We have spent the last couple of weeks finalizing our travel plans, specifically trying to determine train schedules for traveling between various destinations. Several of the routes are on Regional Trains, and therefore, we do not need to purchase tickets in advance. They do make it possible to purchase them online through the Trenitalia website, but there are four hour time restrictions on those online purchased tickets that may make them unusable if we need to change our plans or timetables for any unforeseen reason. These online tickets are pre-validated, which sets the time limits in motion. In addition, since regional train tickets in Italy have no seat reservations, and rarely, if ever, sell out, there is not much advantage of purchasing them in advance and having them restricted by time limits.
We will just purchase the regional train tickets from automated ticket machine in the train station once we are in Italy, hopefully without credit card issues. If purchased at the station, the tickets are not necessarily for any specific day or time, so we can purchase them in advance to reduce some of the stress of purchasing them right before we travel. These tickets all need to be validated before getting on the train, which is the process of getting them time and date stamped in a machine on the platform. The validation is what makes the ticket show that it is now being used for a specific time and date. If the ticket is not validated, it is like it is not being used yet, the same as having no ticket, and the fines are pretty steep if you are caught without a validated ticket on the train.
We have identified the train schedules for our travels on the regional trains so that we can put together a travel plan to arrive in these destinations close to the check-in times for our hotels. We usually have several possible times and train numbers listed in our travel planning notebook, which allows us to have some flexibility on the travel day to leave a little before or after if the need arises. However, we always pick out our preferred train departure time and try to keep on schedule. Having alternate train departure times information readily available in our travel planning notebook reduces the stress of having to figure out any schedule changes at the station if there happens to be any delays. We will be using regional trains for the following travel routes:
- Milan to Varenna
- Varenna to Riomaggiore
- Riomaggiore to Florence
We did purchase online tickets for two of the routes we will take by InterCity trains, Rome to Naples (heading to Positano) and Naples back to Rome. These routes utilize high speed trains, and these trains require choosing specific departure times, and reserved seating. There is special reduced pricing for purchasing these tickets well in advance, and at a considerable savings over the regular day of travel fares. However, the cheapest reduced cost tickets have restrictions on making any changes to either the date or time. If you miss that specific train, the only recourse is to purchase another ticket at full price, so there is some risk.
We have spent considerable time trying to determine our schedules for those two travel days between Naples and Rome. On the first day, we had to consider the driving time between our hotel in Assisi and the Rome Termini Train Station, where we will drop off our rental car for our train to Naples. The estimated driving time from Assisi to Rome is about 2.5 hours, and we need to plan on stopping for gas, and then some amount of time for dropping off the rental car. We are planning on leaving Assisi at about 7:30 AM, and based on being a little conservative with the travel time to Rome, we chose an 11:47 AM departure time for the train to Naples. As “insurance” we also purchased another super reduced fare on a subsequent train run by Italo, a couple of hours later than the initial time, this was about Euro 20.00, much less than any regular ticket price we would pay if we had to purchase another ticket that day if we were late getting to Rome. The main rail company in Italy is Trenitalia, but Italo also has high speed service between some limited cities.
We are now trying to determine which shuttle company to use for the trip to and from Naples to Positano. This service is scheduled in advance, as well as paid for in advance, so we need to be sure of the timeframes. This is more of an issue on the return from Positano to Naples after our five nights in Positano. There is apparently a lot of traffic on the roads between Positano and Naples, and there can also be delays due to accidents. Our plan is to depart our hotel in Positano at 8:45 AM. The estimated driving time for the shuttle to Naples is anywhere from 1.5 to 2.5 hours, depending on traffic so we had to be conservative and selected a 12:00 PM train to Rome.
If all goes well and we arrive at the Naples Train Station without any delays, we may have to wait a couple of hours before we board our train to Rome. However, since we already purchased our tickets as a significantly reduced cost, waiting is just part of the equation. It will give us some time to have lunch in the train station before our departure. We just needed to be certain we are there on time because of the restrictions in making changes to the tickets. There was no super reduced fare from Italio to purchase as “insurance” on this route, as we did for Rome to Naples trip, so we had to be more conservative in selecting this departure time.
In addition to the train tickets, we also pre-purchased our vouchers for two of the most famous museums in Florence, the Accademia Gallery and the Uffizi Gallery. The Accademia Gallery is home to Michelangelo’s David Statue and the Uffizi Gallery contains many paintings from the Renaissance period, of which Florence is considered the birthplace. There are probably the two most visited attractions in Florence, so there can be really long lines for tickets of you don’t purchase them in advance. We have provided links to there two Galleries by clicking on their bold color coded and underlined names.