trains, buses

All trains are air conditioned but some are better than others. The fastest trains are more expensive and the slowest trains are least expensive. Generally trains are best because they are more comfortable and can be faster. However, sometimes a bus is your only option. Cinque Terre is an area and not a town so you need to select a town in that area. For most of your routes a train will work fine. Use bahn.de for scheduling information.

Buses are cheaper to take than trains but the train system in Italy is really good. The carriages are all air conditioned and the slower the train the less you'll pay. You can use the trenitalia site for schedules and fare information. They are planning a schedule change in June so enter a date before June 12th to get an idea of schedules and fares. They won't change much. You have a lot of cities planned. I hope you're staying at least two weeks or you might need to pare down your selection. http://www.trenitalia.com/cms/v/index.jsp?vgnextoid=ad1ce14114bc9110VgnVCM10000080a3e90aRCRD Donna

We are staying in Rome 4 nights, Siena 4 nights, Florence 3 nights, Venice 2 nights, Milan 2 nights, Cinque Terre 2 nights and back to Rome for the last nights for a total of 18 nights/19 days. I read somewhere over a year ago something about
cheaper train tickets, maybe regional trains? Is that right?

I'm not sure that the statement that all trains are air conditioned is 100% accurate unless things have changed recently. In the past 6-7 years we have had the unfortunate luck to travel, thankfully short distances, on unairconditioned local/regional trains in Italy, Germany and France on several trips to Europe. One of our worst experiences was getting on the high speed TGV in Geneva for a trip to Paris during the heat wave of 2003. A few miles into the trip they announced that because of the heat, the airconditioning wasn't working! Of course none of the windows opened either being that it was the high speed train...

Yes, rather than first class second class, I would say that the fast trains always have AC, the intercity trains usually, the regional trains, hit or miss. Cost declines with the trains, with the regionals being half or less than the fast trains. On a given train, second class is plenty fine. Buses are an overlooked option in Italy, mainly because, for the popular itinerary you picked out, the trains are so great. The only buses I would highly recommend is Rome to Siena may be a train from Rome to Chiusi then switching to either another train or a bus to siena; and then Siena to Florence is definitely best by bus. Other than that, look at train.

All trains are not air conditioned. At least, the one from Rome to Arezzo two years ago was not.

Many times, in my experience, in the heat, it can be better to be on an unairconditioned train with the windows open than on an airconditioned one with the airconditioning broken. This is the voice of experience. Then there was the one towards Quarto d'Altino when the skies opened after Mestre and most of the rain came streaming in before anybody got the window up. But it cooled us off!!! That may be when paying for the expensive trains with their maybe more reliable cooling may be worth the money. I prefer to travel close to the ground.