Trains from Vernazza to La Spezia
 

Hi,

I'm a girl in my 20s traveling with a companion the same age to Italy in September. We have almost everything organized in regards to hotels and trains, but we aren't planning to book anything until mid-June (I hope that won't be too late). We've been getting a lot of conflicting advice regarding whether or not to book transportation in advance. So any further advice on the topic would be really appreciated from more experience travelers!

A problem that we have is in one leg of our journey we will be going from La Spezia to Rome. This is on a Sunday and there are some flexible travel times on Trenitalia and the train from Vernazza to La Spezia takes less than 30 minutes, so we aren't expecting any problems. However, we have been told that there are frequent delays (not sure how valid this is) on the Cinque Terre trains.

The train from Vernazza to La Spezia is
08:49-09:07 OR 09:28-09:49
We are opting to take the 08:49 train but if we miss it, the next one is at 9:28.

The train from La Spezia to Rome leaves at 10:06 and the next one is at 13:14.
We REALLY want that 10:06 train. Especially since there would be an unnecessarily long wait at La Sepzia Centrale.

So my questions are
1) Are we being stupid to wait an hour for the train at La Spezia? or would be fine reaching at 09:49 and boarding the train to Rome at 10?

2) Should we book the train from La Spezia to Rome in advance? Or on the day of?

3) Should we book any of the trains in advance (online) or at the station itself? Would we run into problems like the train being fully reserved, etc?

It seems to me there should be more trains going to Rome, one direction or another. What is your source for the train times?

For the trains going to Rome, I got them from Trenitalia's website. There were more trains going to Rome, but some of them are later in the day (13:14 after 10:06) or too early and there are no earlier trains leaving from Vernazza to La Spezia Centrale.

Try La Spezia to Pisa and Pisa to Rome. You should have more choices.

Also, sometimes not all the trains are shown. There's a link at the bottom of the page that says "show all solutions" or something like that.

I'd definitely book ahead, at least for the La Spezia to Rome portion, to get discounts.

Have you consulted the Man in Seat 61? The best source of all. www.seat61.com

I basically did this trip in 2007 - my train passed through Rome on to Naples - and I too recall there weren't many great train options that day just to get to Rome. So I'm not surprised you aren't seeing a lot of fast train options to Rome.

Who really knows if the regional train will be delayed or not, though? My guess is that unless there is pre-announced construction on the line, you wouldn't see a really long delay, especially on a Sunday. I do recall that the Cinque Terre local trains weren't especially punctual but also not 30 minutes late or anything.

Either way, you're taking a chance. You could take the earlier train and have it be right on time and then have an hour to kill at La Spezia - or you could take the later one and have it be 15 minutes late and then you have to sweat it out to make your connection. It's just a matter of probabilities. If you are ten minutes late, you'd still make the connection easily. A little more than that and you might have to run...

Also: I would not wait to book your lodging in Vernazza, unless it involves a big non-refundable deposit or something. September is still almost high season in the Cinque Terre, and Vernazza should be busy. If you are on any sort of a budget, book earlier if you really want to stay in Vernazza.

Thanks everyone! We will book our rooms asap then.

I looked at the "view all solutions" but we aren't getting many trains from La Spezia to Rome that aren't later in the evening, and we'd prefer to get there during daylight even if it's a 4 hour journey rather than 3 hour.

When booking the trains would you recommend doing so by phone or the website? What other discounts can we get?

When booking museum reservations, etc, I heard it's better to do so by phone and get the confirmation number and then pay at location with credit card. Is this what's generally done? We are only looking at going to the Accademia Gallery and Uffizi Gallery in Florence and will be booking through here: http://www.b-ticket.com/b-ticket/Uffizi/default.aspx but I heard that apparently some people don't get the confirmation number in their email and it's best to do so by phone. Is this correct?

I've always booked trains online. Have a good look at seat61.com for Italy, will likely answer all the train questions.

Cinque Terre local trains are a bit behind, I think like 30 min but the La Spezia one to Pisa was on time for us. We bought day of and had no trouble getting seats.

You don't want to book Vernazza/La Spezia in advance. No point as you can only purchase 7 days in advance online and there are no discounts/no reserved seats and they can't sell out. You can buy a ticket in Italy at any time. If you buy it in Italy, you can get the ticket that is good for a couple of months (not the case with regional ticket bought online). Just validate it when boarding.

For the La Spezia/Rome train, it's possible it could sell out since there are so few trains without changes that morning. That is an IC train which I don't care for as they are usually compartments (six people in a compartment with your luggage over your head). They don't have the amenities that the faster trains have. I would rather take the later Frecciabianca train at 1.

