I know people say that trains in southern italy are slow and tedious but we want to go from palermo to florence by train. We hope to train across sicily and then on up to naples from wherever - messina? And to Florence. We like the trains in Italy and looking at the countryside and possibly stopping in Naples if there is time. Anyone done this or have any idea where to train from?
Posted by
La Crescenta, California, USA
361 posts
Try this website www.Investsicily.com/Trains
Posted by
partout
71 posts
hi Polly,
I have never done this, but I've looked into it, though not from Florence. If you take the direct (no stops) IC train it takes like 15 hours, some of the trains are overnight. However if you want to do it in one day you could take the IC train from Sicily (Palermo or Messina) to Naples, and then take the high-speed train from Naples to Florence, this would knock a couple of hours off the trip. Either way, this is a ton of train travel in one day. If it were me, I would definitely stop and spend the night in Naples. And when you cross from Sicily onto the mainland you have to take a ferry (as in the train actually goes on the ferry) because there is no bridge (yet!) linking sicily to the mainland.
Posted by
WPB, FL & Firenze
3112 posts
The Italian railway website has the information you want. Go to www.trenitalia.it and choose English. You must use Italian names of cities when seaching schedules, and Palermo, Napoli (Naples) and Firenze (Florence) are the ones key to your trip. To get prices, use a date no more than 60 days out. Best bet for maximizing daylight travel is the 7:08am departure from Palermo Centrale arriving 16:18 at Napoli Centrale, with a change to the high speed train departing at 16:50 and arriving 19:50 at Firenze SMN (main) station (cost EUR 121 for 2nd class). I can't comment on this train trip, as I always fly to Sicily. If you want to stop in Naples, then buy 2 separate tickets - one from Palermo to Naples and a second from Naples to Florence. Due to arrival/departure times involved, consider an overnight in Naples if there are sights you really want to see.
Posted by
OP
Vancouver
68 posts
Wow, fantastic response, Christine and Frank. This is just the info I needed. Thank you SO much!