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Questions about transportation - when to take the train and when to rent a car

Posted by (Sunriver) on

I think we have narrowed down our September 2017 trip. If our (4 adults) itinerary looks like this
Florence - 3 nights ( we fly into Florence so really only 2 1/2 days) - If we plan to take a day trip to Siena from Florence - can/should we take a train
Bologna - 3 nights - If we plan to visit Parma from Bologna - can we take a train. I know one day we are planning to take the Italian Days Food Tour so we don't need a car for that.
Lake Como or Lake Garda (a coin toss right now) - 3 nights

Getting from Bologna to Lake Como - can we take a train or will it take too long

We rented a car in Italy on our past trip and found it easy enough to get around and followed all the no parking zone laws. We drove to Siena last time. We stayed a week in a small town in Tuscany and drove everywhere except to Florence when we took the train and it was ok going there but coming back - geez - not a good train story. Some travelers are good with trains...I like to have a car but it seems for this trip it might be more a hassle to have a car.

Posted by
715 posts

Easy to take bus from Florence to Siena (Rick recommends over train and that's what I did). I'm in Bologna now for a month and very easy to get to Parma, Modena, Ferrara.... by train.

Can't address the other... we tend to rent a car when we want to get to some smaller places or by necessity this past March when there was a transit strike and my husband HAD to go to the Lamborghini factory that day.

Posted by
16895 posts

It makes sense that you used a car for rural Tuscany but you don't need a car for any of these destinations, at least if you're staying on a part of a lake that is served by train or boat, such as the Varenna/Bellagio mid-lake area of Lake Como or the south end of Lake Garda. Between Florence and Siena, direct buses run frequently and drop you closer to the center of Siena. In Florence, the bus station is right near the train station, so check schedules there, or see Rick's chapters on those cities.

Although we like the DB link at How to Look Up Train Schedules and Routes Online for most train schedules, it does not reflect Milan-Varenna, but www.trenitalia.com does, as well as shows the multiple price levels offered on each trip.

Posted by
2140 posts

Hey Donna--

I may be biased, but I'm a train guy. It's a little less reliable the farther south in Italy one travels, but where you're going it's way better than anything we have here in the States.

Florence/Siena is equal time bus or train (about 90 min), but from what I understand the bus will let you off closer to the center of town in Siena.

Florence/Bologna, Bologna/Parma--train no problem, under an hour for each leg.

Bologna/Lake Como--about 3 hours, connect through Milano Centrale, always fun & games, but still fine.

Overall, if you're not venturing out into the hilltowns of Tuscany, I'd say the train is a no-brainer here.

Enjoy your planning!

Posted by
1321 posts

Wow thanks for these quick replies. I had a feeling we could easily plan on public transport for most of the trip since we aren't out in the country and my husband loves to take trains. It is our preferred mode of transport here in the US but my experience last trip from Florence back to Arezzo was a nightmare.

I did forget to mention that the last leg of our trip we have to get from either Lake Como or Lake Garda to Venice by 3:30 pm on September 23rd for our bike and boat trip so no flexibility there..... train???

Posted by
16895 posts

Total train time from Varenna to Venezia S Lucia is about 4 hours, again with a simple connection in Milan. See the schedules.

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