The question: "Ry and I are leaving for Italy in five weeks and are so pumped. I think we have everything figured out, but I am a little confused about the train. Have you guys used Trenitalia? If so, did you use the Trenitalia pass? It obviously seems like the best option for the amount of traveling we are doing, but I don't know much about it. I think the thing I'm most concerned about is getting from Rome to Milan to make a flight early in the morning. Do you think it's safe to buy a train ticket there, or purchase it ahead of time?
The answer: For the Trenitalia pass, are you using Eurail or RailEurope? These two are pretty much equally priced and seem like the best deal. We have used Eurail twice and loved it. We had an unlimited pass, but the one where you purchase a certain amount of days would also be good.
A little tip on the pass where you have a certain number of travel days: Use your days for long distances and maybe just buy a separate ticket for a day trip. For instance, if you’re spending five days in Florence but on one of them you want to go to a small town about 30 minutes away that has a ton of wineries, buy that ticket because it should only be about $10-20 per person and then use the travel days for the two-hour trip from Rome to Florence that would cost a lot more on its own. Or if you go to Cinque Terre (one of our favorite places on the coast), there are five towns connected by train and it's only a few Euro to buy a day pass between the five instead of using up a day of your Eurail pass. I wouldn’t get carried away with this, but it might save some money by buying a pass with a few less days if you need to.
As for the train from Rome to Milan and an early morning flight that you mentioned: How early is early? I saw on the Rail Europe Web site that the train takes three and a half hours.
The Malpensa Express departs from Terminal 1 for Milan's Cadorna Rail Station every 30 minutes. It also stops at Milan Bovisa and Saronno stations. First train departs Malpensa at 06.45, the last train departs 21.45. Journey time is around 40 minutes.
• Fare: EUR 9.00 one-way. Same day return is EUR 12.00, open return EUR 14.50.
The Malpensa Express information line is 02 20222.
There are also rail links from Malpensa airport to Milan Central and Milan Garibaldi Stations via Gallarate. A local shuttle bus connects the airport with Gallarate Rail Station every hour.
• Shuttle bus fare: From Terminal 1 EUR 1.30, Terminal 2 EUR 1.05.
To Milan Central trains depart Gallarate from 05.54 until 23.24.
To Milan Garibaldi trains depart Gallarate from 05.30 until 23.00.
The State Rail Information number is 848 880.
So add another 40 minutes to your travel time, plus the normal two hours you "should" arrive before takeoff. That means you should be leaving Rome six hours and 10 minutes before your flight leaves; even a noon flight means you’re leaving Rome before 6 a.m.
Our advice (and we’ve done it many times before) is to get to Milan the night before and sleep in the airport. (Make sure it is open 24 hours before doing so.) Every airport has canceled flights or people waiting for family to arrive so it isn’t odd for people to be there at all hours. Take ear plugs and an eye mask and be prepared for a bad night’s rest, but you won’t miss your flight. www.sleepinginairports.net
If you’re going the night before, I would probably use my rail pass because you’ve given yourself extra hours to spare if something were to happen. If you’re going in the morning, I’d buy that ticket ahead of time so it doesn’t sell out, especially if it is during rush hour times or near the weekend.
For a video that shows the inside of one Trenitalia train check out this video, but remember that all trains are different.
A Trenitalia train. Graffiti in, on, or around trains in most countries is very common.
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