Hello, my family and I will be in Italy earlier October. We'll be arriving from a 10 cruise and are taking the train from Civitavecchia to Monterosso al Mare in the Cinque Terre. My question is, should I buy our train tickets from La Spezia Centrale to Monterosso when we get to the station or do you need reservations for the trains in that area? I plan on buying my tickets from Civitavecchia to La Spezia Centrale in advance but wasn't sure if I should just buy tickets from Civitavecchia to Monterosso. Thank you.
Posted by
871 posts
Note that not all trains change in La Spezia:
https://www.trenitalia.com/en.html
Buy tickets to Monterosso. Be aware of the port schedule, as Monterosso is the village most impacted when there are big ships:
Posted by
Vernon, Canada
32198 posts
Raymond,
I'm assuming your cruise will be ending in Rome and you're then continuing on to Monterosso for a few days? In any case, that's a relatively easy trip, which will take about four hours. You can check all the solutions on the Trenitalia website. There are some solutions which involve only one change, and that would be the easiest solution. What time does your ship arrive at Civitavecchia? There's a departure at 10:47, arriving Monterosso at 14:38 (time 3H:51M, one change at La Spezia Centrale).
You can easily buy tickets at the station, either from a Kiosk or staffed ticket office. If reservations are required for a particular train, those will be included with the tickets. The train I mentioned above uses an Intercity for the first segment, and reservations are compulsory for that. The segment from La Spezia to Monterosso is a Regionale so no reservation necessary. However be sure to validate tickets for Regionale trains prior to boarding, or you'll risk hefty fines.
One other point to note is that tickets for express trains such as the Intercity are specific to train, date and departure time and can ONLY be used on the one train shown on the ticket. If you board any other train by mistake, again subject to hefty fines.
Posted by
WPB, FL & Firenze
3112 posts
This is one of the few situations where I think it makes sense to pre-purchase regional train tickets. Since you already plan to pre-purchase tickets to La Spezia, simply change your destination to Monterosso. If the last leg involves a regional train (although it might be the intercity train that goes from Pisa to Monterosso), the tickets will be pre-validated and good for 4 hours. If you were to miss the purchased regional train for any reason, you simply board the next regional train to Monterosso. It avoids the hastle of having to buy regional train tickets in La Spezia or wherever you change to the regional train.
Posted by
OP
Victorville, California, U.S.
168 posts
Thank you. I think l'm going to buy tickets from Civitavecchia to Monterosso, that way it will save us some time and reduce a little stress. Does anyone know if there is a ticket for the trains just for the Cinque Terre area? We'll be there for 2 full days before we head to Florence, thank you.
Posted by
871 posts
Posted by
Tresana, Highlands Ranch, CO, USA
23245 posts
*......You can easily buy tickets at the station, either from a Kiosk or staffed ticket office. .......* In theory yes, in practice - absolutely not. For once I can disagree with Ken. DO NOT try to buy a ticket at the Civit..... train station when you are departing a cruise. The ticket office and the machines will be absolutely jammed with hundreds of cruise passengers trying to buy tickets to Rome and elsewhere. You will wait longer to buy a ticket than the train ride to Rome. And, if more than one ship is in port, you may have to wait in line to cross the street to get to the station. Buy the tickets on line or at any other train station in Italy, or travel agency.
Posted by
Vernon, Canada
32198 posts
Raymond,
While the concerns expressed in the previous reply about crowds at the ticket Kiosks are absolutely valid, there's another issue to consider. If you choose a train solution that involves an express train (Intercity, Freccia) and you're not able to make the trains you booked for some reason (crowds, ship is late docking, several ships dock at the same time, etc.) your advance purchase ticket is worthless and you'll have to buy another one anyway.
Just a reminder, tickets for express trains are specific to date, train and departure time and the ticket can ONLY be used on the one train listed on the ticket. If you board any other train by mistake or whatever, you'll be subject to hefty fines which are collected on the spot. However if you choose trains which are only Regionale, advance purchase tickets should work as those tickets can be used on any train on that route within four hours of the departure time listed on the ticket.
One other method to consider..... If you're travelling with a smartphone, iPad or whatever and have internet service, you could bypass the hordes and buy your tickets online a few hours before the ship docks. By that point, you should have an idea whether the ship will be late docking. Some of the ticket apps you could look at are Trainline.com, Trenitalia, Loco2, etc.