We are taking RS Tour ending in Florence, then going on to Cinque Terre. Also, need to go from CT to Pisa to catch flight back to US. Please confirm that we would take regional trains for both these trips and that we would not need reservations. Could you also give me approx time it takes to get to both destinations.
Thanks,
You can check that on http://www.trenitalia.com/ for you specific day and time. For Firenze to CT it can either be a Regionale Train or a IC Intercity Train (those have seats on them). Depdning on Regionale or IC will determine the time. They are showing as from 2 hr 24 min to 3 hrs
And the same is from CT to Pisa it can be both types of trains. Trip showing between 1 hr 10 min and 1 hr 54 min. Check the website for the dates you'll be traveling and what train will work best for you.
Use www.trenitalia.com to see schedules (for date use the next 7 days as regionali timetable are published only 7 days ahead).
All trains traveling in the segment between Florence and Pisa are Regionali or Regionali Veloci (speedy region.). Neither requires reservation.
Trains traveling in the segment between Pisa and La Spezia could be Regionali, Regionali Veloci, Intercity or Frecciabianca. Intercity and Frecciabianca require reserved seats.
Trains between La Spezia and Le Cinque Terre are Regionali, unless the CT is Monterosso, where some Intercity trains also stop.
But it doesn't really matter. Even if the intercity or frecciabianca require reservations, it doesn't mean that you have purchase the tickets and make reservations ahead of time. Seats on those trains never sell out. Just show up at the station in Florence when you are done with your tour, and purchase your tickets at the station. Depending on the time it is, you could be traveling on IC or FB between Pisa and Spezia. Reservations are made on the spot when you purchase the tickets. Basically the ticket will indicate the car no. and seat no. for that IC or Frecciabianca. The only difference is that the ticket is a little more expensive than if you travel 100% of the trip on Regional trains.
Deb, you absolutely do not need any reservations for these trains - even if there was one which DID have reserved seating. Just buy your tickets on the day of your journey. We only pre-buy tickets if it's a very fast, direct, city-to-city (say, Rome to Florence) train that we might be able to land cheaper tickets for as those tend to be more expensive.
I can't tell you exactly how long each of these runs will take as it depends on which train you decide on. For Firenze S. M. Novella to Vernazza, for example, trains can take anywhere from about 2.5 hours with two train changes, to 3.5 hours with one train change and a longer wait time between them. It may also depend on which of the 5 villages in the CT you're trying to get to. Same with going from the CT to Pisa.
What you need to do is get onto the Trenitalia website and punch in your dates, departure/arrival stations and desired time of departures.
http://www.trenitalia.com/cms/v/index.jsp?vgnextoid=4ddd1a035296f310VgnVCM1000005817f90aRCRD
Do use the Italian names of the stations: Firenze S.M (Santa Maria) Novella is the main station in Florence, and you can just use any of the names of the 5 villages for the C.T. For flying out of Pisa, you'll want to go to the main train station - Pisa Centrale - and then hop a shuttle bus to the airport as the trains currently don't run there. See this:
http://www.pisa-airport.com/aeroporto_di_pisa_76.html
This may be helpful as well: just reverse the directions as you're going TO the airport:
Make sense?
You're on the right track with the advice above. Buon viaggio.
Thanks for the info. I did look at the tenitalia website a while ago and got frustrated. Maybe with a little more information to go on now, I'll be able to figure it out.
Thanks,
Deb
