Milan MPX to Venice??

Old Jan 11th, 2009, 01:42 PM
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Milan MPX to Venice??

We (2 women) arrive in Milan in the morning and we plan to take the train to Venice. Is there access to the train right at the airport? If not, what is the best way to get to the train station?

And then once in Venice, how is it getting from the train station to one of the vaporetto? In the past I have driven to Venice and the arrival was very easy, but I don’t recall where the train station was.
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Old Jan 11th, 2009, 01:55 PM
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There is a train that runs into Milan on a regular basis. You will then have to get yourself to the main rail station. You can do that via trains or we usually get a taxi so we don't have to deal with our luggage as much.

In Venice you just walk out of the train station and get the Vaporetto.
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Old Jan 11th, 2009, 01:56 PM
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No train to Venice from Malpensa airport. The train called Malpensa Express is not for you, it goes to an area in the city that is far from Milano Centrale, the station where you board your Venice train.

From the airport you take the airport bus that goes directly to Milano Centrale station, it takes about an hour, your luggage goes underneath.

In Venice there are two stations, one up on the mainland in the industrial area called Mestre - you want the Santa Lucia station down by the canals.

As you exit and go down the broad steps outside Santa Lucia station you are right at the hub on the Gran Canal where most of the vaporetti lines come and go.
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Old Jan 11th, 2009, 01:58 PM
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No train to Venice from Malpensa airport. The (private) train called Malpensa Express is not for you, it goes to Cadorna, an area in the city that is far from Milano Centrale, the station where you board your Venice train. Makes no sense to go to Cadorna and then wrestle your bags down into the Metro to continue to Milano Centrale.

Instead, like everybody else, from the airport you take the airport bus that goes directly to Milano Centrale station, it takes about an hour, your luggage goes underneath.

In Venice there are two stations, one up on the mainland in the industrial area called Mestre - you want the Santa Lucia station down by the canals.

As you exit and go down the broad steps outside Santa Lucia station you are right at the hub on the Gran Canal where most of the vaporetti lines come and go.
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Old Jan 11th, 2009, 02:06 PM
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Thanks guys, seems doable!
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Old Jan 11th, 2009, 05:21 PM
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The Malpensa Shuttle Bus is actually quite nice. http://www.malpensashuttle.it/e-default.htm I highly recommend it. It's so easy to find curbside and the guys will help you with your luggage if you ask with a smile. It runs every twenty minutes and the ride is 50 minutes to an hour but it feels much faster. Given how expensive it is to get from Malpensa to Milan, you simply can't beat the price, the comfort, and the convenience. I've come to love this service.

The only downside: the bus stops at the rear of Milano Centrale, which means you have to walk some distance to enter the station. Another downside: escalators to the 2nd floor train tracks are at the side entrances only and there's no place to purchase tickets on the second floor. It's best to secure your tickets first before you go upstairs to the train platforms.

The ticket booths are in the front lobby of the train station. The only way to the second floor from the front ticket booths is via a long marble staircase. It's the most ridiculous train station one can ever imagine. (There is a hard-to-find elevator but they don't permit luggage carts.)

The best thing to do is have your train tickets purchased before you depart the Malpensa Shuttle. Check at the ticket booth in the airport lobby (the same booth where you purchase Malpensa Shuttle tickets) and ask if you can purchase your Venice train tickets as well. If not, you can use the side entrance escalators to the second floor of Milano Centrale and one of you can stay with your luggage while the other goes downstairs to purchase your tickets. Allow 20-30 minutes for the ticket lines. Consider yourself lucky if they move any faster.
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Old Jan 11th, 2009, 09:16 PM
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nycts - Thanks SO much for the very detailed advice. I will print this out and take it with me! You rock.
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Old Jan 12th, 2009, 02:35 PM
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You're welcome.

There seems to be a ticket booth near the side escalator entrance just before you enter the station. I'm not 100% sure (maybe someone else can speak to this) but I believe that booth is run by a travel agency concession and I think their ticket prices are higher than what you find in the station. The lines are always long and I assume these are people who want to enter via the side escalator entrances and not deal with the no-escalator front entrance. So it makes sense to pay more the convenience. Like I said, it's a wacky set-up.
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Old Jan 12th, 2009, 02:55 PM
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Before we go too far in trashing one of Italy's most beloved fascist-built monuments, which Frank Lloyd Wright called one of the most beautiful train stations in the world, next to Grand Central in New York, please note that the station has been under renovation for the past two years and these renovations are not complete.

http://www.nationmaster.com/encyclop...entral-Station

Also, if you spend any time in Italy, you come to love -- deeply love -- Milano Centrale because all of it's tracks are on the same flat level, and you don't have to run up and down stairs to reach other platforms to change trains.

I have been able to enter the station on the same side of it where the buses from the airport stop, and walk to the ticket offices on the first level, and then take the escalators up to the train tracks. But it may be that the renovations have temporarily blocked that access.

