Please sign in to post.

Question about trains

Posted by on

Hello fellow travelers.

I could really use your advice. My husband and I have been to Italy several times but have never taken the trains. We are taking the Village Italy tour in mid October and are planning to spend a few days in Venice before the tour and several days in Milan and Lake Como after the tour. I'm wondering if I need to get train tickets in advance or if I can reliably depend on getting tickets when there. My thinking is that because we need to get from Venice to Padua for the start of the tour on a specific day and have no leeway there, I should probably reserve tickets. But I don't know if I'm overthinking it.

It's also my understanding that the tour guides can help with post-tour planning as well. I'm thinking it wouldn't make much sense to lock ourselves into a train reservation to Varenna from Milan since we can't predict the timing of getting from the last tour hotel to Milan Centrale. I'm just unsure about how to handle the train portion of our itinerary having never done this before.

Any advice or insight you can offer is much appreciated! Thank you!
Chad in Columbus, Ohio

Posted by
8072 posts

Regional trains can't sell out and price never changes. No reserved seats. No need to purchase tickets in advance.

Venezia S Lucia to Padova is a regional train (there are fast trains but not necessary for this route)
Milano Centrale to Varenna-Esino is a regional train

Get the Trenitalia app and familiarize yourself with that as well as the official website. October schedules not complete yet but you can look at same day of week now to see what your options will be- schedules don't change much.
Trenitalia runs fast trains and regional trains

Trenitalia
https://www.trenitalia.com/en.html

ItaloTreno (private company) runs fast trains only on selected routes- they also have an app.
https://www.italotreno.com/en

All you need to know about train travel in Italy:
https://www.seat61.com/train-travel-in-italy.htm

Posted by
6 posts

Thank you so much, ChristineH! This is very helpful information. And you've helped put my mind at ease about having to have the tickets in advance.

Posted by
434 posts

Christine gave great advice on the trains. We used the app to check timing and platform info.

As far as end of tour planning, we finished the Village Italy tour last Sunday. Our guide had compiled departure information for everyone earlier in the week depending upon airport, days, etc. As we were spending our last night in Milan prior to flying home, there was a group of 8 of us going into Central Milan. We paid the guide 30€ cash each prior to departing Lake Orta, she paid the van driver and we were dropped at our hotel. Very easy. The van also did drops at Milano Centrale, Milano Cadorna and a couple other hotels.

Add Reply

Please do not reply to violations of our Community Guidelines.