And I kept saying this over and over again, after I went from Rome to Florence by train last year. And I could hardly wait to repeat the experience. Venice had been on my priority list for travel for a long time, so I didn't hesitate for a second to add it when I was planning the itinerary for my most recent trip through northern Italy.
The "main neighborhood" was located in Turin, so I had to move around this area. Seeing that there are a lot of daily trains connecting Turin and Venice, and my dream was only about 3 hours away, I bought my train tickets 3 months in advance.
I absolutely loved the experience of traveling by train through Italy and I don't want to keep it just to myself. I'm thinking, maybe there are other people interested in costs, ticket booking procedures, conditions in stations and trains. That's why I decided to share all this information with you. I hope it's useful!
Ready to board, right?
By Train Through Italy
Italy's railway network is one of the most well-developed, you can hardly find towns that don't have access to the rail system. In Italy there are two main railway companies: ItaloTreno and TrenItalia. Italo is the private company, a kind of low-cost on rails, but with very good, new and fast trains, closely rivaling TrenItalia, the Italian state company.
There are also a few other smaller companies, usually regional, depending on the area you're traveling in, you'll see them displayed on the boards in each station. The system is truly one to be envious of.
Where To Buy Tickets?
In Italy, like almost everywhere else in civilized countries, with a simple Google search, in 5 minutes maximum you have all the transport options: how many trains there are, the times, the duration, the route, how many stops are made on the route, what the prices are, etc.
Ahhh and you can buy your tickets online extremely easily, months in advance or 10 minutes before you get on the train. You pay for them with your card, you receive them by email, you have them on your phone and you go.
Of course, there are also options to buy tickets from ticket offices in stations or from vending machines located everywhere in stations.
Costs!
Well, there's no universal price for a particular trip. Prices vary from one trip to another, from one distance to another, from one company to another, from one moment to another and so on. When I bought my tickets for Turin - Venice and return, at the end of August, I paid about 55€ round trip.
But since the weather and the hydrological conditions in Venice played tricks on us and we left a day earlier, I had to take other tickets. Like plane tickets, there are several fare categories here too. I had opted for the cheapest ticket, so I didn't have the possibility to change the travel dates.
The earlier, the cheaper.
From Venice I bought the tickets online from the ItaloTreno website, directly from the station. The queues were tens of meters long at the ticket offices and ticket machines. Clearly, we weren't the only ones who changed our trajectory. For the segment between Venice and Milan, I paid 50€, and the distance was covered in just over 3 hours.
From Milan, I did the same, I took the tickets online, while also queuing at the ticket office. I didn't know how I would manage faster. From Milan to Saronno I traveled on a regional train, heading for Malpensa. I paid about 3€ for a ticket and in 30 minutes I was at my destination.
From Milan to Turin, I traveled the same way, by train. I took the tickets from the machine at the station (30€), a bit more expensive than I had checked online the day before.
Oh well... the costs are informative, that's what they were at the time. Prices vary as you well know and it's best to check beforehand. It's preferable to buy them online, as early as possible.
I spent quite a bit on trains, things wouldn't have been quite like this if we hadn't been forced to leave Venice a day earlier. I already had the tickets bought, but... sometimes unforeseen situations arise.
A civilized, clean world, with real stations bustling with people and trains, where things run smoothly, where everyone knows where to go, places of interest are well signposted, displays everywhere, toilets you'd love to enter, where there's hot/cold running water, toilet paper, smells like a perfume shop, enviable cleanliness everywhere, so you could roll on the floor and still not get dirty.
And the trains are like airplanes on rails. They run at speeds of 300 km/h, they have carpet on the floor, the toilets are impeccable, the seats are super comfortable, sockets and garbage bins for each seat. Ohhh my God!
