Manarola to Siena on June 3 2012

Marilyn, Which rail sites are you using to research your journeys? I normally use either bahn.de or Trenitalia for rail trips in Italy. The trip from Manarola to Siena is fairly easy, but at least three changes. My preference would be the departure from Manarola at 09:45, arriving Siena at 13:38 (time 3H:53M, 3 changes at La Spezia, Pisa and Empoli). That's a good time to arrive, as the Hotel will hopefully have your room ready by then. Upon arrival in Siena, you'll have to take a Taxi up to the town (it's only a short ride). I'd suggest purchasing the tickets for your outgoing journey when you arrive in Manarola. The rail trip I suggested uses only Regionale trains, so reservations or "Mini" fares are not applicable. BE SURE to validate your tickets in the yellow machine prior to boarding the trains on the day of travel! If there's a rail strike, you'll have to "play it by ear". Some trains will still be running. You may find it helpful to have a look at This Excellent Website for information on how to deal with strikes. AFAIK, there are no strikes scheduled for 3 June. As this is your first trip to Europe, you may want to have a look at Europe Through The Back Door (especially the "Rail Skills" chapter). The Italy 2012 Guidebook would also be a valuable resource. Happy travels!

Hi Ken. Thanks. I am using the Trenitalia site. Our host in Siena has suggested we stay for a few hours in Pisa, drop our baggage at the storage in the Station and go to see the famous Square of Pisa with its Leaning Tower. With the train arriving in Pisa at 12:21 we could plan to take the 2:32 pm or the 2:54 pm train to Siena. We would be in Siena at around 5 pm, in time for their check-in (from 4pm till 7 pm). From Siena, we travel to our final destination in Rome. Based on what I have read, I am wondering if we should take the bus for this leg:
Bus leaves from town, piazza Gramsci, and arrives at Tiburtina? I welcome your guidance.

Marilyn, as Ken suggested it will work fine to buy these tickets in mararola, the day before your journey. We did that for travel to Verenna from manarola and it was easy, much easier than trying to figure it all out now. things could change in your plans, and there is not price benefit to buying tickets on the Regional trains in advance.

Marilyn, You might try researching the same journey on the bahn.de website. First try a search using Manarola and Siena. You should find (for example) a departure time of 09:45 and arrival of 13:38, with a total travel time of 3H:53M. Now look for a link near the top right that says "Change Other Data". Enter a stop-over destination of Pisa Centrale and a stop-over time of 2 hours. When you click the "Search" button again, you'll probably find that the total trip time is now 5H:53M, and that you have 2H:12M in Pisa. If that's not long enough, adjust the stop-over time accordingly. The arrival time in Siena will now be 15:38, which should be perfect for check-in at your Hotel (by the time you get up the hill from the station). It might be a good idea to make a note of the train numbers and departure times when you buy the tickets. If the station in Manarola is unmanned and the Kiosks are a problem, you can always take the train to Monterosso. The station there is larger, and should be attended. Which Hotel are you using in Siena? Cheers!

Hi Ken. Thanks. This is helpful. We are staying just outside of Siena at Frances Lodge: http://www.franceslodge.it/eng/posizione.html