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Train Help for May Trip

Posted by (North Carolina ) on

In addition to RS Italy, this forum has helped my planning immensely. My husband and I are heading to Italy for 19 days in May. We have our trip mapped out with lodging booked, but need to figure out train tickets. Any advice in this area would be so helpful.

May 15: arrive in Rome (3 night)
May 18: fly to Catania (4 nights)
May 22: arrive in Venice (3 nights)
May 25: TRAIN to Cinque Terra (4 nights)
May 29: TRAIN to Florence (3 nights)
June 1: TRAIN to Milan (1 night--for morning flight; this was a last minute change to our itinerary due to flight cancellations)

I booked us a hotel near MXP but I'm wondering what we can do in a day in Milan. Or, is there another place we could visit for a day that is a convenient train ride away from the airport? We would love to do Lake Como but worry we don't have the time for that. Thoughts?

Posted by
2487 posts

The tickets for the long-distance trains are best bought in advance at the website of the Italian railways. They come with considerable discount if you don't mind being tied to a specific train. From Cinque Terre to Florence advance bought tickets don't make much difference.
Payment by credit card, emailed pdf for printing at home. Easy and reliable. Remember to use the Italian originals for station names (Venezia S. Lucia, Firenze S.M. Novella and Milano Centrale; for the Cinque Terre of course the town where you're actually staying).

Posted by
20353 posts

If it is a morning flight home, you could stay in Milan, but keep in mind it is 35 to 55 minutes to the airport on the Malpensa Express train. The quicker trains go from Milano Cadorna station, which is more toward the central district with the Duomo and Last Supper. Figure you want to be at the airport 3 hours before flight time, so take that into consideration as to how soon you have to leave. Forget Lake Como unless you put in an extra day. You might do Lake Maggiore at Stresa as there is bus service from there to Malpensa.

Posted by
27369 posts

The Milan sights most often mentioned here are the Duomo and The Last Supper. To see the painting you must book tickets way ahead of time. There's also a gorgeous indoor shopping gallery, the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II. The Brera area sounds nice, too.

The hilltop town of Bergamo is about an hour from Milan by train. It is definitely worth a day-trip. It is not a good place to spend your last night, however, because it is over 2 hours from Malpensa by train. [Oops--See Zoe's post immediately below.]

Posted by
11613 posts

There is a shuttle from Bergamo to the airport, but not sure of the schedule. It runs frequently, though.

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