purchasing train tickets to Monterosso

Yes, an 8-minute transfer at La Spezia is absolutely possible but if that makes you nervous, then buy tickets only to L.S. and then purchase at the station onward to Monterosso. Or just keep your plans and be ready to eat the 4-euro tickets should things not work according to plan.

I have made 5-minute transfers, even going down and up a flight of stairs. Eight minutes should be fine unless you have a lot of luggage that might slow you down.

If the La Spezia to Monterosso is a regionale train and you buy the ticket online, you can still use it for the next regionale train if you miss the 8-minute connection. You have four hours or so to complete that segment of your trip on a regionale train.

Remember, changing trains is not like changing planes. In most cases, you get off train number one, go down stairs to a passageway connecting all the platforms, find your next platform where train number two is leaving, go up the stairs to that train, and get on. There is usually no security check (limited exceptions like the Eurostar and the Spanish AVE trains) and no need to show tickets before boarding.

Of course, there are variations; some large stations are a dead end terminus, so you don't have to go up or down because all tracks are on one level. And larger stations will often have escalators or elevators connecting the platforms to the passageway (but don't count on these - plan for stairs unless you know otherwise for sure). For much smaller stations, it's not uncommon to have a cross-platform change, where you don't need to go up or down; you just cross the platform from track 3 to track 4.

All of this means that unless you are moving slowly (mobility impairment, packing heavy, wrangling young children, etc), it's not hard at all to make an 8 minute train change.

One very important thing is to be ready to get off the train BEFORE you arrive and the train stops. If you aren't ready, people will be entering the train as you're trying to get off, and you will be "swimming upstream" - particularly difficult with luggage. Look at the schedule and learn the name of the station before yours, as well as noting your estimated arrival time. After the station before yours, and at least 5 minutes before arrival, start gathering your belongings and moving toward the exit door (you'll see others doing the same). That way, when the train stops, you get right off.

pbr,

I'd suggest buying tickets all the way to Monterosso, as having the buy ticket in La Spezia will add time (and there's really no need for that). A transfer time of eight minutes is quite adequate. All you'll likely have to do is walk down to the transfer tunnel and then back up to your next platform. There may only be one train waiting, so you won't have to guess which platform it's on (although it's always necessary to check the electronic board).

Note that you can also buy tickets at the same price as Trenitalia by using www.captaintrain.com (which is very user friendly).

Additionally, if you buy the Regionale connection as a single ticket from Rome Termini, the Regionale ticket will come prevalidated with a window of time, a couple of hours I think, to make the connection in La Spezia.

When I look at the schedule, it seems to show an 18 minute connection for the train you indicated on your other post, but as it is, there is a Regionale train going from La Spezia to Monterosso about every 15 minutes or so. So if you did miss the connection, you just wait around a few minutes and another will come along. Your pervalidated ticket should still be good in that time window.

It would be easier to just purchase the tickets for all the way to Monterosso. In 2014, we had to wait in line for a long time in La Spezia for our ticket (for the next day) from Vernazza to Milan. We couldn't purchase the ticket in Vernazza. Maybe it doesn't happen very often, but our train out of Vernazza was 20 min. late. At least your ticket is very inexpensive.

Diane,

"We couldn't purchase the ticket in Vernazza."

For future reference if you encounter the same situation again, you can either.....

• purchase your ticket online.
• take a short ride to Monterosso, as it has more of a "full service" ticket office and should be able to provide tickets.