Traveling Around Italy by Train

If you like to travel around Italy by enjoying the beautiful sceneries of Italian mountains alongside the northern part of Italy, or admiring the antique landscape of typical Italian houses in the central Italy, or contemplating beyond the Italian meadows and vineyards, then travelling by train is the answer. Unlike what foreign people think stereotypically about, Italian trains are quite safe and clean, and it has a various choice of classes and types of trains depending on your budget.

If you prefer a rather slow, long track but the cheapest ticket, you can go with regional train. You can reach Rome from Milan just for around 20 Euros rather than the fastest Eurostar which charges you more than 40 Euros. It will stop at every major cities, smaller towns, even little, unknown village for tourists; and with the regional ticket you can use it for 6 hours period of time after it has been composted on the yellow machine from your first departure station. So, for example, if you are on way back from Venice and decide to visit Padova, you can stop by in that city for a couple of hours before going back to Bologna; and later you can still use the same ticket you buy for your return ticket to Bologna. For this type of train, as there is no seat number either inside the wagon neither written on the ticket, you must be quick to get a seat of your own because sometimes during the high tourist seasons, these trains can be fully loaded so it is very possible that you will stand up on your feet during the voyage!

There is another faster type of train but still with the similar price ticket, named InterCity. It still stops at certain smaller towns but surely different from that of regional trains. It has compartments which contain 6 seats each, and each seat has its own number so you don’t have to worry not to get the seat as long as you buy the ticket which includes compartment seat. If you choose to buy the InterCity train ticket without reserving a seat, then you surely have to sit down on the pliable seats located at the rear of each wagon, which are not as comfortable as the seats inside the compartment.

The fastest type of train I have ever known in Italy is the famous Eurostar, even since 2008 the Italian train company has launched its Eurostar Alta Velocità with fastest tracks available for a long journey such as Milan-Rome and Milan-Naples. These two types of train only stop at several major big cities alongside the track like Bologna, Florence, Genova, depending on your destination city. The seats are certainly much more comfortable, even though you cannot roll it out like airplane seats. In these trains you can safely use your laptop and even charge your mobile phone by stacking the cables onto the plugs available at every corner of the seats. But do not forget to always keep in mind of your own belongings, though. As to the ticket for Eurostar, you do not have to compost it anymore at the yellow machine as the period of time available for using the ticket is exactly written on it. It is different from regional train ticket, which if in case you decide to delay your travel, you can still use the same ticket you have already bought as long as it has not been composted, for a maximum period of 6 months after the purchase.

So, it is up to your choice whether you want to go with the fastest train with shortest tracks available, or the longer journey with the ordinary, regional train. But one thing to notice is, there is no really on time train you can find in Italy, even for the Eurostar. But that is what makes the unique characteristic of Italy :).

This article can also be found similarly on my another website especially designed for travelling to Italy purpose: the Italian Way.