I am flying from Charles DeGaulle to Milan Malpensa and from there taking a train to Cinque Terra. How much time do I need to allow to get from Malpensa to Centrale to catch my train? I am concerned with how long will it take to collect baggage, go through passport control and get to Centrale. Also, there are five of us traveling; would it be much more expensive to take a taxi than to purchase five train tickets?
Posted by
Uppsala, Sweden
7063 posts
No passport control on intra-Schengen flights. But it is hard to tell how much time you need.
But for a trip from Paris to Cinque Terre it might be easier to just take the train the whole way.
Posted by
Edmonds, WA 🌨 ☂
11959 posts
Coming from CDG, there is no passport control. Simply the time to retrieve checked bags.
Train takes about an hour from MXP to Centrale and run every 30 minutes ( :13 and :43 past the hour)
Tickets are 13 euro each. ( I do not know taxi cost)
I would allot no less than 3 hrs from scheduled landing to the scheduled departure from Centrale to CT
Posted by
Gettysburg PA
7245 posts
Traffic from MXP to Milano can be a bear- you are safer taking the train. Taxi is going to be over 100 euros.
Make sure you take the Express train to Milano Centrale- Not Cadorna.
What sort of train will you be catching at Milano Centrale? If a regional no need to book in advance and if you miss it just take the next.
Download the Trenitalia app and buy your tickets to your CT destination once you've landed.
3 hours from flight arrival is a good rule of thumb. Grab some food, make a pit stop.
Posted by
Italy
3812 posts
The fixed taxi fare is 104 € (per car), now.
What you mean with time to allow? I hope you are not buying in advance 5 Intercity train tickets to Monterosso after a flight. Even the full price BASE tickets (that quite obviously nobody buys in advance) are wasted one hour after the departure of the IC train.
Since you are five, I wouldn't run that risk after any flight from CDG.
With a little luck, You could grab 5 discounted Intercity tickets. Something like 9 € per person or so, but note that those tickets are cheaper because they are wasted 1 minute after the train departure.
Posted by
OP
4 posts
Thank you, everyone, for your responses. You have been very helpful.
Posted by
San Francisco Bay Area (USA)
16139 posts
I think the cheapest Intercity Supereconomy ticket from Milan to Monterosso is I think €14.90 per person one way (The full walk up fare, called BASE, is €28.50). However, as Dario said, if you buy a ticket in advance for a specific train and then you can’t make it (for example because of a flight delay), your money is lost. Since the price difference is only €14 per ticket, I don’t know if the savings is worth the risk of losing it all. In your shoes I would probably buy the full price ticket at the Malpensa station when I arrive. If you want to go ahead and take the risk I would give myself a good 4 hours from the scheduled landing time. Trains from the airport are every 30 min and the train journey to Milano C. is almost an hour. Then you need time for arrival procedures (deplaning, passport control, baggage claim, walk to station from terminal) and also the possibility you might have to wait 1/2 hour for the next Malpensa Express train. Transferring trains at Milano Centrale adds another 15-20 min.