Trains from milan airport to florance

There are trains just about every hour. You can find schedules and fares as www.trenitalia.com

You don't say, Brad, where you will be in Milano. If you will be near Milano PG station or Milano Rog (not Milano Centrale because Trenitalia don't like competition from the upstart private new railway) you could use the frequent and at least a nice as and as fast as but more comfortable .Italo Treno red trains with a website at http://www.italotreno.it/EN/Pages/default.aspx

Their tickets have just been released through 21st March 2014.

For both it is best to get in while the prices are low. They release 3 levels of both second class and first class and the cheapest sell out quickly. When all the cheap seats are gone the middle priced ones sell out. If you just turn up at the station you will likely be buying the full fare (but handily refundable and changeable) tickets.

Your thread title says "Milan airport," but you didn't say which one.

If you mean Malpensa airport, there are a few trains a day from there to Florence. However, most will require taking a train from Milan Malpensa to Milan Centrale, then changing in Milan Centrale to a train to Florence. Be careful; there is also a train from Milan Malpensa to Milan Cadorna, but Cadorna has no trains to Florence, so you want to make sure you get the correct train out of the airport. Centrale is huge and takes up several floors, but all the tracks are on one level, so changing trains there isn't hard. Just look at the monitor for your departure time and train number. The final destination of the train is likely to be "Napoli" or "Roma" on the board, so don't look for "Florence" or even "Firenze" except in the intermediate station list (several people have written about missing their train due to this mistake).

If you mean Linate airport, there are no trains there. You would take a bus from Linate to Milan Centrale, then a train from Milan Centrale to Florence. The bus goes right to the station, and there are elevators and inclined moving sidewalks as well as stairs, so it's easy to get to the platform level. Don't take the cheaper airport bus that goes to the metro; that goes to a stop on line 1, and Central Station is on lines 2 and 3, so you'd have to change (no fun with luggage).

It's true that train tickets bought in advance can be discounted. However, these discounted tickets are also non-exchangeable and non-refundable. So, if your plane is late and you miss your train, you'd have to buy a new, full price ticket. For that reason, most would advise waiting until arrival to buy your ticket (trains are frequent, so you won't have to wait long). However, if the advance fare is cheap enough, you may feel lucky enough to want to take the chance.

brad,

A bit of further information would be helpful. Are you arriving in Milan on a direct flight from the U.S.? If that's the case, you'll likely be arriving at MXP Terminal 1. You'll first need to get from there to Milano Centrale, in order to connect with a train to Florence. You have two choices:

1. Malpensa Express (train) - there are frequent departures into the city. You can buy your tickets for the entire trip at the airport rail station. As the others mentioned, the Express has two destinations in Milan, Centrale and Cadorna. Be sure to board the correct train! DON'T forget to validate your ticket.
2. Malpensa Shuttle (bus) - also frequent departures. As I recall there are two different firms providing service, and tickets are not interchangeable between them. The Driver will likely validate your ticket before you board the Bus.

Travel time and costs will be about the same, regardless of which method you choose. One advantage of the train is that it's not affected by traffic (I often use the Bus, and haven't found traffic to be much of a problem).

For the trip from Milan to Florence, I'd suggest using one of the Freccia high speed, direct trains which travel at up to 300 kmH. Travel time will be 1H:40M. Note that your departure station will be Milano Centrale and your arrival station will be Firenze Santa Maria Novella (often abbreviated "SMN"). Most trains on that route will be high speed, but there are a few slower trains also. The Freccia trains have compulsory reservations, and are specific to each train, date and departure time, so you MUST be sure to board ONLY the train specified on your ticket. If you board the wrong train, you'll be subject to hefty fines which will be collected on the spot!

If you'll be travelling on any Regionale trains or Buses when in Italy, you MUST validate tickets prior to boarding on the day of travel, or again hefty fines collected on the spot.

Happy travels!