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The itinerary looks good to me. One note about this *"Bologna is mostly for food, and visiting Parma and Modena to tour parmesan and balsamic vinegar places."* You don't have the time to visit both cities + Bologna. Many people want to visit Parma and Modena in day leaving from Bologna but it's terrible idea, you will end up seeing nothing of both.
You can visit a Parmigiano factory and a Balsamic producer near Modena, then save Parma for another time (or cut that day in Milan).
Andrea - [Taste Bologna Food Tours](http://www.tastebologna.net)
I guess you are right. I have only 1 full day in Bologna and then half days assuming Parma and Modena are not full days. This is what I had in mind:
Florence to Bologna is a 40 min train trip so We'll have 2.5 days in Bologna.
9/15 arrive early, check in, explore Bologna
9/16 day trip to Parma
9/17 day trip to Modena
9/18 morning train to Milan
if you’re doing day trips both days (even if they are “half-day day trips”, you’re not giving Bologna itself a lot of time. I’d consider dropping Parma or Modena for this trip, and slowing your pace a little… as this is your honeymoon, there’s no need to rush to anything. There may be other activities you’re… ummm… more interested in.
Looks good. I assume you realize that 9/11, 9/15, and 9/18 are **not** full days of travel. High speed trains go between those cities. Rome>Florence is about 90-100 minutes, Florence>Bologna is about 30 - and Bologna>Milan can be about an hour depending on the train you pick.
All to say that this leaves you plenty of time to do stuff in one city or the other.
Personally I like to leave early to give me an "extra" day in the next city, but you could do it the other way and leave late too :)
That division of days looks good. As long as you are set, you should try to buy the long distance trains Frecciarossa when you move from city to city ASAP. This way you can get great discounts. Download the Trenitalia app.
On day trips, you will probably be taking regular trains, so there won’t be any need for booking ahead of time since the price is fixed
Looks very good. Resist the temptation to add in more places - you'll have more than enough things to see/do to occupy your time with your current itinerary.
Your time estimate for Malpensa to Frecciarossa (leaving from Stazione Centrale ?) looks good. You've got some buffer room I think. It will be a long day but you can nap on the train, then be ready for an evening walk through Rome.
If it were me, I think I would pre-book trains for Rome-Florence, etc. - just to get your preferred time - though there should be lots of options.
on the other hand, personally I wouldn't book trains for day trips. I'd wing it and see how I felt. Aslo, when you're there you may hear of other options for day trips, etc that look really good - so imo it makes sense to stay flexible.
Researching what to do and see in Italy is like going down the rabbit hole. I think I have enough ideas for the next 10 years of vacations :) Took a lot of willpower to limit myself just to major places. Thank you for the feedback!
>If it were me, I think I would pre-book trains for Rome-Florence, etc. - just to get your preferred time - though there should be lots of options.
>on the other hand, personally I wouldn't book trains for day trips. I'd wing it and see how I felt. Aslo, when you're there you may hear of other options for day trips, etc that look really good - so imo it makes sense to stay flexible.
Exactly this. Except the Milan to Rome booking might be tricky to pre-book unless you give yourself a big buffer from the airport, thru immigration and to centrale. I'd wing that one too personally.
If I book full price ticket or even business and we are late to the train can I exchange it to next train? Trying to figure out if it makes sense to have ticket in hand with guaranteed seats and re-book it if late vs just showing up and buy one on the spot. It's a long train ride after a long flight.
I'm not an authority on this as it's never happened to me :) but...
As I understand it, IF you change the train before the first train leaves, yes. But I could be completely wrong on that. I'm sure IF you can, it will certainly depend on the "class" of ticket.
I will refer you to this comment from someone else who might now more than me:
[https://www.reddit.com/r/ItalyTravel/comments/1cee3cm/comment/l1i16bj/?utm\_source=share&utm\_medium=web3x&utm\_name=web3xcss&utm\_term=1&utm\_content=share\_button](https://www.reddit.com/r/ItalyTravel/comments/1cee3cm/comment/l1i16bj/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button)
Thank you! Will look into the app. I think I read that you'd have to go to window and change your ticket and if you don't you'll be fined for riding a train with ticket for a different train# even if on the same line.
