3 (closest to the station building).

https://maps.google.com/maps?q=piazz...ed=0CAoQ_AUoAg

Contrast that with Roma Termini's 32:

https://maps.google.com/maps?q=piazz...ed=0CAoQ_AUoAg

Whoops, sorry I gave the wrong link for La Spezia Centrale on Google maps:

https://maps.google.com/maps?q=la+sp...ed=0CAoQ_AUoAg

Termini's website says they have 26 tracks.

http://www.romatermini.com/it/map/

My advice is to step lively and practice getting a 3 and 6 year old and luggage off one train, down stairs, up stairs and on another train in 12 minutes.

I think it can be done, but I honestly know people that couldn't do it.

small station, easy to navigate, Get off the train , look at the monitor to see what track you train to rome is on .Bundle every thing up and head to track. You will probably have 5 minutes to spare.

>>>getting a 3 and 6 year old and luggage off one train,<<<

Many trains that stop in La Spezia that are continuing on and only stop for 2 minutes (some will be 6 minutes). You have to be ready to get off when you get to your stop in most stations when you are on a regional or IC train.

The large stations (Rome Termini, Milan Centrale, etc.) served by the faster trains (AV), the stops are about 10 minutes. Many small pass-through stations served by regional trains will have only a 1 minute stop. If you aren't at the door with your luggage ready to get off, you miss your stop. It helps to know the name of the station before your stop and how much time from there to your stop so you can head towards the door. Usual scheduled stop time for regional trains is 1-4 minutes.