another train question Venice to Florence

Ok -- whatever you hotel tells you since they live there. So ask the hotel directly.

Itailarail.com is a travel agency. Since there is very little difference between schedules releases, the travel agencies will sell ticket in advance and will fulfill the order after the tickets have been released. Stick with the Trenitalia site. The trenitalia site will provide good access to discount tickets if interested.

You can also check Italotreno. It is a private rail company using trenitalia tracks and stations. They operate primarily faster trains between major cities. The prices should about the same and sometimes their schedule is posted earlier. Go with schedule and price. There is no real advantage to Italotreno.

IF that doesn't clear your confusion, ask another question. Train travel in most of Europe is pretty simple in comparison to flying.

When taking a vaporetto to the Santa Lucia train station, I always allow an hour to get there from my hotel. To determine whether more or less time is needed, you can time the trip when you arrive and go by vaporetto from the train station to your hotel.

Train tickets aren't yet available for trains after June 8 as the new Trenitalia schedules haven't yet been posted. Wait to buy through the Trenitalia website rather than using Italiarail, which is a third party reseller that marks up prices. Schedules tend to change very little when finally posted.

It takes about 45 mins from Hotel Ala to Santa Lucia train station on Vaporetto Linea 1. It is better to arrive the train station an hour before your scheduled train to get familiar with the surroundings, study the electronic board,...etc., if it was your first time to take the train.

Yes, the Vaporetto stop is 50 yards from the hotel. I suggest you to use google map, turn on the "Satellite Image" to see the locations of Hotel Alas, the Vaporetto stop, and Santa Lucia train station, it will give you a much better idea.

The hotel Ala is one of the easiest to reach from the vaporetto stops, and also a piece of cake from the hotel back to the vaporetto. The route is perfectly straight, perfectly level, with no bridges, and you can see your destination, hotel or vaporetto dock, easily from one to the other. As you get off the vaporetto and look down the straight alley you will see a white church at the end of the alley. The hotel is just before that, just on the left hand side.

It might be 50 yards. I think in metres and I don't think it would be quite 50 metres. They are in the know. But it is just so very easy that it seems practically out the door and on.

I enjoyed hearing the gondolas go by, some with music, most not, most with people chattering, from my room which was on the side small canal or rio.

Yes, the closest dock to the Ala is Santa Maria del Giglio, but they just call it Giglio. The No 1 boat goes every 12 minutes to Ferrovia (train station) and takes 36 minutes.
Trenitalia is showing only some of the trains now, and none available for sale, Italotreno is showing trains at 8 am, 10 am, 11 am, 1 pm, 2 pm, all for 19.90 EUR.

50 yards is almost 47m. About two good strides so I would worry about the difference. We tried to convert but didn't what those socialists, communists, Europeans to take over our country so we reverted back to the good ol' American way based on the King's thumb.

@ Frank, you left out "One Worlders".

We left an hour before our train was leaving Venice and ended up waiting, but not a big deal. The vaporetto stop for Hotel Ala will give you one last beautiful ride through the length of the Grand Canal. We left early morning, and it was beautifully peaceful & quiet with some of the mosaics on a building shimmering in the sun.

Enjoy your time in Venice!

thank so much!

I will keep checking Trentalia for tickets. The sight shows some trains, but you can't buy the tickets yet.

I had no idea The Hotel Ala was so convenient, lucky pick! We will factor in about 1.5-2 hours when picking our train time.

For a step-by-step direction to hotel Ala check https://europeforvisitors.com/venice/directions/ala.htm

If Italotreno is already selling the Low Cost tickets and the departure hour is ok for you I'd just go with Italo.
Their discounted tickets are usually cheaper than the competitor's.

Even Italo's full fare, called Flex, is cheaper than Trenitalia's Base.

Actually, Italo's "Low Cost" tickets are sold out for July 4 already, but the "Economy" fares at 19.90 EUR are available, and changeable for a fee up to 3 minutes before departure. Considering that the vaporetto ride will cost 7.50 EUR, 19.90 EUR to go to Florence seems like a bargain to me.

I just purchased tickets for July on loco2.com for Venice to Florence for 5 of us and it was much cheaper than what I could get on italiarial.com. I booked tickets on the Italo train. Other than having to call my bank to let them know it wasn't fraud, it was easy to do.

How much did you pay one ticket?

Hi Dario,

We are a family of five, the cheapest tickets were $115 ($23 pp) for the Smart Class for all of us but we opted to get the Prima tickets for $139 total ($28 pp) for a little more room.

thanks mrm1111! I will take a look at loco2.com and Italo this weekend.

samuelito such a great tip on "Satellite image" we loved looking at that and will do it more often!

we opted to get the Prima tickets for $139 total ($28 pp) for a little more room.

On the direct train? Great price.