Trains and Planes in Pisa
 

Hi Fellow Travelers

I have maybe not an interesting situation but one that I can use some advice on. My sister is getting married in my parents’ home Town in Italy (2 hours south of Rome) in late August.

After the wedding my husband and I will drop our rental car off in Rome Airport and take the train to Riomaggiore. We are then going to fly out of Pisa on a Sunday. (I think the flight is 1:20 PM, I will double check.)

Here is my research done:
I checked trenitalia to ensure there are trains that get into the Pisa Airport early enough to make our flight. There are trains that leave early but it looks like I can only book those a week in advance. I put in this Sundays date and I would be able to purchase the tickets but anything after that was unavailable.

My question is will we be okay to be booking that train when we get to Riomaggiore? (Please note, no transportation is booked so if you think there is a better way then I would love to hear it)

I appreciate your help on this. Thanks in advance.

Even though it is August, because you are travelling early, I would think it highly unlikely that you would need to book at all. I think you would be safe booking from Riomaggiore.

Most trains to the airport require a change at Pisa Centrale. From there, the shuttle trains run pretty much every 30 minutes from around 5:30am, and take about 10 minutes.

Thanks willit for your help. Sometimes it is nice to just have your suspicions confirmed.

Hope you have a great weekend.

If you can only book the train a week ahead, that's because it's a train that doesn't have to be booked. If it's a train where seats need to be booked, bookings usually open two months in advance.
Local trains have no seat reservations: you just buy a ticket and get on any train; if the train has no seats, you stand or wait for the next one.

I wouldn't turn my car in at the Rome airport. Keep it and drive to somewhere near Riomaggiore and turn your car in. If you turn it in at Rome airport, you will have to make multiple train changes to get to Riomaggiore.

I agree that you should look to renting your car with a contract that allows surrendering it in La Spezia.

The extra cost will probably be offset by not having to take the train, and it saves you driving to the airport in Rome, then taking the train into Roma Termini and switching to the train for Riomaggiore which will require a switch in La Spezia anyway. Might as well drive straight there.

From La Spezia to Riomaggiore the train only takes 8 minutes - if there is a rental car agency near the station La Spezia Centrale you would be good to go.

About getting to the airport in Pisa: No need to book, these are slow regional trains only, but maybe buy your ticket a day before because early on Sunday the little station may not be manned in Riomaggiore. Validate the ticket by sticking it into the yellow box near the platform access, it timestamps it, then hop on, sit anywhere in the class you bought, 1st or 2nd..

On a Sunday you should take the 8:56 departure from Riomaggiore that gets to the airport at 10:55, with a switch in Pisa Centrale - I see no other train that allows you to make a 13:20 flight.

But look it up at www.ferroviedellostato.it - input Riomaggiore and Pisa Aeroporto and see what comes up (input date as dd/mm/yyyy and time in 24-hr format).