Hello! Planning Italian trip - need advice regarding train travel. Will be using exclusively public transport, but will not be traveling between the big cities directly (Rome-Elba-Florence-Dolomites-Venice). I have searched on a couple of different train-booking sites, and have gotten different itinerary recommendations. For example, is it better to travel high speed train Rome-Florence and then another train to catch the ferry to Elba? Or better to take the slower but more direct route from Rome up the coast to catch the ferry? The time is about the same, but I didn't know if the hassle of changing trains is a good idea? Thanks in advance.
Posted by
Italy
3812 posts
Check the site of the only company that runs both high speed and local trains: www.trenitalia.com/en.html Any other site is a re-seller.
Use a day of travel before June 11 to see the full schedules.
There is no much "hassle" in changing trains as long as one can walk up and down a flight of stairs and walk for less than 200 meters. While carrying luggage, of course.
Firenze SM Novella, Roma Termini and Venezia S. Lucia are terminal stations, so no stairs there to transfer between trains.
Posted by
Twin Cities of MN
6676 posts
The Rick Steves guide typically offers suggestions at the end of the chapters for transportation between cities.
Posted by
Eastern Iowa, USA
8219 posts
If a fast train, or two. gets you there no sooner than a slower train, then speed is of no advantage. However, the fast trains probably cost more, making the slower train a better deal.
Posted by
Washington DC
28453 posts
My philosophy is the same as Paul's--why pay more (and it may be a lot more if you don't buy your ticket well ahead of time) just to spend time at a layover station where you have to switch between a fast train and a regional train? It's not that changing trains is so onerous (though carrying a bag up a flight of stairs is not fun for me), it's that the more expensive ticket option often doesn't save any time.