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Train Travel to Tuscany, Umbria, Cinque Terre

Posted by (Austin) on

I am planning a trip next Spring (late April - mid May) to Tuscany (Cortona, Siena, Florence), Umbria (Orvieto and Assisi), Cinque Terre, and then onto Provence, and Barcelona. I have the option to fly either into Rome or into Milan. Neither of those cities are a part of my itinerary, so my plan is to travel by train from the airport train station to Tuscany/Umbria. Using the Trenitalia and Deutsche Bahn websites, I can't find any direct connections from either airport (Roma-Fiumicino, or Milan MXP) to towns in Tuscany or Umbria.

My questions:

Is there direct travel from the airport of either Rome or Milan to other regions, or do I have to go into these cities' main train stations for the connections?

Does anyone have a recommendation/experience which city, Rome or Milan, is best to start a journey into Tuscany/Umbria? (Geographically, Rome seems more practical, but is Milan easier to launch my train travel from?)

Can anyone advise/recommend which is better for my small town, slower travel itinerary: point-to-point or rail pass?

Found a cool interactive map on RailEurope:
http://downloads.raileurope.com/map_europe/italy.html

Thanks

Posted by
6898 posts

The reason that you cannot find direct connections from Milan-Malpensa or Rome-FCO is that there are none (if you are defining "Direct" as no train changes). From Malpensa, the best way to the train station from the airport is by an express bus. From Rome FCO, the easiest way to Rome Termini is the Leonardo express train. At Rome Termini, you need to change to another train.

Next, most of the places you have listed in Tuscany and Umbria are not on the Eurostar runs. As beautiful as they are, they must often be reached by a local train. For example, you can get a direct train from Florence to Siena, Cortona or Assis but you can't from Milan. You will change trains in Florence. Same with Rome. You can get from Rome to Assisi and Cortona on most runs without a train change but for everything else it's not only a train change but it may be a change to a bus.

As for your question on a railpass. Please don't buy a railpass for the journeys you described. It's not worth it. Rides on the many local R trains that you will take are very very cheap. P2P is far less than the cost of a railpass. Buy your tickets when you get there. Don't fear a train station or the train system. The trains do not fill up so don't worry. If you absolutely MUST have tickets before you go, you can buy them at www.raileurope.com or www.italiarail.com. Just don't buy the railpass. They are a bit more expensive on these sites because both are ticket brokers.

Posted by
25 posts

Thank you, Larry. This info is most helpful! Especially thanks for the link to Italia Rail. In all my web research, I had not yet found that site! Great website!

I found a link on that site's Eurostar page to a map of the "ES Italia Service" (big blue map). I also found a direct link to the Trenitalia time table:
http://orarioint.trenitalia.com/binXML/query.exe/en?

I may have found a map with the "local R trains" routes, "Italy Rail Map" (big gold map):
http://www.italiarail.com/tickets/IR/IR-map.asp?AFF=TRE

I guess the light blue lines are the local R trains.

Does anyone know where I can get local maps of these smaller routes, as well as bus maps?

I don't mind buying my tickets when I get there. I'm starting my trip after Easter to avoid the crowds. Thanks again for the tips!

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