I am planning a trip through Italy. I will be arriving from Paris in Rome for a few days then I would like to visit Pisa for a few hours before ending in Venice. I cannot find a train that will go from Rome to Pisa or a train that will go from Pisa to Venice. If we leave Rome in the early morning on the 14th of July, will we be able to spend 3-4 hours in Pisa and then catch a train from Pisa to Venice all using only one day of my Eurail saver pass? Is it better to catch a train from Rome to Pisa or is it better to go from Rome to catch a connecting train from Florence to Pisa? Also, the timetables say there is not any train that goes from Pisa to Venice, am I missing something? THANKS for all your help!!! Alisa
Posted by
Napa, CA
3580 posts
Go to Pisa from Florence, then return to Florence to continue on to Venice.
Posted by
Tresana, Highlands Ranch, CO, USA
23268 posts
Trains are just our airplanes. They do not always go direct from your point A to point B. Instead they go through major hubs and cities and will involve changing trains to get to smaller areas.
Posted by
Los Angeles
425 posts
From Rome to Pisa in the early morning, you have two options: direct train to Pisa, or connecting train via Florence. The former is slightly better, as shown below:
Leave Roma Termini 6:10 ES-City train
Arrive Pisa Centrale 8:57
Fare: 39.50 Euros
VERSUS
Leave Roma Termini 6:15 ES-AV train
Arrive Firenze SMN 7:50
Leave Firenze SMN 7:57 Regionale train
Arrive Pisa Centrale 9:06
Fare: 44 Euros plus 5.70 Euros
Travelling via Florence will unnecessarily set you back 9 minutes and 10.20 Euros.
For your onward trip, you should take a regionale train from Pisa to Florence and then connect to the very fast AV train to Venice. Total travel time will be approx. 3 hours (plus connection time).
And the imponderable question: is it more likely that the direct Rome-Pisa ES-City train will arrive late, OR the AV train from Rome to Florence will arrive late, causing you to miss your connection?
OPINION: Leave 5 minutes earlier on the direct train to Pisa and SAVE 10.20 Euros!!!
Posted by
OP
St. Louis, MO
5 posts
Thanks for the help everyone! I finally found a PDF of the train timetables at http://www.eurail.com/downloads/eurail/eurail-timetable-2010-trains-europe.pdf
which says there is a train departing Rome at 6:10, arriving at 8:57, however when I look on the Trenitalia site, they say no such train is found. Am I doing it wrong? Which one do I believe?
Posted by
Los Angeles
425 posts
The Trenitalia schedules are current only through the middle of June, when there will be a systemwide change. You should check back with Trenitalia after the middle of June. I EXPECT that there will still be an ES-City direct train from Roma Termini to Pisa Centrale at or around 6:10 a.m., but the departure time may be slightly different.
Posted by
OP
St. Louis, MO
5 posts
I guess that is why I am having so much trouble finding train times in July, thanks for the tip. I guess my final plans will have to wait till June!