Travelling Italy by train
It wasn’t my first trip to Italy, but after doing Milan last time I knew roughly what to expect from travelling Italy by train. From my experiences at home, I always find the trains a nightmare. I think Ben had the same worry until we got there. But we planned ourselves a 5 city tour and off we went!
What route to take?
Depending on what cities you want to see will depend on your route. I could’ve chose 5 but maybe save those for next time! We opted for flying into Milan and starting from there. Milan is the easiest hub from Newcastle Airport/North East area. We looked at trains and how long they would take before settling on our route. We opted Milan – Florence – Pisa – Cinque Terre – Bologna and then back to Milan.
Booking your accommodation
Before you start picking hotels left right and centre, check trains first. You need to see what time you’re going to get to and from places and see whether that is the first place to stay or not. Also if you’re taking baggage, look at places in a good location with baggage storage. There is places you can store near train stations in each city, as some places we didn’t stay overnight. We just booked on the usual booking.com, the genius discounts are the best if you use it enough!
Booking your trains
Once you have your route planned out booking trains is so easy. You just need the Trainline app or Omio! It’s just like booking trains at home, there’s more choice if anything too. You don’t necessarily need to book them in advance, but I would recommend just to make sure you have them sorted. Plus if you miss one you can always just on the next one too. The trains are so well signposted in the train stations and they are so easy to navigate. Each train station is really easily accessible too, so there is plenty of lifts etc if needed too.
Would you ever consider travelling Italy by train?