You can use a credit card to buy your tickets from a ticket machine in the area of the ticket windows, which operates in English (and sometimes the station employees don't). But you are well advised to try see if you can purchase your tickets in Malpensa.

Have a great trip.

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Old Jan 12th, 2009, 05:49 PM
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Lots of stations have all the tracks on one level, and a lobby at the head of the platforms that go no further, and those are the ones where trains can't stop briefly and move on, they have to back out - not a design that's desirable these days when locomotives don't need the care and feeding at every stop that they used to in the days Zeppole is nostalgic about.

In Milano, the tracks are often assigned at the last minute - masses are milling about, looking up at the big board, much to the pickpockets' and luggage thieves' delight, then rushing to whichever platform when the binario number gets posted... Not nearly as efficient as positioning oneself on the correct platform in the correct sector A / B / C / D long before the train rolls in.

Zürich is one of these inefficient ones, and plans are underfoot to change that, because having trains back out is like throwing molasses into a Swiss watch movement...

But confessing to L-O-V-E- for Milano Centrale, that's beautiful - Love is a many-splendored thing indeed.
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Old Jan 12th, 2009, 08:27 PM
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Beauty and functionality are often at odds with one another in the world of architecture. Milano Centrale is painfully fascist in a hauntingly beautiful yet masochistic fashion. It was never user-friendly, especially for single travelers with luggage. My heart goes out to anyone carting two or more heavy bags. A major renovation has been underway and the future looks promising. I hear summer 2009. http://tinyurl.com/89ztdr

Once you enter the side entrance of the station, I have not discovered a street level walk path to the front entrance lobby ticket booths. It's possible the path, if one exists, is boarded up. If you want to enter from the front, it's a lengthy walk outside. The building is HUGE.

As you approach the escalators from the side entrance, you will be confronted by two steel pillars that will not allow much width to pass. It's one bag at a time, one human at a time, and neither side by side. God be with you if you have more than three bags. The presence of pillars is insane. I understand the station does not want luggage carts on the escalators but those pillars are ridiculous.

The good news: luggage carts are available on the second floor and they're free. But they have to remain on the second floor, which means, if you're traveling alone and you find yourself on the second level without a train ticket, you either have to ask some stranger to watch your luggage (for possibly 30 minutes) or you have to remove your luggage from your cart and figure out a way to walk you and your luggage down the long front marble staircase to the first floor ticket booths. I've been watching this spectacle for the past three summers and the women in high heels should be filmed. It really is something to behold.
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Old Jan 13th, 2009, 08:38 AM
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Look, if individuals are going to travel to Italy carrying two or more heavy bags, I defy anybody to name the Italian train station (or train) that is designed for that. And if they are changing trains with any luggage at all, they are surely going to love Milano Central as opposed to say, Pisa, or Genova Principe, or Termini. Or any station that makes them run up and down stairs between platforms.

All Italian train stations post train track information at the last moment. Milano Centrale is, by a factor of 20, much less prone to thieves than Rome's Termini, precisely because all the tracks are lined up to dead end onto one platform, eliminating the rabbit warrens that make it so easy to get ambushed in other stations.

If you're traveling alone in Italy, you shouldn't ever be carrying more luggage than you can comfortably manage by yourself. And if you plan to carry "more than three bags," well, yes, then God help you!
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Old Jan 13th, 2009, 08:45 AM
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All Italian train stations post train track information at the last moment.

I have to add -- PAY ATTENTION -- we were training from Florence to Rome. Our track was posted. We got on the train, only it turned out they had changed the track for our train, and we had 30 seconds to bolt the train, with our luggage and two kids, before we headed for Milan instead of Rome.
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Old Jan 13th, 2009, 09:23 AM
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"If individuals are going to travel to Italy carrying two or more heavy bags, I defy anybody to name the Italian train station (or train) that is designed for that."

Of course, none of the Italian stations are prepared, which is why many Italians feel their country is aptly criticized as "third world." Most train stations ignore the handicapped as well. There's good reason why so many travelers question the advantages of car rentals vs. trains. Baggage transport is a major hurdle. And, given the love, devotion, and rise in the "slow trav" community, one can only hope that Milano Centrale has finally heard their cries for help.

It's almost impossible to spend a month in Italy without three bags, especially if you're a professional (or amateur) photographer, if you're a woman with great legs, or, if you're a woman who attends dinner parties with Italian socialites. The three bags aren't necessarily the largest sizes but their three heavy bags nonetheless.

"If you're traveling alone in Italy, you shouldn't ever be carrying more luggage than you can comfortably manage by yourself."

The technology behind sturdy, lightweight bags with wheels has come a long way through the years. On a relatively flat surface, it's amazing what one person can comfortably manage. If only the train stations could keep up with the rest of modern civilization.
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Old Jan 13th, 2009, 09:44 AM
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Traveling with three heavy bags in Italy? Rent a car.

I don't encourage people to come to pokey old Italy. And if you do come, don't expect Switzerland.

