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Varenna to Milan to Florence to Lucca in a day - regional train conundrum

Posted by (Virginia USA) on

My daughter and I will be going to Venice and then Bellagio in August, with the next stop being Lucca for a few days. The logical path looks like the ferry from Bellagio to Varenna, and then trains the rest of the way. I've found options on RailEurope for the Milan to Florence and Florence to Lucca legs, but apparently I can't book the Varenna to Milan leg in advance because it's a regional train. That's no problem, but Trenitalia doesn't have their summer timetable up yet and I'd like to go ahead and book the other legs before they sell out at the times we want. I tried to find a Trenitalia 2018 summer timetable just to get a gist of how frequently morning trains run from Varenna to Milan, but no luck. So am wondering if I should just go ahead and book the 11:35 Milan to Florence and trust that there will be a regional train that will get us to Milan in time? (Or should I go with exchangeable tickets even though the cost goes from $90 to $198 for two?).

TIA for any advice!

Posted by
1223 posts

  1. Look at Trenitalia's website for schedule for next week to see times between Varenna-Esino and Milano. The times will most likely be the same in August.

  2. Please, do not buy the tickets through RailEurope. I picked a random day in August, and Super Economy tickets (Standard Class) for Milano-Firenze can be had for €19.90/pp. And, yes, feel free buying those now. You will have no problem getting to Milano by 11:35

  3. Fast trains almost never sell out. The one reason to buy tickets early on the fast trains is to get the cheaper price.

Posted by
3812 posts

RailEurope is a re-seller and not a reputable one.

Get Regionale tickets online after June 8 , use a date before (not next week!!!) for planning on trenitalia.com/en.html. Looking for the 2018 schedules makes no sense.

Nobody else can purchase those Regionale tickets, it's not a conspiracy against you, so they are not selling out. More, since there are no reserved seats on Regionale trains, they can't sell out. Even after the new schedules will be released. You'll have the same chances of finding a seat of the passengers who got their tickets at the counter five minutes before the departure.

There are 2 competing companies running bullet trains from Milan to Florence: trenitalia.com and italotreno.it/en The latter is usually cheaper.

Posted by
27 posts

Eric, thank you so much for those details, they are super helpful and I'm very glad to know about RailEurope. We've only traveled by train in England and then England to France, so have only booked trips previously on Great Western Railway and the Eurostar.

Dario, thanks for the links. Definitely wasn't imagining any conspiracy, just trying to figure out how to navigate unfamiliar regional trains, etc.

Thanks again!

Posted by
1648 posts

Make sure you check the ferry schedule from Bellagio to Varenna with arrival time. I think it’s a 10-15 minute walk to train station. Be sure to validate your tickets before you get on the train. If you buy online, no need to validate.

Seems that regional trains are often run 10-15 minutes late so make you you allow plenty of time to be late and Navigate Milan Centrale which is very busy and crowded.

Use Trenitalia or Trainline or Loco2 to purchase your Milan to Florence tickets. You will have specific car and seats for that leg. Or Italo trains. But I’d recommend Trenitalia so if for some unforeseen circumstance the regional train is way late, trenitalia will put you on a later train.

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