I'm arriving at Milan Malpensa at 2:30pm on a Monday and need to get to Florence. I believe I can take a bus to Milan's Central Sation then a EuroStar to Florence. Is there also a bus that would go from Malpensa to Florence and if so how long is the trip and the cost? I'm travelling with a lot of heavy luggage so the fewer the transfers the better. Thanks.
Posted by
Portlandia
3313 posts
Buses in Italy run regional routes. There's no service from Malpensa to Florence. The bus to Milan's Central station is an airport connector. You'll have the easiest connection using it to get to a train to Florence. Don't take the Malpensa Express train to Cardona Station. You'll have to use the subway to connect to the Central Station, which would be impossible with heavy luggage.
Posted by
Forest Grove, OR
11778 posts
There is now a Freccia train from Malpensa to Florence. From a news article in September: Trains out of Malpensa to Florence leave at 19.21 and arrive to destination at 22.00, via Milano Centrale (20.15) and Bologna. Trains from Malpensa to Naples are at 12.21 via Milan Centrale (13.15), Bologna, Firenze and Rome, arriving at 18.10. Looks like you can take a nice high-speed train now, no changes required, twice per day. On the Trenitalia website, input Malpensa as your departure point and other options come up as well, requiring changes though. We took the bus from Malpensa to Milano Centrale in October as we were headed to Venice. Traffic was horrible so the bus took an hour and a half. I would do anything to avoid that. Worst case is Malpensa Express to Cadorna, then the Metro to Centrale, but building your plans around a nice non-stop Freccia would be the best option.
Posted by
Vernon, Canada
32353 posts
John, To add to the information from the previous replies, while it is possible to travel directly from MXP to Florence, those trains are quite "limited". Most of the time the connections take passengers on the Malpensa Express to Cadorna station, Metro to Milano Centrale and then connect to the ES / AV train to Florence. Given your arrival time of 14:30, there won't be a direct train until 19:03, so you'll probably need to use the Malpensa Shuttle (Bus). The trip usually takes about 50-minutes, although there could be "exceptions" as Laurel mentioned. The Bus trip is normally quite pleasant, and you can buy tickets directly from the Driver (although you can buy inside the Terminal as well - as I recall there's a ticket machine close to the Baggage Carousels). When you reach Milano Centrale, buy a ticket to Florence either from the Kiosks or at the staffed ticket office (two floors down via moving sidewalks). There's often a HUGE queue at the ticket office, so the Kiosks are a better option and the machines adjacent to the ticket office accept Euro's as well as credit cards (AFAIK, the ticket Kiosks at track level only accept CC's). If you haven't transited Milano Centrale before, a word of caution. It's quite "chaotic" much of the time, and it would be prudent to wear a Money Belt and keep a close watch on your luggage. There are EuroStar Italia / Alta Velocita / Frecciarossa trains departing every hour from Milano Centrale. If the timing is right, you might be able to make the 16:15 departure. Travel time 1H:45M, second class fare €52 (times and fares subject to change of course). Happy travels!