Our intern Molly Loeffler spent Spring break travelling Italy with some classmates. Here are her tips for saving money travelling by train….
For Spring break, myself and two friends wanted to explore as much of Italy in 10 days as we possibly could! We decided to start in Milan and head south, flying home out of Naples. Once we figured out the general direction we needed to go, we planned our route by train, trying to budget as much as possible. We purchased Eurail passes online so we could get most train tickets for free or at a discounted rate, which was hard for us to find with other train deals because we are not EU citizens.
We landed in a very snowy Milan and got on our first train to Venice. Thanks to our Eurail pass, the ticket that would have cost us about £35, cost us only about £9.Venice was overcast but this could not spoil the beauty of the island. The gorgeous canals, bridges and brightly coloured buildings were a wonderful sight to walk out of the train station to.Venice’s winding and narrows streets can be confusing but thanks to the Italian I learned in school, I eventually navigated us to our hostel on the Piazza di Santa Margherita! As we were there off season Venice there were very few people walking around as we visited the famous sites like the Piazza di San Marco and San Marco’s Basilica. We considered taking a gondola ride, but it cost about 80 euro and the water was very choppy so we decided not to. Our final stop was the Rialto Bridge, which is the oldest bridge in Venice built in 1181.
After two nights in Venice it was time to get the train to Florence, again saving £30 with the Eurail pass. In Florence we hit the main sites like the Duomo, the leather market, Ponte Vecchio, and of course the famous David. We had the option of paying 8 euro and climbing the daunting 463 steps to the top of the dome and seeing all of Florence, but instead we paid 2 euro, got on a bus to the Piazzale di Michelangelo to see sights of all of Florence including the Duomo.
After two days there, we got on another train to Cinque Terre, with a quick hour long stop in Pisato see the leaning tower. Cinque Terre are 5 small towns that are built into a hillside on the coast of Italy, famous for dramatic views and wonderful hiking trails between the towns. In La Spezia we were informed that the hiking trails between the towns were closed because of landslides, so instead we took trains between the towns which was free with our Eurail pass! Because of lack of time, we were only able to see 3 of the 5 towns: Monterossa al Mare, Vernazza and Riomaggiore. After our lovely day on the coast, we got on the train at La Spezia to go back to Florence.
Next we headed towards Rome, arriving the same day Pope Benedict XVI was making his final public appearance. We didn’t have tickets to attend but we did visit Vatican City right afterwards and saw him fly away in his helicopter the next day. Being in Rome for this was amazing as the city was buzzing with excitement!Vatican City was filled with people from all over the world just trying to be a part of history.
Our last major train travel was from Rome to Naples. We arrived at night and the next day visited Pompeii. It was so incredible to see the ruins of this city and learn more about the history. While Naples was not my favourite city that we visited, the food was incredible. It is known to have the best pizza in all of Italy, and arguably the world. Ending the trip in Naples was also nice because it was our last chance to see the coast and sit in the sun before coming back to London.
Thanks to the total of 13 trains that we ended up taking, we were able to see seven different places in Italy in only 10 days! While it was busy, my 10 days in Italy was one of the most enjoyable holidays I have ever had.