There will be 4 in my party traveling from Rome to Florence to Lucca to Cinque Terre. We would rather not rent a car. Is it possible to take the train to all destinations? Could we take day trips from Lucca to Cinque Terre? After Lucca we will head to Faenza for a week long bike riding trip. Wondering if we can get to Faenza from Lucca by train. Any help would be appreciated. We will be traveling from June 19th to the 25th. The 25th until July 3rd we will be biking.
Suzanne
Yes, you could take a day trip to CT from Lucca by train but it would be a long day. Train from Lucca to La Spezia (about 1-1/2 hrs) and then to whichever town/towns you want to visit or where you want to hike from. Yes, you can get from Lucca to Faenza by train (connecting in Florence and Bologna), about 3-1/2 hrs.
fordnegs, this is where you can explore train schedules:
http://www.trenitalia.com/tcom-en
Trenitalia is Italy's national rail system. There are some other small local systems - such as the Circumvesuviana in Campania - and one private line (Italo) that runs between the larger cities but this is the usual go-to site. You do have to use the Italian names for the cities, and the types of trains you'll use may or may not require seat/carriage reservations. For instance, your journey from Rome (Roma) to Florence (Firenze) on the fastest Frecciarossa or Frecciargento trains will but Florence to Lucca would be on a Regionale that will not.
Italo runs between Rome and Florence so you can explore pricing on that site as well:
For the fastest, most expensive trains there can be a benefit in pre-booking if super-economy or economy rates are available but that does lock you into a specific day/time/train. 2nd class is just fine: not a big enough difference between that and 1st class to pay the price. Tickets for trips on regionales are inexpensive and should just be purchased the day of the journey.
Lots to know about Italian trains so don't be afraid to ask!