I see discount tickets for both those La Spezia/Rome trains for a random Sunday in Sept. 9€ on the IC (base fare is 41€) and 19€ for the Frecce (base fare is 54€).

FWIW - I see an 8:49, 9:21 (ar 9:43) and a 9:28 (ar 9:49) train Vernazza/La Spezia for this coming Sunday.

Thank you all! I will look into booking from seat61.com. Thanks Mme Perdu! Thanks flpab! I think the reason I'm worried is just that it's on a Sunday and there aren't early trains leaving from Vernazza so almost everyone who might be going to Cinque Terre to Rome would be on that 10:06 train.

Thanks kybourbon! I don't see the 9:21 from Vernazza unfortunately. I'm looking at the schedule that's valid from "February 9th, 2014", not sure if it's the most current but it's what I downloaded from the website. We were looking at the tickets from 9€-19€ (at least that's what our ticket prices are for the rest of the trains - all 9€, only Venice to Florence is 19€). But what is really the main difference between the Frecciabianca and IC train aside from the compartments? I didn't know if there were any amenities for 2nd class economy tickets. I just assumed you get on there and for the next 1-4 hours read or nap basically.

Another question that I had regarding transportation is from Florence to Pisa. For some reason, for my selected date (it's on a Friday in September), I seem to only be getting ONE train from Florence to Pisa, nice and early in the morning, but from Campo Marte to Pisa Centrale (when the more preferred route is from SMN to Rossore). It just seems like there would be more regional trains on this route so it makes no sense.

It wouldn't be the worst thing to bus to Campo Marte, but we are living close to SMN and it would be far easier to just go from there. So please let me know if we should wait to see if we can get a train from Florence to Pisa at those stations or just book the one from Campo Marte to Pisa Centrale.

Can you spend the last night in La Spezia?

>>> I'm looking at the schedule that's valid from "February 9th, 2014"<<<<

Downloaded from what website? Trenitalia doesn't list schedules like that (or not that I've ever seen). Their schedules are winter and summer and run from the 2nd weekend in June to the 2nd weekend in Dec. for summer schedule. Summer schedules change very little from winter and currently they don't have regional trains listed for Vernazza/La Spezia for summer yet on either the Italian or English versions of their website.

>>>We were looking at the tickets from 9€-19€ (at least that's what our ticket prices are for the rest of the trains - all 9€, only Venice to Florence is 19€).<<<

The only discounted tickets I see anymore that are 9€ are for IC trains or Milan/Venice. Discounted tickets for the fast trains between major cities are 19€ (Supereconomy). IC trains make more stops at smaller towns and have no amenities (doesn't matter which class as no amenities for either and 1st class seats are as crowded as 2nd class if compartment style).

Frecce/AV trains are the fastest, newest trains and operate between major cities. They make few stops and not at small towns (only a handful in heavy tourist areas). Frecce trains have nicer seats with tables, wifi, electric outlets, dining/snack cars, etc. There are a couple of extra amenities for 1st class such as a drink/newspaper, but otherwise, 1st/2nd have the same amenities as I listed.

IC train compartment.

https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/phot...t=embedwebsite

Frecce 2nd class

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...ssainterno.jpg

It makes no sense because you are trying to look at something that isn't loaded in the system yet.

Florence/Pisa is a regional train and most of those schedules aren't loaded yet for summer (will be by the 2nd weekend in June when they start summer schedule). Regional schedules are the last to be loaded and Frecce are usually first. To see times/prices for these regional trains (Florence/Pisa will be regional), enter a date within the next 7 days. These train schedules will change very little from summer to winter.

I'm not so sure you want Pisa S. Rossore unless you are doing a day trip from Florence. If you plan to visit the tower on your way to Vernazza, you will have to go to Pisa Centrale so you can store your luggage. Pisa S Rossore does not have luggage storage.

>>>So please let me know if we should wait to see if we can get a train from Florence to Pisa at those stations or just book the one from Campo Marte to Pisa Centrale.<<<<

You should wait and buy all train tickets for Regional type trains in Italy. They do not sell out. You can walk up, buy a ticket and get on the next train. They do not have reserved seating (not possible) or discounts. You may have to stand, but that could be the case if you bought in advance. Trenitalia does not sell these regional tickets in advance online except within 7 days of travel. The regional online tickets have more restrictions than if you buy them in Italy.

This is the website I downloaded the train schedule from Vernazza to La Spezia: http://www.cinqueterre.eu.com/en/cinque-terre-timetable Looked at column B, since we will be leaving on a Sunday.

