Travelling Italy

[Iskra]

I'm after a bit of advice about travelling in Italy this summer.

I'm looking to do something like:

Arrive Milan Bergamo by plane on Sunday 21st August, stay the night there
Venice (2 nights, leave on 24th)
Florence (2 nights, leave on 26th)
Naples (1 night, leave on 27th)
Lamezia (1 night, leave on 28th)

I then need to be at Lamezia Airport on Sunday the 28th to meet some friends on a incoming flight at 1125 before heading South with them.

So that's the plan. But, the main area of advice is how best to get between the places. I'm currently thinking that an Italy-only interrail pass is going to be the best way. I'm open to alternative suggestions and advice from anyone who has travelled in Italy.

I'm aware you have to make reservations on Italian trains. Would it be best to do that from Britain over the internet or at an Italian train station in the north where they are more likely to speak English?

Does anyone have any experience of long-distance travel in Italy? Any helpful tips? Is it easy?

 

[30907]

For the trips you are planning I would book point to point tickets, as high speed services are compulsory reservation at €10 a time if you have a pass and advance tickets can be as cheap as here. I would have thought you would be able to use booked-train-only tickets.

Interrail only works if you want to be flexible - which means IC or regional trains, and on the latter fares are still cheap.

For the second and third legs I'd check out NTV Italo services as well as Trenitalia's Freccia... - and if you can get superior class tickets for an extra €10, do it.

My limited experience (TI only) is that second class is likely to be busy, but at least you'll get a seat.

See the detailed advice on Seat61.com: http://www.seat61.com/Italy-trains.htm#How to use Trenitalia.com - the website takes getting used to but works fine.

 

[Iskra]

For the trips you are planning I would book point to point tickets, as high speed services are compulsory reservation at €10 a time if you have a pass and advance tickets can be as cheap as here. I would have thought you would be able to use booked-train-only tickets.

Interrail only works if you want to be flexible - which means IC or regional trains, and on the latter fares are still cheap.

For the second and third legs I'd check out NTV Italo services as well as Trenitalia's Freccia... - and if you can get superior class tickets for an extra €10, do it.

My limited experience (TI only) is that second class is likely to be busy, but at least you'll get a seat.

See the detailed advice on Seat61.com: http://www.seat61.com/Italy-trains.htm#How to use Trenitalia.com - the website takes getting used to but works fine.

Thank you. Do you know how far in advance Italian advances become available? The high-speed lines look impressive- Florence-Naples in 3hours is amazing! I would want to try 1st class on at least one leg, so I'm glad it's worth it!

Edit: just seen bookings open 120 days before departure!

 

[30907]

We went Business IIRC from Milan to Rome - nice snack, a drink or 2 and a coffee. But check out the current offer under Le Frecce. Italo will be similar.

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

If you can fix your dates/times in advance you can book individual tickets online with Trenitalia: http://www.trenitalia.com/tcom-en
Booking seems to open 4 months in advance, so today you could book up to 26 July. They will send you e-tickets to print out.
Prices are very good this far out (though it will be peak tourist season in August).
Tickets in July are roughly (includes seat reservation): Brescia-Venice €14, Venice-Florence €24, Florence-Naples €30, Naples-Lamezia €9.
So you could do those trips for about €80.
The Italy pass seems to be £120 (4 days in a month), or £160 (6 days), but there will be reservation fees for fast trains.
Although the Trenitalia site has its foibles, I've booked tickets with a credit card without problems.
It doesn't like connections (Bergamo-Venice for instance, changing at Brescia). You have to book the separate legs.

At Bergamo Airport there is a bus to Brescia station for €12, roughly 2-hourly (takes an hour) - saves backtracking via Milan.
Times here: http://94.84.55.20/pdf/nuoviorari/BGY- BRESCIA W14.pdf
Or there is a local train (€5) from Bergamo station, also infrequent.
The booking window for these local trains on trenitalia is about 3 months.

