On our first day, early September, in Italy (first timers!), we arrive Malpensa airport mid-day-ish, and want to get to our hotel in Vernazza via public transportation. What train (and/or bus-train combo) should we use?
Posted by
San Francisco Bay Area (USA)
15900 posts
All by train.
Go to
www.trenitalia.com
From: MALPENSA AEROPORTO T1
To: VERNAZZA
Enter DATE
Enter HOUR in 24hr clock (use the time of airplane arrival to see all trains after that time).
You will need to change trains at least twice, at MILANO CENTRALE and somewhere else on the Riviera (e.g. Genoa, or Sestri, or Levanto, depending on the train).
It is important to know that the trains departing from the airport may go to MILANO CENTRALE or to MILANO CADORNA. You must ensure your train goes to Milano Centrale not to Cadorna.
I wouldn’t buy tickets online ahead of time. If your plane is late and miss the train your money is lost. Buy the tickets at the Malpensa train station when you get there. Seats don’t sell out.
Validate your ticket (date stamp at the machine) before boarding.
Posted by
Basel, Switzerland
8889 posts
And, when you go to that Trenitalia site, in the top right you will see a small Italian flag and "ITA"
Click on that and select the Union Jack and "ENG" to change to English. Lots of websites are multilingual, the menu is hiding in a corner.
Place names will still be in Italian, for example, you change trains at "MIlano Centrale", because that is the name of the station.
Posted by
Vernon, Canada
32331 posts
pr,
That trip will take 4.5 - 6 hours or so, depending on which train you manage to connect with.
In the same situation, I'd probably take the first available Malpensa Express train from the airport to Milano Centrale, as that gets one connection out of the way. That trip will take ~52 minutes. As mentioned earlier, be sure to board the train to Centrale and NOT the one to Milano Cadorna. Also you MUST validate (time & date stamp) your ticket prior to boarding the train or risk hefty fines. You'll have to validate all locally purchased tickets for Regionale trains, buses and metro in the cities.
After you arrive at Milano Centrale, you can have a snack or a coffee while you wait for your next train. Especially as this is your first trip, I'd suggest taking the 14:05 departure, which only has one change in Levanto (that's an easy change). That solution uses an Intercity for the first segment which is a bit faster and then the Cinque Terre Express to Vernazza. You'll have about seven minutes to make the change, which should be lots of time. Total travel time on that solution from Milano Centrale is 3H:10M.
One final point to mention. If you use the Intercity train mentioned in the previous paragraph, those come with compulsory seat reservations so you'll have an assigned Coach (Carozza) and Seat no's. (Posti). Those will be listed on the ticket.
Posted by
872 posts
Tickets Malpensa Aeroporto to Vernazza.