This is what I have written in my planner for the trip:
Milano to Verona = 9€ ~1.5 hours
Verona to Venice = 9€ ~1 hour
Venezia to Firenze = 19€ ~2 hours
Firenze to Pisa = 9€ ~1 hour
Pisa to La Spezia = 9€ ~1 hour
La Spezia to Rome = 9€ ~4 hours

The last train is IC, and the cost and durations are based on the time that we were most interested in traveling, though since we haven't booked tickets yet, it's subject to change.

Just to clarify, if we pay the Florence to Pisa and Pisa to La Spezia tickets in Italy itself, they will remain 9€?

And we buy the Milan -> Verona, Verona -> Venice, Venice -> Florence, and La Spezia -> Rome online?

Thanks! It makes more sense now regarding the Florence to Pisa train. Thanks for letting me know about Pisa S Rossore. I made a note to take the train to Pisa Centrale for luggage storage, because it's onward to Vernazza after that.

I don't understand where you got those prices. Look for your prices on http://www.trenitalia.com/cms/v/inde...CRD&formtype=1

Use a date in the upcoming week for prices for regional trains, but check again after June 14th to see if the price is different on the new schedule. Florence to Pisa, with the current schedule's prices, is €7.90, not €9. Most of the others look like supereconomy or economy prices, but they are not fixed prices at all. They can vary from train to train on the same day, and they are sold in limited numbers, so they can be here today, gone tomorrow. It's unlikely you would find supereconomy tickets at the last minute.

Ky, the Picasa link above doesn't seem to work. It brings me to a page where I have to agree to use Picasa to upload photos, or something like that. I myself am a Picasa user, but I don't like to agree to anything anymore.

I got those ticket prices from the Trenitalia website...
They are supereconomy and for 9€-19€. Those are based on our travel dates for September. I did look up Milano -> Verona for a week from now and it says "sold out" for the Supereconomy tickets. That's what I'm concerned about, because we'd rather just make those 1-2 hour trips in a Supereconomy class than pay 10€+ for something else because it's not that big of a deal for us and that money would be better spent elsewhere in the trip.

I understand what you're saying, I think. We have to wait for the regional trains (Florence to Pisa and Pisa to La Spezia) until we are in Italy since we can't book them earlier which is why I had only gotten 1 option for one of those. And the rest of them have to be bought earlier or the supereconomy tickets would be sold out?

The photos worked for me! But I also found pictures of them on:
http://www.seat61.com/Italy-trains.htm#Travel%20tips
We aren't that worried about comfort as long as we can just get decent travel times and a short travel duration. We've done 10 hour bus rides in Canada and America so we're okay with that for the most part.

>>>http://www.cinqueterre.eu.com/en/cinque-terre-timetable Looked at column B, since we will be leaving on a Sunday.<<<

That is a tourism website, not Trenitalia. You need to check Trenitalia as that's what's accurate.

>>>bvlenci on May 26, 14 at 4:39pm
Ky, the Picasa link above doesn't seem to work. It brings me to a page where I have to agree to use Picasa to upload photos<<<

Maybe it's the browser you are using as I'm not a Picasa user and it works for me.

>>>That's what I'm concerned about, because we'd rather just make those 1-2 hour trips in a Supereconomy class than pay 10€<<<

Supereconomy is not a class, it's a fare (price) which can be available in multiple classes (some of the fast trains have 4-5 classes). If you buy 2nd class for Milan/Venice on the fast train, you will be in the same 2nd class seats no matter whether you pay full base fare, economy or supereconomy.

>>>I understand what you're saying, I think. We have to wait for the regional trains (Florence to Pisa and Pisa to La Spezia) until we are in Italy since we can't book them earlier which is why I had only gotten 1 option for one of those.<<<

And Vernazza/La Spezia along with any other trains you take between CT towns. Some of these regional trains might be only one class, but some regional trains have two classes. Remember to validate your regional ticket before boarding as they do check and you can be fined.

Also, Verona/Venice has just as many regional trains as fast trains which you probably aren't seeing because you aren't entering a date within 7 days to see them. The cost is only 8.55€ walk up price and many only take 10 minutes longer than the fast trains.

>>>And the rest of them have to be bought earlier or the supereconomy tickets would be sold out?<<<

Yes, for the fast trains, the discount tickets can sell out. You can buy these 120 days in advance. They don't have to be validated, but someone will come around and check them so hold onto them until you get off.

Thanks for all the tips! This really helps. I made a note as to what tickets to purchase online and what to get at the station.

I have a question about Cinque Terre. We are only planning to spend 1 day (2 nights) in Vernazza, on which we plan to do a early morning hike depending on what trails are open and ride the train/ferry into some of the other towns to explore a little. We will most likely just get checked in by evening on the first night and have dinner and drinks in Vernazza. Is this sufficient time? We would love to stay several days, but this isn't as possible at the moment.