 

[Iskra]

If you can fix your dates/times in advance you can book individual tickets online with Trenitalia: http://www.trenitalia.com/tcom-en
Booking seems to open 4 months in advance, so today you could book up to 26 July. They will send you e-tickets to print out.
Prices are very good this far out (though it will be peak tourist season in August).
Tickets in July are roughly (includes seat reservation): Brescia-Venice €14, Venice-Florence €24, Florence-Naples €30, Naples-Lamezia €9.
So you could do those trips for about €80.
The Italy pass seems to be £120 (4 days in a month), or £160 (6 days), but there will be reservation fees for fast trains.
Although the Trenitalia site has its foibles, I've booked tickets with a credit card without problems.
It doesn't like connections (Bergamo-Venice for instance, changing at Brescia). You have to book the separate legs.

At Bergamo Airport there is a bus to Brescia station for €12, roughly 2-hourly (takes an hour) - saves backtracking via Milan.
Times here: http://94.84.55.20/pdf/nuoviorari/BGY- BRESCIA W14.pdf
Or there is a local train (€5) from Bergamo station, also infrequent.
The booking window for these local trains on trenitalia is about 3 months.

Most helpful, thank you. And thanks for the heads up about heading to Brescia instead of Milan that's a good idea.

 

[Iskra]

I ended up booking 'advances' through a website called 'Captain Train'

I've booked:

Milano Centrale-Venezia
Venezia- Firenze
Firenze- Salerno
Saleno-Napoli
Napoli- Lamezia

All on the best class of travel available with seat reservations included, it has come to £212, which I don't think is too bad. It should be an interesting trip!

 

[hibtastic]

Avoid any Trenord service if you can! I travelled from Verona to Milan today and it was without a doubt the worse train I have ever been on - these trains make Northern's Pacers look like they are in good nick. The toilet was like something from a crime scene.

 

[Iskra]

Avoid any Trenord service if you can! I travelled from Verona to Milan today and it was without a doubt the worse train I have ever been on - these trains make Northern's Pacers look like they are in good nick. The toilet was like something from a crime scene.

I don't think I'm using Trenord. Verona is nice though.

In my experience the Italians have little respect for public toilets, there aren't many that are in a good condition.

 

[bradford758]

Have been to Italy a few times, mainly using local trains, the pricing for these is very cheap.
Bergamo has some cheap accommodate within walking distance of the airport if you like a walk.
It is also a pleasant town that is worth a visit,rather than passing through as I imagine most do on their way to Milan (not actually been there, but that's another story) Rather unusual, Bergamo is on three levels with a funicular between.
I've not been over since the new train company NTV started.
The British built the Italian railways, so naturally they drive on the left! Also some dmu's looking internally like 1955 British dmu !


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--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
Many routes have a limited service as in morning trains, then a gap, then continuing from lunchtime. This could make it difficult for day trips.
The InterCity type trains cost about 3x local train (regionals).
Buying tickets is easy, from the station machines that have the timetable, look for which train and the price comes up, most tickets can be used within a year as you have to use the yellow canceller before getting on the train.
I have only once had to catch a long distance train to the Cinque Terre, and was easily booked on the internet (and a lot cheaper than on the day).

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[eastwestdivide]

More advice, this time for the non-reservable local trains (Regionale and Regionale Veloce):
1. leave plenty of time to buy your tickets - I just got back from Italy, and in touristy places, there were massive queues for tickets, even from the multilingual machines.
2. as bradford758 said in the post above, make sure to validate the tickets "convalidare" in the separate validation machine (the ones I saw were green or grey, not yellow), on the platform, before boarding. I saw a guard rip up a bunch of tickets that an unsuspecting group of tourists hadn't validated.

 

[Iskra]

Thank you for your help guys.

My trip is fast approaching now. I hope it doesn't happen, but does anyone know what the score is if you miss a connection due to a delayed/cancelled train in Italy?