Train from Venice to Monterosso

steve,

To begin with, Monterosso Marche is NOT the destination you want. The "official" name of the town you want is Monterosso al Mare, but it's abbreviated to just Monterosso on the rail websites.

There are two main routes you can use, via Milan or via Florence. One of the shortest trips will be a departure from Venezia S. Lucia at 07:25, arriving Monterosso at 12:41 (time 5H:16M, 2 changes at Firenze SMN and La Spezia Centrale). A slightly easier trip is a departure from Venice at 08:50, arriving at 15:03 (time 6H:13M, 1 change in Milan).

The one I'd probably use is a departure at 09:25, arriving 14:52 (time 5H:27M, 2 changes at Florence and Pisa). Some of the reasons I'd choose that one - that's a reasonably good time for departure as I wouldn't have to wake up too early and could still get breakfast at the hotel (which I've likely paid for); the time of the trip is reasonable and about mid-way between the other ones I mentioned above; arriving mid-afternoon is good as my hotel room will probably have been serviced by that time and ready for check-in.

There are numerous other trips available. Have a look at the rail details on the Trenitalia or bahn.de websites. Note that some legs of each trip will be via "faster" trains such as the Freccia high speed which have compulsory reservations, and some will be via Regionale trains. When using Regionale trains, you MUST validate your ticket prior to boarding the train on the day of travel, or you'll face hefty fines, which will be collected on the spot! Also, you'll need to specify the station names in Italian when buying tickets.

Ken

Thanks a lot. I suspected it was Monterosso, not Marche but, when I went to the Trentalia site it gave me Monterosso choices and I wanted to be sure. For many of the same reasons you had mentioned, my instincts are to leave Venice between 9 and 10 - I will look at the Florence route instead of Milan (advantage for me is that Florence is our next stop after Cinque Terre and going through there will slightly familiarize me with the station itself.

Thanks

Steve

Steve,

Ken has given you very helpful & detailed information.

You may want to delete your duplicate post so you will keep all the replies on one post.

Have a wonderful trip!

You are right. I hit add reply twice accidentally.

Make sure you allow A LOT of extra time getting to Venice train station in the morning. We nearly missed our train to Milan and we had allowed for plenty of extra time and had asked our hotel in addition.

Thanks Joe. I have bought the train tickets; we are on the 10:50 train. We are staying in an apartment 1 block from the Rialto vaparetto stop. I am definitely going to take your advice and leave earlier - I would rather wait at the train station than think about the problems coming from travelling on later trains. Especially since this is going to be our first train trip in Italy.

Where are you going after Florence? Rome?
The most efficient itinerary is:
Venice > Florence > Cinque Terre > Rome

Roberto
We are doing Rome - cruise - Venice - Cinque Terre - Florence - car rental/rural Tuscany - Rome.

We are doing Rome - cruise - Venice - Cinque Terre - Florence - car rental/rural Tuscany - Rome.

I would do:
OPTION 1:
Rome > (Cruise) > Venice > (train) > Florence > (rent a car in Florence) > Tuscany > (return car in La Spezia) > Cinque Terre > (train) > Rome.

or:

OPTION 2:
Rome > (Cruise) > Venice > (train) > Florence > (train) > Cinque Terre > (rent a car in La Spezia)> Tuscany > (return car in Rome or Orvieto) > Rome.

Thanks Roberto. We decided to take the train from Venice through Milan to Monterosso for three reasons - to get the one long trip we have to take out of the way early, to see, at least from the train window, a little slice of Northern Italy since that is the only time we are going to be up there, and because we had decided on the first two, we didn't want to risk a 14 minute change of trains in Pisa (last leg from Florence to Monterosso). Once we drive out of Florence after 4 days there (on foot), our weeklong stay at an agristourisme is in far Southern Tuscany, close to Cortona and Umbria. When we take the train to Rome we are going to drop the car off at Hertz at the Orvieto train station (right across the street) and take the 1 hour 15 minute ride into Termini.
So, the idea is overall, after the cruise, to wander through Northern Italy for 8 days and then spend almost 12 days wandering through Florence, Tuscany (and I am sure a day trip or two to somewhere in Umbria), ending up back in Rome for 6 days of big city fun - soccer, Vatican, Republic Day parade, Ancient City Tour and who knows what else. Lots of time everywhere I hope is going to be just going with the flow.

At least via Milan to Monterosso it's probably one train change only.

You won't get to see a lot of interesting things from the train window, except for the last leg from Tortona to Genoa to Monterosso, when you travel first through the mountains then along the coast. The rest is mostly on a boring flat plain. How about a short stop in Verona along the way? It would be nice, at least for a quick visit.

Yes, you are right - it is only 1 train change. One thing I left out of my last email was that the whole rhythm of our trip is - City, relax, City, relax, City, relax, City (Rome, cruise, Venice, Cinque Terre, Florence, rural Tuscany, Rome). There are places and things that we are just not going to see - Verona was one place, Ravenna another, Lucca a third, we decided on Cinque Terre vs. the Lake Country, staying in Tuscany rather than Umbria, time on Sicily, Pompeii. Unless we were there for months (and we don't have the time and can't afford it), we just can't see everything. You obviously known/have experienced a great deal of Italy - and I suspect our inclinations would be/are close to yours. Unfortunately, we can't do everything.

Good choice of pace.

Just make sure that when you are on your cruise Capt. Schettino is not at the helm, or it won't be that relaxing. :)