Those with Itinerary Questions, Please Read This First
Those with Itinerary Questions, Please Read This Before Posting Your Itinerary:
You cannot know whether your itinerary is even possible, let alone the best itinerary for you, unless you have some idea of the travel time between your destinations.
Click here to estimate train travel times for Italy and other European countries
Or click here to go to the Trenitalia site for trips within or originating in Italy
Click here to estimate driving travel times - Google Maps
We'll try to help you, but we're volunteers here and most of us only have a couple of minutes to think about your itinerary.
You'll get more useful advice from us if you first spend some time on the above websites, whichever is applicable to your trip--before you submit your itinerary here.
Then we'll be glad to try and advise you further. You don't want us to have all the fun, do you?
Kent
Pacific Northwest 3/10/09
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I completely agree with Kent on posters providng more info on their questions. It is often several messages into the thread before the poster reveals what should have been said in the original question. But, we really do like to help.
www.bahn.de is a great website but as a frequent poster on the Italian train systems, I exclusively use www.trenitalia.com for researching Italy trips. They have recently updated their website so that fares are much easier to see. You can also research train runs that depart in Italy and terminate in another country. In fact, Trenitalia has some nicely-priced international fares (which are difficult to get as Trenitalia does not accept American credit cards).
CLICK HERE for Italy Train Schedules AND Costs. To see the costs, click on "All Solutions Prices".
Have a bit of fun first. Try looking up a Rome to Florence trip. If you researched midnight to midnight, you would see that 53 trains a day make this run. About every 20 minutes or so during the day. That seems so startling to U.S. citizens most of whom have barely been in a train station in their lives. Or, try a Florence to Venice trip. Now, let's do Venice to Monterosso in the Cinque Terre. Note the travel times. Note the type of train (R, IC, ICPlus, EN, ICN, ES, ESAV). Learn a bit more about the different types of trains. In a short period of time, you'll get quite good at it.
Still, we can help if and where you get stuck.
But can I wear shorts??(Sorry.)
For driving: Make sure you add time for getting lost (even with GPS), taking pictures, getting gas, and etc. Also, if you are new to Italian driving, you will be extra cautious initially and possibly scared to death.
See this post: http://www.ricksteves.com/graffiti/helpline/index.cfm/rurl/topic/27236/itinerary-planning-avoid-underestimating-travel-times-within-europe.html
No, Cate, you can't...unless you're traveling second class on a multi-nation railpass that has been validated properly.
This should be posted in all the categories. (Not just Italy). (I don't mean what I wrote, but what Kent posted as the OP.)
Kent, that is so funny. I've seen that page a number of times and that statement never jumped out at me.
Ha. That is funny (the Trenitalia site)!
Need a smile? Then click below. Larry mentioned the Trenitalia.com website. My favorite part of the Trenitalia site is this page click here and look at the title in red near the top..."The best solution for all your ---".
Is it just me, or was something lost (or changed, anyway) in the translation of that webpage from Italian to English?
Looks like this thread has already been hijacked, so I will chime in. I love reading "English" signs that are obvious imperfect translations. Sometimes I think someone should "wise them up," but then that would destroy the charm of it all. When we English speakers try to write something in another language we probably get it a little off, too.