We are flying nonstop from JFK to MXP and were wanting to book a train from Milano Centrale to Rome. Pending no delays; we will be landing at MXP T1 at 11:55am and we are not planning on checking any bags. What transportation would be recommended to get to Milano Centrale and what would be a good departure time to book from Milano Centrale to Rome?

Airport express train Malpensa to Milano Centrale the best IMO- but leave time for planes to be late and check bus schedules too -if your tickets are non-changeable non-refundable I suggest you build lots of fudge time and have lunch at the many Centrale eateries if you have to wait - better than having to buy a full-price ticket - if buying full-price ticket do it at the rail desk in Malpensa and then you will know exactly what train you can leisurely get to.

I certainly would not book one before 2pm - 14:00 - Malpensa is a long way from Milan as airports go.

For lots on Italian trains check www.trenitalia.com; www.seat61.com -great dope on discounted tickets; www.budgeteuropetravel.com and www.ricksteves.com.

do not get on the wrong train at the airport - some go to Milan-Cordona station and not Centrale. Ask when buying your tickets.

Train to Milano Centrale.

"Pending no delays..." Since there are no guarantees about arrival times or how long it takes to deplane or how long it takes to clear passport control, I would just buy the Milan-Rome train ticket after arriving at MXP. You may prefer to play the odds in order to enjoy a fare discount, but that's your call. FYI, the train from MXP to Centrale takes about an hour. You don't deplane immediately into a terminal via a jetway but instead ride a bus from the plane to the terminal, another step with no guarantees of time involved.

Just wondering if you have considered hopping on a flight to FCO? You're already at MXP, and there are lots of flights.

One of the problems with the trains is this - in Italy you need to have a seat reservation (comes with the ticket), this means that - contrary to, say Switzerland - you can't just have a ticket and hop on the first train leaving after you make it to the station. You are committed to a given seat in a given carriage on a given train at a given time. Talk of being locked in - no different than flying.

If you land at 11:55, by the time you've lined up to show your passport and made it to Milano Centrale - by airport bus or by taxi or by one of the train/bus or train/train combinations (there is no direct train) it could be 1PM if your taxi driver puts his/her foot down, or it could be 2PM, or???

Then it's a good three hours on the train.

So any train reservation is a gamble - leave too much safety margin and you're wasting time, leave too little and you might miss the train.

Might as well fly, you're already at the airport.

As said above: buy your Rome bound ticket at the railway station of MXP. Train departures (which make sense if you go to Rome) at 13.37 and then every hr. Journey time 4 hrs 20 min. Layover at Milano Centrale station 25 min (more than sufficient for the trains change). Standard fare from MXP around 100 EUR/pax.

I don't think that you will find many convenient flights from MXP to Rome. Most of them start at Linate airport, about 2 hrs by public transport from MXP.

As an alternative, you might go from MXP to a hotel on nearby Lake Maggiore, relax there and reach Rome the following day.
May be Arona dp 7.35 - Rome ar 11.55. This train could be booked ahead in the web, with discounts going up to 75 per cent.

Yup save lots of money by booking discounted tickets - either stay the night in Milan area or leave a few hours fudge factor time- may be worth potentially whiling away time in Milan Centrale or leave more hours and if on time trek into central Milan to see the great Duomo, etc.

A visit of Milan after a overnight flight? Would be nothing for me. Therefore I proposed Lake Maggiore (wouldn't make sense if OP travels in winter, however)

Here's a thought: if you are going to pay the full fare for train to Rome anyway...all you really risk buying the discount fare tickets ahead of time is the discount fare. What's that - about 100 Euros total for two people? Hate to lose that if you are late and have to buy full fare anyway...but if you arrive relatively on time (with some buffer) then you will have saved a lot of money not having to buy full fare tickets.

In other words: you might spend an extra 100 Euros if you are late - but you will probably save almost that much if you are on time.

sage advice from andrew! Build in a couple of hours and save lots of money on trains but you need to book those tickets weeks/months ahead of time to guarantee availability- may be available much later but not always. Be flexible on time too so search more than one.

We allowed about 3 hours between arrival at MXP and train departure from Centrale to Genoa. We arrived at the train station with about 2 hours to spare. No problem. Had a bite to eat, did some shopping and it was time to board. No hiccups.

Yes, Treesa, I've done that sort of thing a number of times - not necessarily in Milan. (I did fly OUT of MXP a few years ago, taking a train from Levanto to Milano Centrale and then the airport train to MXP.) I do it with connecting flights, too, where you are taking a chance if your flight is late. So far, after about five or six times, I've never missed a train or plane connection.

I figure that if I miss a connection like this one in ten times and it costs me a few hundred Euros one time to re-book a last-minute train or flight, then it averages out over all of the other occasions and is still worth doing on average, at least for me.