I will be travelling from Monterosso to Naples (and ultimately on to Sorrento) on a Wednesday in September. I had previously researched the train itineraries for the same trip in Sept 2012 but had to cancel. When I researched this before, I found that every itinerary involved 3-5 train changes which is undesirable. I just researched this again and I now see a direct train from Monterosso to Napoli Centrale (Intercity 501 train departing Monterosso at 5:30am). However, the DB Bahn site shows this itinerary with the following caveat: "runs not every day, 28. Feb until 8. Jun 2013 Mo - Sa; not 1., 25. Apr, 1. May" and I'm wondering if anyone can help me decipher what this means. I know that the train schedules change again in June so this direct run between Monterosso and Naples might not be available this coming September but I'll keep my fingers crossed. What does this caveat mean though? Thank you in advance for your input.
Posted by
Elk Grove, CA, USA
6898 posts
Sheron, from what I see, the direct Monterosso/Napoli run does not run on Sundays. Hence the caveat message on www.bahn.de. Here's a link to what I see on www.trenitalia.com in mid-May. http://gyazo.com/d092a7faaca26c7f98ce7c4fcf41d05a Note that the first run out at 05:31 shows train changes at La Spezia and Rome. The second run, which is the one you want, also departs at 05:31 but has no train changes. If you look at the Intercity train number, its the same train number for both runs - 501. Interesting. I checked the train schedule and it appears that this train run doesn't run on Sundays. It does run on the other 6 days of the week. You can't order these tickets from Trenitalia until at least sometime in May. When you reach 119 days out from your travel date, go online and see if the run is there. If yes, you can buy your tickets. I do see a 19Euro fare for this run. I have to do the same for my wife's tickets in late September from Venice to Florence.
Posted by
OP
Alta Loma, CA, USA
1446 posts
Larry, thanks for the input. I saw the same thing that you did on Trenitalia's web-site & thought it was strange that both the first & second runs have the same Intercity 501 train number. I see what you're saying that it doesn't run on Sunday which is fine because we will be traveling on a Wednesday but what does the last part of the caveat mean "not 1., 25. Apr, 1. May". Do you interpret that to mean that it doesn't run on April 25 & May 1? It's also strange that the first run which involves 3 changes costs 45 euros & the second direct run only costs 19 euros. Why would anyone choose the first run when they could travel direct for less than half the cost? Something seems strange about this, doesn't it? As I said before, I think the schedules changes in June so I'll have to wait until then to see if this direct train is available but I'm trying to figure out if this could be a viable option or not. Thanks for your input.
Posted by
Monterey County, CA (formerly Verbania Italy-Lago Maggiore)
1626 posts
April 25 and May 1 are holidays in Italy, so maybe that's why the train doesn't run those two days.
Posted by
OP
Alta Loma, CA, USA
1446 posts
Thanks Karen, that makes sense. Still can't understand why anyone would pay more than double with 3 changes when they could pay less for a direct train but if the direct train is still available in September, I will gladly take it. Thanks again.