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Train transportation in Italy

So I am thinking that train transportation would be the best bet when travelling to each destination in Italy. I will be going to Italy in either spring or Fall 2016 and my route will look like: Venice-Verona-Florence-Rome-Positano. I will be staying at each location for a few nights. I am also thinking of doing day trips to Pisa and Pompeii. However, since this will be my first time to italy (and Europe in general) I am a bit concerned about train travel. Are the trains relatively easy to figure out? Also, what would happen if the trains were to strike? I plan on purchasing my tickets in advance (except day trip destinations) but will obviously wait until closer to the date. Also, how difficult is it to get to Positano from Rome. I've read that it may be best to take the shuttle bus that departs early morning in Rome but is this really the best?

Posted by
11613 posts

Trains are pretty easy to figure out, look at the section on trains in the RS Italy guidebook, or on this site.

The further ahead you buy tickets, the more money you will save. But, the cheapest fares are for specific travel with no changes after purchase.

Strikes: almost always announced days ahead, last for hours, not days, and some long-distance trains will still run.

From Roma Termini, you can take a fast train to Napoli Centrale, go downstairs to the Circumvesuviana (separate ticket), get off in Sorrento, walk outside the station to the bus for Amalfi, get off at one of the two Positano stops. Or, take the train from Roma Termini to Salerno and backtrack by bus to Positano. I would take the second option.

Posted by
11247 posts

Trains are EASY. Easier than you imagine. You will be on high-speed freccia trains for all but the final bit to Positano. To get to Positano you can
1. Frecciarossa to Napoli then Circumvesuviana to Sorrento and bus to Positano
2. Frecciarossa to Salerno and Ferry to Positano

I would do the second option. Helpful ferry booking site here.

The Freccia trains are not affected by strikes (at least in my experience they always run). Strikes are also known in advance. You can keep an eye on the situation here.

Rick Steves' guides have great info on connections for all cities he covers. Do you have the Italy guide?

Posted by
16893 posts

Yes, they are. Simply buy a ticket for the train departure that fits your schedule. Train service runs at least hourly and sometimes much more often to those major destinations. Most service is by faster train, so each ticket will be reserved for a specific date, time, train number, car number, and seat number when you buy it, like an airline ticket (but with no airline check-in process). There's no deadline to purchase, and full-fare tickets are cheaper than in some other parts of Europe, but there are also advance-purchase discounts with limited seats available and refund/exchange restrictions.

Rick's Italy 2015 guidebook includes transportation info in every chapter, so as you plan your trip, you'll have a good idea of your options. The appendix of the book provides several more pages of train detail. See also info and links on our Italy rail page or Buying train tickets. See also How to handle strikes.

To reach Positano, the closest stations of the national railway system are at Salerno to the south or Naples to the north, and you can make local connections from there by ferry, bus, or commuter rail (Naples-Pompei-Sorrento). See the relevant guidebook chapters for more detail.

Posted by
2380 posts

I would also recommend printing out the train schedules for the days that you want to travel and bring them with you to the train station. Sometimes the ticket agent doen't speak English and you can simply hand them the schedule with your choice circled. It also will give you more options if you miss the train you want.

Posted by
107 posts

You hopefully will get a response from Ken. He has a boiler plate and it has lots of information. Just remember to validate or you will be fined. great site: trenitalia.it.

Posted by
419 posts

I found seat61.com to be very helpful. We just spent 35 days in Europe (myself, husband, kids 8 & 10). I purchased 8 sets of train tickets all online in advanced--as soon as they became available. We arrived in Milan and took a train straight to Pisa (we were staying in Tuscany). We made a decision to purchase that train ticket in advance as well. The advance ticket was such a good deal that we decided we would gamble and eat the cost of the ticket if if didn't work out. Our plane landed at 8am and we booked a 1pm ticket giving us plenty of time for mishaps.

I also purchased an advance ticket for my sister who was traveling with us. Her flight was canceled and she didn't arrive until the following day. Just thought I should add that.

As for strikes...we were on the Eurostar from London to Paris when striking MyFerryLink workers burned tires blocking both the Chunnel & Tunnel--successful stopping all train and vehicle traffic. They didn't tell us this on the train but husband was able to find out on his iPhone. I immediately booked tickets on British Airways for the next day. Our Eurostar tickets were £123 total. Our BA tickets were £131 x 4. The earliest Eurostar ticket available to us was almost 3 days later and we would have missed our Paris leg of the trip. Additionally, had we waited in London until Thursday to resume our Eurostar travel--well on Thursday London metro workers went on strike. I feel like we really dogged a bullet.

Good Luck. We had a great trip and I think European train travel is great.

Posted by
23177 posts

remember to validate or you will be fined.

You only need to validate (time stamp) Regionale tickets purchased in a train station via a ticket machine or from a ticket agent. All other purchased tickets are train, date, time specific. They are only good for a specific train at a specific time. No need to validate since they basically come pre-validated.

Posted by
4406 posts

The Man in Seat 61 in a wonderful resource for All Things Trains. It takes time to go through his site, but it's very logical if you just take your time. He has many photos of what the various train cars look like (each route, each ticket class, etc.).

Also, you'll want the Trenitalia.com site for researching train routes and booking your trains. You must use the Italian spellings of your destinations (Roma, Firenze, Venezia, etc.). I believe the earliest you can purchase Trenitalia tickets online is 3 months before your trip. You can save a ton of money [yes, literally 2,000 lbs of $1 bills ;-) ] by purchasing in advance.

Have fun planning!

Posted by
11613 posts

You can purchase Trenitalia reserved-seat tickets up to 120 days in advance.

Posted by
930 posts

It surprises me more people use Trenitalia over ITALO. We have never had a problem with ITALO...we book online way in advance. The website is very user friendly and is also recommended on the Seat61 website. Trenitalia is a Government run train, while ITALO is private. The trains are very nice, comfy seats, good service & food. Seat61 and the ITALO website have photos. It used to be they didn't have quite the number of times and locations and stations - but that has changed. Just throwing another great option out there. The prices are comparable to better than Trenitalia.

Definitely spend some time on the Seat61 website mentioned above. Another recommendation is to go to Amazon and buy RICK STEVES EUROPE THROUGH THE BACK DOOR 2015- it's a must read for anyone traveling to Europe - you'll highlight lots of it and skip other sections- but it's full of useful info - money, euros, debit cards, flights, tipping, food, trains, packing, hotels, and info on each European country.

Happy planning!!!