In June, we will be traveling from Milan to Monterosso. What train should I take and do I need to reserve tickets in advance? Same question regarding traveling from Monterosso to Pisa: what train and should I reserve in advance?
Posted by
Green Bay
21346 posts
Just Milan to Monterosso. Monterosso to Pisa will be Regionale trains for the most part.
Posted by
New York, NY, USA
11294 posts
To find route, schedules and prices for your trains, use Trenitalia: http://www.trenitalia.com/tcom-en.
Even on the English version of the website, you have to use the Italian city names. Start typing the name of the city, and it will autofill. For Pisa, use Pisa Centrale. For Milan, use Milano Centrale. For Monterosso, use just plain Monterosso, not Monterosso Marche (a different town).
If a train is indicated as Regional or Regional Veloce, the price doesn't change, and no seat reservations are possible. There's no advantage to buying these tickets in advance. If a train is an InterCity (IC) or Freccia (such as FrecciaRosa, FrecciaArgento, etc), these trains require reservations, and the cheaper tickets can sell out. The cheaper are non-refundable and non-exchangeable (or have restrictions on those actions). If you don't mind paying full price, which still isn't that high, you can buy in Italy; if you want discounts and can live with the restrictions, buy in advance.
If you have any trouble using Trenitalia, you can get train routes and schedules for almost all of Europe from the Bahn (German rail) website http://reiseauskunft.bahn.de/bin/query.exe/en, following Rick's tutorial: http://www.ricksteves.com/travel-tips/transportation/trains/online-schedules. However, this only has prices for trains that start or end in Germany.
Posted by
Vernon, Canada
32402 posts
susan,
The easiest method to get from Milan to Monterosso is to use one of the direct trains (no changes), and there are several of those each day. For example, there are direct trains from Milano Centrale to Monterosso at 08:10, 12:10, 14:05 & 16:05 (travel time is about 3 hours). There are many other trains on that route with one or two changes. The direct trains are usually Intercity versions, so reservations are compulsory (those will be provided with the tickets).
For the trip from Monterosso to Pisa Centrale, there are also some direct trains and many others with changes. Check the Trenitalia schedules and use whichever train works best for you. I tend to prefer direct trains when possible, but will tolerate changes if necessary.