But facts are facts. The "huge" to you Milano Centrale takes no more time to walk around than New York's Grand Central or Penn Station, or Washington DC's Union Station. If you think you can leave 3 bags of luggage with a stranger in Penn Station to try to find where to buy tickets to a connecting train to Princeton, please think again.

Glad you've discovered bags-on-wheels. Just bear in mind they won't do you any good changing trains in most Italian staircase-ridden train stations. However, you will be able to wheel them through a train change at Milano Centrale, no problem.

Your tender concern for the cries of help from socialites and affluent slow travelers is amusing. I don't think you like to ride trains. I like you like to ride hobby horses.

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Old Jan 13th, 2009, 01:06 PM
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"Rent a car...I don't think you like to ride trains. I like you like to ride hobby horses."

The country club type? Not me. Horses scare me. I appreciate them from a distance but will never hop on one again. I like the subway, especially when it rains.

A limo from MXP to Centrale? Sure, done that, but luxury can be ridiculously expensive. I never enjoy throwing money out the window, especially if I'm physically fit to handle certain challenges. It's good to know what challenges exist, though. I'm no fan of surprises. I prefer to get a bird's eye view of life in action than settle for a tinted window, sometimes.

Renting a car from MXP to Lake Como makes sense. I've done that, too. I can recommend it as an option. But the train to Varenna is perfectly enjoyable, especially if you're too tired to drive and you don't need a car once you get there. MXP to Venice by car makes less sense, unless you plan to make stops along the way. (Done that, as well.)

I find train travel interesting, especially in Europe and Asia. Just because I like to wear high heels doesn't mean I shy away from certain adventures.

"The "huge" to you Milano Centrale takes no more time to walk around than New York's Grand Central or Penn Station, or Washington DC's Union Station."

I agree and I wouldn't hesitate to forewarn and advise a visitor who plans to drag their luggage around those stations as well. Plus, it's easier to ask questions in English when everyone else speaks English. Not so easy in a foreign train station, even in Italy.

Glad you've discovered bags-on-wheels. Just bear in mind they won't do you any good changing trains in most Italian staircase-ridden train stations."

Oh the pain and agony of those memories.
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Old Jan 13th, 2009, 01:20 PM
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I didn't say rent a car to go to Centrale to MXP.

If anybody is bringing two heavy bags to Italy, they should rent a car to get where they need to go. Milano Centrale is going to be the least of their problems when it comes to train stations.

I'd hardly feel I needed to warn somebody that Grand Central or Penn Station is "huge". It's a metropolitan train station. What else would they think. But it takes 5 minutes at most to walk from the where the airport shuttle bus arrives to the front entrance of Milano Centrale. For people with wheels on their luggage, no problem I should think. What I would warn people is not that the train station is "huge," but that heavy bags and multiple bags don't mix with train travel in Italy, period.

My problem with your riding this hobby horse (and it is) is that Milano Centrale is far from the crazy nightmare you paint it to be. It's a busy urban train station, with more pluses than minuses: It's safe, nobody gets lost, no staircases for changing trains, lots of ticket machines. Would all they were all this good!

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Old Jan 13th, 2009, 02:59 PM
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" Milano Centrale is far from the crazy nightmare you paint it to be."

Crazy nightmare? Who on earth said that? Seems like someone has a characterization "problem" and it's not me.

"If anybody is bringing two heavy bags to Italy, they should rent a car to get where they need to go."

I disagree.

" I'd hardly feel I needed to warn somebody that Grand Central or Penn Station is "huge". It's a metropolitan train station. What else would they think."

First time visitors from Kentucky, Ohio, Idaho, etc., have no concept of the size of Grand Central or Penn Station.

As for HUGE, a quote from GrandiStazioni.it: "Milano Centrale is Italy’s second-largest station in terms of size and traffic volume." I think "huge" is an appropriate adjective.

"it takes 5 minutes at most to walk from the where the airport shuttle bus arrives to the front entrance of Milano Centrale. For people with wheels on their luggage, no problem I should think."

I think you're wrong and I speak from fresh experience. It may take five minutes for a well-rested local carrying a briefcase but that's not the same for someone fresh off an overnight flight with two 50 lb bags. The sidewalks in Milan are high, the concrete is uneven, and if you're not familiar with the terrain, accidents can happen. When you're exhausted, every insecure minute matters.

70 lb bags used to be the norm, which really was a train station workout. Many of us don't bring back gifts now. We're forced to travel lighter. The airline's gain, maybe, but a loss to the Italian economy.
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Old Jan 13th, 2009, 03:31 PM
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Look, if you are carrying two 50 pound bags as a train traveler, you're just nuts! Okay? Lower sidewalks aren't the problem.
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Old Jan 13th, 2009, 03:32 PM
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It's true, you guys DO rock!

I wish I had seen this posting, because mine is all but identical. I'm collecting this info in case you don't get to me...

Ellen
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