Malpensa Express Tickets at Milan Centrale

Might be easier to buy the ticket from a newsstand at the station, look for Malpensa Express Tickets signs posted. Same price as a machine or station desk.

I too, had to deal with the "helpers" at the Milano Centrale Metro station. I found out about the option of simply buying at a tabac too late, but will go that route next time.

Perhaps it is because I am a man, but a firm NO, keeps the helpers at bay. If you even so much as look at them and engage them, they will persist. Ignore them, tell them NO, perhaps No again, but I am simply not bothered by the helpers. Yes they exist, yes they will stand next to you, ignore them, and they will move on.

I worry that so much emphasis and worry about the "helpers" causes people to way overstate their intimidation factor.

Lisa, you can just buy the Malpensa Express ticket right at the machine. If you are buying with cash make sure you go to a machine that accept cash as some only accept cards. The machines speak English, many ticket agents do not. I am not certain why it took this gentleman so long to buy a ticket from the agent, my sense is it was not the agents fault. Remember to validate your ticket. Also, if you buy a ticket from the Trenitalia machine it will not look like the little Malpensa Express tickets, do not worry about it, validate it, and get on the train. They usually leave from bin 2 or 3 but double check on many of the big electronic boards.

lisa,

I'm not sure this will reach you before you leave Levanto, but I'll try anyway....

You should be able to buy your ticket for the Malpensa Express in Levanto. I wouldn't be too concerned about the other traveller you saw that was having trouble using the Kiosk, as there could be several explanations for his problem - he may have punched the wrong buttons, the machine may have been malfunctioning at the time or the network may have been down (I've seen that happen). The Kiosks work well, when they're working. In any case, there's always the ticket window.

You could also visit the full service station in Monterosso and deal with the ticket office there. I've found that the agents speak reasonably good English, but it's important to speak slowly and clearly. It sometimes helps to have the travel details written on a piece of paper that you can show them - train no's, desired departure times (listed in 24-hour time) and date (written in European date format).

If you need to buy the ticket at Milano Centrale, there are a couple of options. If you use the Kiosks at track level, you'll probably find that they're crowded at times (but there are lots of machines), and that's where you may be approached by "helpers". Be sure to watch your luggage while buying tickets! You could also go down two floors from track level on the "moving sidewalks" to the ticket office. As I recall, there are a number of Kiosks there, and they may not be as busy, and may not have as many "helpers" loitering about.

I'd suggest taking care of the tickets in Levanto or Monterosso if at all possible, as you DON'T want to be in the position of having to use the ticket office in Milano Centrale as there's usually a HUGE queue! You could leave for the station in Levanto about 15 minutes early, as that should be enough time to buy the ticket either at the office or from a Kiosk. DON'T FORGET to validate the ticket prior to boarding the Malpensa Express.

Enjoy the rest of your trip!

Thanks everyone. Plan A is to go to Levanto Station early and buy the ticket there with written instructions in proper format (thanks Ken). Plan B is to go to a Tobacco Shop (is that correct Zoe?) in Milan Centrale.

By the way,, the American I refer to was in line at a human attended TrenItalia booth. He spoke very slowly but did not have anything written. The TrenItalia person acted as if he had never heard of this. I am not joking. It was easily 15 minutes or more. My train for Vernazza was called and I had to board so I never saw if he resolved his issue.

They do not speak English at Levanto station. My B and B owner will drive me to the station tomorrow. His spoken English is not good but he reads English very well. I am the same way with Spanish. I can read it but not speak well.

Maybe I will ask him if he has time to interpret for me if there is not a crowd.

Newsstand for sure, tabacchi probably.

Lisa,

Thanks for the clarification. I didn't realize the other traveller was at a ticket booth and not a Kiosk. I'm a bit surprised that the ticket agent didn't have at least rudimentary English. As it's about 22:00 in Levanto now, it's too late to use the ticket office in Monterosso.

One method you might also would be to copy out the details for the exact train you want, and at the top of the page print Vorrei acquistare un biglietto per questo treno.

Something like this should get the message across.....

• Giorno di viaggio: 9 July 2014 (or whatever your date of travel is).
• Andata solo
• Stazione di partenza: Milano Centrale
• Stazione di arrivo: Malpensa Aeroporto
• Orario di partenza / arrivo: (time probably won't matter, since the ticket will only be in effect after validation, but be sure to list in 24-hour format if you do specify times).

I'm still studying Italian, so it may not be perfect but should work. I've found on numerous occasions that it sure helps to have some ability with Italian when travelling there.

When I'm dealing with changes and multiple trains, I usually list the train numbers as well, but that probably won't matter in this case. Your landlord at the B&B should be able to help with the formatting of the message. Try to choose a direct train, rather than one with a change at Milano Cadorna or whatever.