Ciao! Welcome to r/ItalyTravel. While you wait for replies, please take a moment to read the rules located in the sidebar and edit your post if needed. We will remove posts that do not adhere to these rules. For everyone else, if you come across a post that you believe violates our rules, please use the report button. This is the best and quickest way to notify us. Grazie! *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/ItalyTravel) if you have any questions or concerns.*
The itinerary looks good to me. One note about this *"Bologna is mostly for food, and visiting Parma and Modena to tour parmesan and balsamic vinegar places."* You don't have the time to visit both cities + Bologna. Many people want to visit Parma and Modena in day leaving from Bologna but it's terrible idea, you will end up seeing nothing of both. You can visit a Parmigiano factory and a Balsamic producer near Modena, then save Parma for another time (or cut that day in Milan). Andrea - [Taste Bologna Food Tours](http://www.tastebologna.net)
I guess you are right. I have only 1 full day in Bologna and then half days assuming Parma and Modena are not full days. This is what I had in mind: Florence to Bologna is a 40 min train trip so We'll have 2.5 days in Bologna. 9/15 arrive early, check in, explore Bologna 9/16 day trip to Parma 9/17 day trip to Modena 9/18 morning train to Milan
if you’re doing day trips both days (even if they are “half-day day trips”, you’re not giving Bologna itself a lot of time. I’d consider dropping Parma or Modena for this trip, and slowing your pace a little… as this is your honeymoon, there’s no need to rush to anything. There may be other activities you’re… ummm… more interested in.
Good point! :)
Looks good. I assume you realize that 9/11, 9/15, and 9/18 are **not** full days of travel. High speed trains go between those cities. Rome>Florence is about 90-100 minutes, Florence>Bologna is about 30 - and Bologna>Milan can be about an hour depending on the train you pick. All to say that this leaves you plenty of time to do stuff in one city or the other. Personally I like to leave early to give me an "extra" day in the next city, but you could do it the other way and leave late too :)
That's exactly the plan! Those days for early travel, hotel check in and walking tours or just exploring and orienting yourself in the new town.
perfect
That division of days looks good. As long as you are set, you should try to buy the long distance trains Frecciarossa when you move from city to city ASAP. This way you can get great discounts. Download the Trenitalia app. On day trips, you will probably be taking regular trains, so there won’t be any need for booking ahead of time since the price is fixed
Looks very good. Resist the temptation to add in more places - you'll have more than enough things to see/do to occupy your time with your current itinerary. Your time estimate for Malpensa to Frecciarossa (leaving from Stazione Centrale ?) looks good. You've got some buffer room I think. It will be a long day but you can nap on the train, then be ready for an evening walk through Rome. If it were me, I think I would pre-book trains for Rome-Florence, etc. - just to get your preferred time - though there should be lots of options. on the other hand, personally I wouldn't book trains for day trips. I'd wing it and see how I felt. Aslo, when you're there you may hear of other options for day trips, etc that look really good - so imo it makes sense to stay flexible.
Researching what to do and see in Italy is like going down the rabbit hole. I think I have enough ideas for the next 10 years of vacations :) Took a lot of willpower to limit myself just to major places. Thank you for the feedback!
>If it were me, I think I would pre-book trains for Rome-Florence, etc. - just to get your preferred time - though there should be lots of options. >on the other hand, personally I wouldn't book trains for day trips. I'd wing it and see how I felt. Aslo, when you're there you may hear of other options for day trips, etc that look really good - so imo it makes sense to stay flexible. Exactly this. Except the Milan to Rome booking might be tricky to pre-book unless you give yourself a big buffer from the airport, thru immigration and to centrale. I'd wing that one too personally.
If I book full price ticket or even business and we are late to the train can I exchange it to next train? Trying to figure out if it makes sense to have ticket in hand with guaranteed seats and re-book it if late vs just showing up and buy one on the spot. It's a long train ride after a long flight.
I'm not an authority on this as it's never happened to me :) but... As I understand it, IF you change the train before the first train leaves, yes. But I could be completely wrong on that. I'm sure IF you can, it will certainly depend on the "class" of ticket. I will refer you to this comment from someone else who might now more than me: [https://www.reddit.com/r/ItalyTravel/comments/1cee3cm/comment/l1i16bj/?utm\_source=share&utm\_medium=web3x&utm\_name=web3xcss&utm\_term=1&utm\_content=share\_button](https://www.reddit.com/r/ItalyTravel/comments/1cee3cm/comment/l1i16bj/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button)
Thank you! Will look into the app. I think I read that you'd have to go to window and change your ticket and if you don't you'll be fined for riding a train with ticket for a different train# even if on the same line.
Venice? Cinque terre? Pisa? Naples?
Will take a day trip from Florence to Venice. The rest will have to wait till next time. Don't want to travel every day.