train travel in Italy

With twelve days in Italy or are some of days your travel days to/from USA)? Or twelve full days in Italy? Stay in Italy, forget Switzerland, as you do not have enough time, regardless. You are skipping Venice which most travellers would include on their first trip. I certainly would add Venice. on our first trip to Italy many years ago we went to Rome, Tuscany(rural0, Florence and Venice. It was a perfect two weeks. We have returned nine more times for mostly stays of a month as we are retired. Sorry I can't help with trains as we always rent cars.

Hi Tina. Congrats on your decision to go ahead with your trip. My suggestions to get started:
- No reason to buy a train pass; it would be an extra hassle and won't save you money. Just buy individual tickets.
- To plan train rides, start with thetrainline.com. It shows all trains in a user friendly format. Some rides it may make sense to buy in advance to save money, others there is no discount for buy in advance, so just wait and buy when there. But that website will help you plan.
- Get or print out a map. Then pencil in train routes to get a feel for options.
- Suggested itinerary: Probably too much to go to Switzerland. Train from Venice west to Verona. If mountains are a priority, go north from there to Bolzano area and Dolomites or all the way to Innsbruck.
- From there, back track to Verona, then west to Milan and north to Varenna.
- From there, south to Cinque Terre.
- From there to Florence.
- From there to Rome.
Note that that itinerary really keeps you on the move, you may want to cut something.
OK, that should get you started. If questions, feel free to message me directly, we were just there last summer and I can give you some more detailed info once you have done initial planning.
Enjoy your trip!

Hi Tina -
As you are flying into Venice, I'll assume you'll be spending some time there? And you want to see Lake Como, Cinque Terre, Florence and Rome as well? If that's correct, I'd agree with limiting your trip to JUST Italy as you really don't have time for anything else with just 2 weeks to work with. Roughly....

Venice: 2 nights
Lake Como: 2 nights
Cinque Terre : 2 nights
Florence: 3 nights (you could steal a night from the CT and add it to this for day-trip sightseeing)
Rome: 4 nights

Train info, start here
https://www.seat61.com/train-travel-in-italy.htm

Use the official train sites ( trainline is a reseller)

Trenitalia- fast trains and regional
https://www.trenitalia.com/content/tcom/en.html

ItaloTreno- fast trains only
https://www.italotreno.it/en

Both have easy to use apps

Hello totallytina,

I find it easiest to lay out the number of nights you have, the day and date you will be somewhere, where you are sleeping and time for travel in between like this:

Italy Itinerary VI - 2022 - Northern Italy: In Milan Out Venice

Date Day
Tue, Sep 6, 2022 Day 0 Depart America BA
Wed, Sep 7, 2022 Day 1 Arrive in Milan Malpensa(MXP) (sleep in Milan)
Thu, Sep 8, 2022 Day 2 Milan (sleep in Milan)
Fri, Sep 9, 2022 Day 3 Milan to Lake Como [1 hour] (sleep in Varenna)
Sat, Sep 10, 2022 Day 4 Lake District (sleep in Varenna)
Sun, Sep 11, 2022 Day 5 Lake District (sleep in Varenna)
Mon, Sep 12, 2022 Day 6 Lake District to La Spezia [via Milan ~4 hours ] (sleep in La Spezia/PV)
Tue, Sep 13, 2022 Day 7 La Spezia - north side of port - CT? (sleep in La Spezia/PV)
Wed, Sep 14, 2022 Day 8 La Spezia - south side of port - Sarzana?(sleep in La Spezia/PV)
Thu, Sep 15, 2022 Day 9 La Spezia to Lucca [~1.5 hours] (sleep in Lucca)
Fri, Sep 16, 2022 Day 10 Lucca [~1.5 hours] (sleep in Lucca)
Sat, Sep 17, 2022 Day 11 Lucca to Florence [~1.5 hours] (sleep in Florence)
Sun, Sep 18, 2022 Day 12 Fly home

This makes it very clear how much time you have in each place, the day (may effect what's open), the date for making hotel reservations and how much time you'll spend on travelling between places. This process may help you narrow down where you want to spend the time you have. Keep in mind that every hotel change involves packing up, travelling with luggage and checking into a new hotel etc. so maximize your time my minimizing changes. Also two nights in a town means 1 full day there so I would never advocate staying in a town for only 1 night unless it is for transportation reasons - like you fly out the next day.

If you have 12 nights I would suggest staying 3 places - or 4 max - so choose those spots and work from there. The classic first trip to Italy is Venice., Florence (side trip to Siena) and Rome but your interests and "must sees" should drive the spots you decide to stay and your agenda.

Ask questions, make an itinerary, ask questions about the itinerary and have a great trip,
=Tod

IMO it's easier to just download the Trenitalia and/or the Italo apps and buy your tickets on there. Rail passes are something of an anachronism

Your itinerary is pretty complicated and involves several countries. After you do some reading at the Man in Seat 61 you'll have a better sense of what you need.

He also has train travel agency recommendations if you'd rather not DIY, there's no sin in paying someone for assistance.