You could also try to buy online at the TRENORD website. I've never tried that, so don't know how "user friendly" their website is, but it's an option. I'm not sure if tickets purchased there will be pre-validated and specific to one train only, so that's a bit of a question mark.

Thanks to all for your advice. I made it safely to my airport hotel in the Malpensa suburbs. I wrote down the info for the Malpensa Express for the TrenItalia agent in Levanto. I made sure to write the ones with the little tails on top and write my seven with a line through the middle. He was able to understand :-). I got my Malpensa Expess ticket in Levanto.

Ken was correct. You can buy this ticket anywhere but you may want to write the instructions if you choose to use a human and if the human does not speak very good English.

Just remember...Malpensa Express almost always is at Platform 2. It is set back BEHIND the others so it looks weird. No worries just go to Platform 2...keep walking. If you have a question as the TrenItalia uniformed people. DO NOT ask people who are well dressed in NAVY, RED and WHITE...those are NOT always TrenItalia. Look for the Tren Italia logo on their uniform.

My train changed from Platform 3 to 2 and a helpful TrenItalia person told me this when I asked her when my train would arrive at Platform 3. She looked up at some screen, pointed to show me the change and said "Go to Bin 2." Grazie!

So no more paranoia from me about Milan Centrale. Great station and easy to navigate but you do need to make sure you ask the right people for instructions...not just anyone who looks "well dressed." Do your homework! I did mine and then to be

lisa,

Hope you enjoy the last day of your much awaited holiday. It sounds like everything went well.

It was a GREAT trip! In fact, I cannot believe it myself that all went so well. However, I owe a lot to people like you and others on this forum that gave me confidence and really specific information.

Ken...thank you for being persistent about my being able to buy any train tickets from the agents in Levanto. Downside...they did not speak or understand my spoken English. But, I wrote things down for them and they seemed to be OK with that. Upside...lots of Americans, Aussies, Canadians in Levanto station so a person feels safe plus overall, the station itself is much less crowded than that ones in Cinque Terre towns.

In fact, I advised a couple from Texas to take the train to Levanto to buy all their tickets for all legs ofo their journey instead of fighting the long lines and crowds in Riomaggiore where they were staying. They saw me later as we crossed paths and thanked me for this tip. So...thank you for helping me to be persistent. Made for a less stressful journey to walk off the train in Milan Centrale and go right to Platform 2 to get on Malpensa Express. But yes....THE TICKET STILL MUST BE VALIDATED (for anyone who is reading this) before boarding. It's easy...there is a machine right at the Platform. Stick the left end of your ticket in it, push to the left and wait for the stamp noise. Done! No "helpers" needed!

lisa,

It's great to hear that you had such a wonderful holiday! Hopefully your foot didn't bother you too much. The Texans could have also used the station in Monterosso. I did that on a past visit when I was staying in Riomaggiore, and it worked well.

Once you get over jet lag and file your Trip Reports, it will be time to start planning the next one!!!

Lisa, agreeing with Ken! So glad you had a fun time. It sounds like you enjoyed your solo travel time. As someone new to solo travel I was glad to see you worked out things that did not go as you expected.

Pam...solo traveling is great freedom. Feel free to message me if you have any concerns.

Ken...thanks for you amazing advice and insight. I do hope to post travel reports.

The bottom line is that I did my homework and I asked for advice on forums like this one. Without that, not sure if all would have gone well.

Homework is invaluable, i.e., the number of people, not just from the USA, who are taken by surprise that they have to validate their train tickets when on a regional train in Italy. Virtually every website, guide book, youtube video, about train travel in Italy tells you not to forget to do this or you risk a, potentially heavy fine. Now, having said that I never saw anyone get fined the full 50 euros. I saw a young Dutch couple get fined 5 euro each, but more often then not people were just reminded that they forgot to validate. I once, while rushing to a train with my daughter, forgot to validate. When the conductor came by, I immediately owned up to it, did not play dumb, he just stamped it and wrote the time on it and said Grazie.

What surprised me is the people who did not know how to use the machine and just stood there in a DAZE. These are also non-Americans I am talking about. But I did see two types of machines. One you had to slip your ticket into (it took small tickets) and another was like I saw everywhere for the big tickets (like I had).

The other bit of advice I have for people reading this thread is when hauling your luggage in a train station, make sure you have all your credit cards and currency (except about 30-50 Euros), passport, memory cards for cameras in your money belt. A friend had one of her bags ripped off at a train station in Spain and her camera was in it. She was upset but mourned more over the loss of the memory card with photos than the camera itself. I put my memory cards in a ziplock baggie to prevent them from getting wet from sweat in my money belt. The money belt definitely made me look fatter but I did not care.

I had a system for this trip for each situation. Maybe this is because I am school teacher and am used to managing all kinds of unique situations ;-).