On August 10 my friend and I will be traveling from Bellinzona, Switzerland area to Rome Italy. I have been checking airlines and high speed trains and there are so many options (different trains and locations, different airports) that I don't know which is the best way to get there. Any specific advice would be welcome.
Air tickets are more expensive from Zurich, so I'm thinking perhaps bus/train to Milan and fly from there? It appears the airfare is as low as trains and faster but there is more than one airport possibility. Are there trains that go to one of the Milan airports and which one would be better to fly out of? Or should we just try to take a high speed train the whole way?
Posted by
Green Bay
20139 posts
Take the train to Rome. By the time you can get to an airport in Milan with 2 hours to spare before departure, arrive at Rome airport, deplane, wait for train or bus into Rome, you could be in Rome already. You can make it in 5 hours for 58 euro on a Super Economy fare. Way less hassle.
Posted by
Ballwin
833 posts
Like Sam said, because you would need to be at the Milan airport early to go through security etc, the train makes much more sense.
Think of it this way - Even if you times lined up perfectly, you would have to go from Bellinzona to Milano no matter what, taking 1.5h minimum, then be at the airport 2 hours early, take your flight (1h10m min.), deplane in Rome, wait for the next train or bus and take transportation into the city center (30 min for the express train). It adds up to more than your ~ 5h train ride will be and takes several more steps. Those extra steps also mean more $$. A train will much likely be cheaper and faster - especially if you purchase far in advance and buy the Smart fare for trip to Milan and the Supereconomy fare for the trip to Rome.
.
August 10 tickets aren't available yet, but I looked at July 10 for an idea of scheduling and pricing... it may be a little different but should be close enough. Here are some options:
- Bellinzona to Milano Centrale 09:59-11:35. Milano Centrale to Roma Termini 12:00-14:55. 58€ -- 19€ for the first part, and 39€ for the Milan to Rome (plus because the supereconomy cost for standard and premium class are both 39, you could ride in premium for the same cost.)
- Bellinzona to Milano Centrale 10:59-12:50. Milano Centrale to Roma Termini 13:15-16:35. 58€
- Bellinzona to Milano Centrale 11:59-13:35. Milano Centrale to Roma Termini 14:00-16:55. 58€
You can purchase all of this on the trenitalia.com (Italian) rail website. (The Swiss site - sbb.ch - is another option, but the cheaper prices aren't coming up on there for me right now.)
Posted by
San Francisco Bay Area (USA)
15193 posts
The train option all the way to Rome (with change in Milano Centrale) is the fastest and hassle free option. You might find a good price with Easyjet but you have lots of changes of mode of transportation that will cost you money and time. For example if you select the Easyjet option departing from MXP to FCO at 11:50am. You need to take a train from Bellinzona to Malpensa (over 2 hours with change in Luino) with departure from Bellinzona at 7:55am. You land at FCO at 1:10pm where you would take a train to Roma Termini. You might make it to Rome termini by 2:30pm.
But with the train only option you could leave from Bellinzona a little later and arrive at Roma Termini with one train change only (in Milan) in just 5h 10 min.
Posted by
OP
Seattle, WA
10 posts
Great. Thank you....we'll take the train. It appears that I cannot get tickets from the Swiss SBB site until 1 month before and the tickets are a bit more expensive (double?). The trenitalia site seems to sell tickets about 4 months early. Travel time seems to be the same.
I was told that it doesn't save much money to buy the tickets ahead but it looks like I would save a fair amount to purchase them online next month. The super saver tickets seem to sell out quickly.
Posted by
OP
Seattle, WA
10 posts
Great. Thank you....we'll take the train. It appears that I cannot get tickets from the Swiss SBB site until 1 month before and the tickets are a bit more expensive (double?). The trenitalia site seems to sell tickets about 4 months early. Travel time seems to be the same.
I was told that it doesn't save much money to buy the tickets ahead but it looks like I would save a fair amount to purchase them online next month. The super saver tickets seem to sell out quickly.
Posted by
Ballwin
833 posts
Travel time will be the same because they're selling tickets for the same trains. Yes - I'm not seeing the same discounts on the Swiss website as I am on Trenitalia. Go with the cheaper one (Trenitalia) then! I would purchase your tickets as soon as they're available on Trenitalia website because as you realized, the supereconomy tickets do sell out quickly. You can save quite a lot by purchasing tickets for high-speed trains ahead of time. For the regional trains you won't save money but you will for faster ones. (That may have been the confusion in the advice you received?)