Hello,
I will be arriving in Florence at 9:30am the 5th of June.
We want to take the train to Florence, 1st class.
Is a reservation in advance required?
Or Buy there?
How long will it take to get thru customs?
And how do you get to the train station…is it a taxi ride?
Thank you!
I think you mean to say that you are arriving in Milan at 9:30am or ??
2 months ago we flew into Milan and took the Malpensa Express to Milano Centrale. I found watching a YouTube video about arriving at the airport, passing through customs, and finding the train station to be super helpful. I bought tickets to Milano Centrale in the ticket office since the kiosks had long lines and the ticket office was nearly empty. The cost for the train is inexpensive when compared to a cab. It is much easier to get on the train if you are traveling light (carryon size). We saw some folks struggling with large suitcases. Busses are also available but since we wanted to take the train I don't have any info to share about them. Once in Milano Centrale we boarded the Italo fast train to Florence. I had bought our tickets and downloaded them 2 months before at a significant discount. Italo had better price than Trenitalia at that time. We didn't travel 1st class to Florence so can't help you there but did have a seat assignment. Watch out for pickpockets and luggage thieves...
A direct fast train to Florence is 2 hours. Standard base price is €112 each. Buy in advance either through the trenitalia app or online through a browser. There is no customs to worry about at Malpensa, or Linate, unless has something to declare. it’s immigration. It’s all automated machines. You exit the plane, enter the terminal, and the officials will show you where to go. The machines take your photo after scanning your passport and then afterwards you walk up to have your passport stamped. When we arrived on Saturday at Malpensa they were separating those of us with USA passports from everybody else. We were out of the airport in less than a half hour. Afterwards there are signs how to get to the train which is per of the airport services. It’s about a ten minute walk when the automated walkways are functioning otherwise it’s 15 minutes. Tickets for the Malpensa express can be purchased using machine or agent both of which are next to each other above the train platforms. It’s €13 each. The train to Milano Centrale is about 45 minutes. After which you look at the timetables to see what platform your train to Florence will be. Easy peasy. The Malpensa website has a ton of info on this. You can purchase both tickets at the same time on the Trenitalia website as well but you’ll still have to change in Milan. When searching their schedules you’ll have to enter the place names in Italian. For example, Milano for Milan, Firenze for Florence, other wise it will give you errors and won’t know what you want. Good luck and happy travels.
FWIW, our second-class reserved seat tickets (you have to reserve a seat) on frecciarossa from Milano centrale to Florence were around 39 euros each for this July - I think I got a small discount as we are traveling in four.
Purchased on Trenitalia. Download the app.
We will be doing the same in a few weeks and were told by our hosts and many people on this forum NOT to buy our tickets in advance but to purchase on the day of travel, rather than risk not making the train due to flight delays, etc.
