Italian Train Schedules

Posted by Michael & Jennifer (Portland, Oregon) on 09/24/09 11:34 AM

We're planning our trip to Italy. When choosing a place to stay on the Mediterranean coast it would be nice to stay in a smaller town - perhaps Albenga or Diano Marina - rather than Genoa. Wherever we stay it will be a base for some day trips.

However if the smaller town only has one or two trains or busses a day going through that won't really work. I've been searching without success for train schedules and time tables. If I know where I want to go, especially between major cities, buying tickets is easy. However I'd like the schedule to browse.

Can someone please refer us to an online place for this information?

Posted by Jeff

Bend, OR, United States

09/24/09 11:44 AM

1167 posts

You can find the schedules on this website. If you can't get the English page to work use Genova for Genoa. It looks like there are lots of trains, at least from Albenga.
http://www.bahn.de/p/view/index.shtml

Posted by Greg

Palm Beach, Florida, United States

09/24/09 11:46 AM

536 posts

Hi Michael - So many choices - Sperlonga or Gaeta come to my mind , as one who has taken small groups over to Italy for many years. But, I guess my better question to you is, why not a rental car when you feel the urge to leave your base of operations and explore the region?
If not a car then perhaps somewhere like Sorrento, where the Sita bus runs over to Positano or to Amalfi. Where there is a train station so that you could jump on and go to Roma or a number of other places. Http://www.trenitalia.com should help you plan train schedules within Italy.
Another rather Incredible location to use as a base for a time would be Le Cinque Terre - A fantastic place to explore and, a place from where you can train it to other locations. Either way, you should spend a bit of time in The Villages and walking the Via dell'Amore from village to village on the cliffs. My favorite section is from Manarola to Riomaggiore - only about a half hour walk but, one you'll remember always!
Whatever you choose you guys will have a blast - It's all good - Be spontaneous!

Ciao, Greg

Posted by Larry

Elk Grove, CA, USA

09/24/09 11:49 AM

6898 posts

Very easy. www.trenitalia.com. Select the English option. A couple of hints for browsing. 1) Don't select a date more than 90 days out. Even better, select a date about two weeks out. When the schedules are updated, most schedules you see now will remain the same or change by a minute or two. 2) For time, type in a very early time (i.e. 5:00am). You'll see more runs. You can select Next to see later runs. 3) Many smaller towns or villages may not have a train station. If so, Trenitalia will not show a schedule. It's frustrating because you really don't know. 4) The system may ask to you clarify which station. All train websites will do this. For example, if you type in Livorno, the system wants you to type in Livorno Centrale. You don't know this either. Nice is not Nice - it's Nice Ville (it's in France as well). Florence is Florence. Milan is Milan. For most other cities, you can type in an English name.

Posted by Michael & Jennifer OP

Portland, Oregon

09/24/09 11:54 AM

2 posts

So indeed I do need to come up with some sample trip and play with the results that come back.

gotta admit if you enter an early morning departure you can then just keep clicking "later" to get a nice listing of trains.

thanks Jeff.

Larry,

Great bundle of a reply. Not what I hoped for, but a very workable solution. I'm searching for trains in mid October. And wow! It looks like there's a train once or twice an hour all day long. That's better than the local (Portland, OR) city bus service on a Sunday.

Now to expand the question - do they have day passes? My concept of a railpass is for a week to a month.