I'm planning my honeymoon for late June and early July. The plan is to land in Milan and hit a couple key sites before heading down to Vernazza for several days. From Vernazza we'll go to Florence via a few hours in Pisa. Then down to Siena after our time in Florence. Finally, we'll hit either Assisi or Orvieto for a few hours on our way down to Rome. All the travel will occur in a two week period, we're 28/27 respectively, and we're most certainly 2nd class people (just ask our friends, ha). Should I plan on buying all my tickets as we go or should I buy a pass ahead of time. I know this is early to look at things, but the cold weather has me in the mood to at least think about it!
Posted by
Minneapolis, MN, USA
8700 posts
You should be fine buying your Milan-Vernazza tickets just before departure. The chances of any IC train or the one EuroStar Italia train you might take being sold out are very slim. And if your first choice is sold out, the odds of the next one being sold out are even slimmer.
Posted by
Seattle, WA
1317 posts
Generally, Italian trains are best done point-to-point. No need to buy tickets in advance. A quick look at your schedule suggests that you will mostly be traveling on the slower trains and not the Eurostar Italia, so if you are interested in being flexible, you can just show up at the station, buy the tickets, and get on the train.
Side note: Florence to Siena is better by bus. Lots of discussions on the board, so just do a search (use the directions in the sticky at the top of the page).
Posted by
Oklahoma City, OK, USA
430 posts
First -- Congratulations on your upcoming wedding... and... Awesome choice of destinations for a Honeymoon! Memorable for certain.
I agree that you can make that trek cheapest on point-to-point buy-as-you-go tickets.
Where I would make exceptions in your itinerary / purchases:
1) I'd consider leaving out Assisi/Orvieto because it is not convenient (you are on your honeymoon -- save some time to be in your room, not on your way to it). By doing this you could connect Florence to Rome with a fast train, buy that ticket in advance.
2) Use a fast train to get from Milan to the CT area, buy that one in advance.
Finally... I'm jealous... ;)
Posted by
Minneapolis, MN, USA
8700 posts
Congratulations--and happy wedding and honeymoon planning!
I agree with the others that point-to-point tickets is the way to go and that the bus is your best choice for Florence-Siena.
Depending upon the time of day, your train choices for Milan-Vernazza are either a combination of IC trains (for which a seat reservation is required) and regional trains (no reservation possible) or regional trains all the way. If you choose a time and route that involves IC trains, buy your tickets in Milan a day ahead of your travel date.
To see timetables and fares, go to www.trenitalia.com. The site is viewable in English. Enter an arbitrary date within the next few days to get complete timetables and fares. The fares for regional trains won't show if you choose a date too far in advance.
Posted by
OP
Kent, OH
26 posts
Our arrival day is the day we do Milan in a couple of hours (never enough time) and then head down to Vernazza. I really don't want to buy a time specific ticket ahead of time because it will greatly reduce flexibility. However, I'd like to be on the speedier train to Levanto. Thoughts?