We are travelling to La Spezia in August. Is it possible to train from Florence via Pisa ... get off for 3 hours and walk to L. Tower, hop back on and train into La Spezia. We plan to stay there 2 nights ... is there a youth hostel? ... Then train from La Spezia to Venice. What is most direct train from La Spezia to Venice? Would it go back through Pisa? Or ... Bologna? A good website to study train schedules? Your help is greatly appreciated! Kind Regards, Mrs C Herd
Posted by
Elk Grove, CA, USA
6898 posts
Cynthia, yes, it is possible to take the train from Florence to the CT and have short visit at Pisa. But, you need to learn a bit about the different trains that go there. CLICK HERE to see a typical morning schedule in August.
First, all trains from Florence to the CT stop at Pisa Centrale. Some even require a train change there. Some don't. Only the Regionale (R) or Inter-City (IC) trains will permit you to hop off, visit Pisa and hop on a later train if your ticket destination is in the CT. You can do this as the tickets for these trains do not have train numbers or times on them. For this journey, you will change trains 1-2 times depending on the train run. You will receive one ticket for each train you will be on (up to three). If you look for runs with R or IC trains, these open tickets are good for 4 hours once you validate them. Thus, you validate them as you go along. This permits you to visit Pisa on the way.
As for your journey to Venice, the fastest run of the day departs La Spezia Centrale at 7:52am. We've been on it. You depart on an R train and change at Bologna to a Eurostar. CLICK HERE to see the schedule. You can catch the R train at Monterosso at 7:35. Please note that you have very few trains from the CT towns that early in the morning to get to La Spezia. Or, you can take a later train.
Posted by
OP
Waroona, WA, Australia
5 posts
Thank you very much for your help! I will be travelling with my son (11yr)... so I want to make sure we don't end up stuck! We are on a very slim timeline ... and travelling in the later half of August. I know this will be peak time. Do you recommend NOT to get our train tickets in advance ... here in Australia before we leave?
We will be training from Rome to Naples, then to Florence ... La Spezia ... Venice. I assume point to point rail is the cheapest?
Also, do you recommend any hostels in La Spezia?
Thank you for your help!
Cheers,
C Herd
Posted by
Elk Grove, CA, USA
6898 posts
I've made recommendations in a newer message that you have posted. Don't worry. You won't get stuck. See my worst case scenario in the other posting.
Posted by
Pittsfield, PA, US
18 posts
Regarding your train travel from LaSpezia to Venice. We did that also, and had a couple choices, but the connection through Milan worked best for us with our timetable. We had to change trains in Milan, but that was not an issue. Milan train station is very clean, but we had to pay to get to the restroom (maybe that is why it is so clean!
Enjoy