Milan to Lucca

Which train station? Centrale or Cadorna?If it's Centrale, this link takes you to a discussion that answers your question: http://www.ricksteves.com/graffiti/helpline/index.cfm/rurl/topic/30921/malpensa-airport-bus-to-milan-centrale-train-station.html

Yes it is central station. thanks so much. is this shuttle bus from malpensa the best way to get to Milan sation? Would a taxi be outrageous? trying to make a train that apparetnly doesn't go to Lucca all that grequently.

A taxi may be faster but not by much. The bus is quite dependable. Any traffic will slow both the bus and the taxi. The bus costs 7Euro. Bet your taxi will be much more.

As for your train to Lucca, I see 23 trains a day that will take you from Milan to Lucca. Thus, they run about once an hour. CLICK HERE to see what I see. On many runs, you will take a high-speed to Florence and then a local Regionale to Lucca.

Thanks to all who helped. I did go to the train sked myself, dont even know how I got there via google, but the site I looked at had trains running infrequently, abotu 4 hours, with a change in Parta, or something like that. Does it make sense to go to Florence from Milan -- is that a high speed train? from the link you sent me, looks like abotu the same amount of travel time.

Should I buy bus tix from airport to central station in advance, or can you buy on bus?

Thanks for all your patience with me, folks!

Theresa, the bus from Malpensa runs every 20 minutes. You can buy the tickets there. As for the different train runs, they all look fairly close on time. It comes down to the route and number of train changes. If you shy away from any run with an ES train, you will save money. The R train is the least expensive. The ICPlus train is more expensive but still less than the ES train.

What I care abotu most is which train is the fastest...do you know? thnaks for sharing your knowledge.

Theresa, you can clearly see the travel times on the link I gave you above. Part of the travel time is the wait in the train station while changing trains. This can vary on each run.

Clearly, the ESAV (Eurostar Alto Velocita) is the fastest train for this run. You will only get this train if you book run that requires a train change in Florence. You can see this on the linked schedule The ICPlus trains are not bad but they do make more stops that the ES-class trains. Thus, they take a bit longer. The Regionale (R) train is the slowest as it stops at every stop. You will not avoid this class of train as its the only kind going to and from Lucca.

Yes, I saw the actual length of trips, just didn't understand symbols for various trains and what the options were. This clarifies, thanks so much.