When buying a point to point ticket in Italy, are short stopovers (2 hrs) allowed?
 

This fall my husband and I will be traveling from Vernazza to Venice. One of the stops along the way is Milan and we would like to get off for a couple of hours to see the Duomo and then continue on to Venice. There are several later trains from Milan to Venice. Is this allowed? I traveled once before on a Eurail pass and I know stopovers like this weren't a problem, but how does it work with point to point tickets? Any insight or help would be greatly appreciated!

YES, Cassie you can do this. <BR> <BR>It's not so much a 'stopover' as the airlines do, rather just purchasing point-to-point tickets. What you need to do is buy a ticket from Vernazza to Milano; give yourself several hours (if timetable allows, I'd suggest 3 hours) --- then purchase a ticket from Milano to Venezia. <BR> <BR>When I was in Italy in October, I was in Venice for several days and then took the train back to La Spezia (friend lives there) --- left Venice early in the morning on the 6:30 a train which went to Florence. Arrived in Florence @ 9a, spent several hours there & continued on my journey at a train that departed ~ 3pm that afternoon. <BR> <BR>If you don't already have the URL for the trains, here's the website: <BR>www.fs-on-line.com <BR> <BR>

-- <BR>Right now on the 'FS' website, they only provide scheduling thru early September; so I can't say if this will still be applicable when you're traveling (guessing yes, I can't imagine they change the train times that much during year). <BR> <BR>Here's an option for your travel itinerary: <BR> <BR>From Vernazza, take either the local train or the boat up to Monterosso (quick hop). Then from Monterosso, there's an InterCity (IC) that departs at 10:51 am and goes to Milano Centrale, arriving at 13:50 (1:50 pm) --- then check your luggage in at train station (deposito baglio) --- get on the subway (yellow line) going towards S. Donato, get off on 4th stop which is 'Duomo'. Visit Duomo, get something to eat or stroll around that area --- then you can continue on to Venezia on another 'IC' train leaving at 17:10 (5:10 pm) and arriving at Venezia S. Lucia at 20:06 (8:06 pm).

Point-to-point tickets are good for 6 hours from the time you validate them for trips under 200 kilometers and for 24 hours for trips over 200 kilometers.

Thank you all very much for your insightful information! I am most appreciative!