We head to Italy Apr. 24th. Travelling by train from Assisi to Padova we would like to hop off onroute in Florence to do a quick visit as well as from Vernazza to Rome hope off at Pisa to visit tower. Do the trains still allow this if you are continuing travel on same day and with same train system?
Thanks in advance.
Posted by
Gettysburg PA
7234 posts
Pretty sure you’ll need a separate ticket for each leg of the trip
Trains are not hop on, hop off
A couple of your routes will likely be on fast trains, with reserved seats
Posted by
755 posts
Not allowed. You need a ticket for every destination.
Posted by
🏝️ Hobe Sound, FL⛱️
3293 posts
Your option would be to use Regionale trains but the tickets are only valid for 4 hours.
Posted by
Italy
3812 posts
Trains have never allowed this. Even if you used only the slow Regionale trains, you would have only four hours to board the train to your final destination at an intermediate stop.
You can either Make separate purchases online or buy the next leg's ticket at the counter, right before getting on. This way you'd pay the top, walk-up fare on non-Regionale trains.
Posted by
San Diego, California, USA
1147 posts
Hello carolphilips39,
The good news is that going from Assisi to Padova you will change in Florence anyway so simply buy the tickets in two segments. Figure out how much time you want to spend in Florence and buy the corresponding tickets. Chances are you'll want the fast train from Florence to Padova so you will have reserved seats and should buy it sooner for better choices and prices.
The same is largely true from Vernazza - just book the train to Pisa from La Spezia that works for you. The regional train take slightly longer but can be purchased "when needed" at the station. There are faster InterCity trains but those should be reserved in advance. Keep in mind you'll probably have reserved fast train tickets booked from Florence to Rome so you'll have a clock on your exploring time including getting back to Pisa station and catching the regional train from Pisa to Florence (~ 1 hour).
Don't forget you'll have bags so plan ahead on where you will store them and factor in time to retrieve them before getting to your train. For a big city Florence is actually small and very walkable. The big sights in Pisa are away from the train station - probably about a mile walk - but taxis or buses can shorten this time. I've found Google Maps public transit function works well in northern Italy for finding bus routes and stops.
You can wait until "day of" to buy fast tickets but you will get higher prices and risk being sold out, not sitting together etc so most people don't. Since some of these tickets will be reserved you'll need to decide between flexibility and cost/security of secured travel for your "quick city visit" jaunts.
Also download the Tentitalia phone app to track trains, check platform assignments and buy local tickets when you need them to skip kiosk lines.
Have a great trip,
=Tod