I apologize if this has been posted a million times, but I have a question on advance purchase and seat reservation. DH and I will be in Italy in 14 days. Due to skymiles, we had to fly in/out of Milan Malpensa. We're planning on taking the train to Rome immediately and staying 3 days. Then train to Florence for 3 then train to Venice for 3 then back to Milan for 1 before flight out. We had hoped to stay in Assisi for one of the days of Florence, but there was no service (bus or train) due to Easter Sunday and Monday. Much info says try point-to-point or just go to station and purchase tickets. Other info says reservation is mandatory and might be required days in advance. Help!
Posted by
Elk Grove, CA, USA
6898 posts
Jana, from the Milano Malpensa train station, you have a 5.0hr journey to Rome with one train change at Milan Centrale. BTW, you will be stopping in Florence on the way. The fare will be 93E. Second, there are trains from Florence to Assisi on Easter Sunday. In fact, there are several. The fare is 11.75E. The journey will take 2.5hrs. each way. You may not, however, find the shops open once you get there. Here's a link to the morning train schedule for Easter Sunday. http://orario.trenitalia.com/b2c/nppPriceTravelSolutions.do?car=0&stazin=florence&stazout=assisi&datag=24&datam=04&dataa=2011&timsh=07&stazin_r=Staz_DA&stazout_r=Staz_A&timsm=53&timsm_r=53&lang=en&nreq=5&channel=tcom&npag=1&lang_r=it&nreq_r=5&channel_r=tcom&npag_r=1&x=41&y=12
Posted by
Ballwin
833 posts
P2P is a good idea, but I would purchase your tickets ahead of time. If you know a definite schedule a few days ahead of time you can take advantage of the MINI fare which will make your journeys cheaper. You can find a lot of train information and explanations of the fares on Ron in Rome's blog if you haven't already checked it out.
Posted by
Caruthers, CA, USA
244 posts
Jana, I think you're thinking of train travel in Italy like plain travel in the states. It's not like that. A Boeing 737 has 121 seats, and when they are gone they are gone. The train has 800 seats, and if they are gone (rarely) another train leaves in an hour. Not sure if that analogy works well. I think the only reservations you'll need is seats on the more expensive and faster trains. You'll enjoy the mini fares on these. Others like the train, but be sure you know how to get to the main Milan Train station. I think it might go to another station in Milan. The Malpensa Shuttle, a bus, http://www.malpensashuttle.it/ takes you to the central train station. There is discussion on this site. The train is a little faster, except at rush hour when it is much faster. However, the bus runs more often and is cheaper. Try to use the Trenitalia site for info. There is a british flag in the upper right corner to convert it to english. RailEurope or whatever it's called just marks up the Trenitalia tickets.