Train travel

[DedeC]

I am unsure if I need to buy two tickets or one when we travel from Lucca to Bologna......we want to make a four/five hour stop along the way in Porretta Terme for their Saturday market and to have lunch. I want to do the right thing.

We will be in Lucca from March 1 to May 8 th.....with departure tomorrow from Boston. The suitcases are packed and we are more than ready and excited.

I will be doing a blog of our stay...it really is used as my recording of our trip but I love reading about others travels and am glad to share ours. We are a retired couple in our mid 70’s and love living in Italy each spring.

Reflectionsfromluccaspring2018.wordpress.com

 

[Andrew]

As I look up Porretta Terme (not a familiar place to me) it looks like the whole trip would be on Regionali, which don't take reservations, and with that stop you'd be advised to buy separate tickets. Paper tickets, if you can get one from Lucca to Bologna with that routing, would be valid for 4 hours from when you stamp the tickets before boarding the first train, so with that stop you'd probably go past that. You can buy paper tickets from machines at the stations.

You can also buy electronic tickets on the Trenitalia site and either print them out or keep them as a screen shot on a tablet or smartphone. They would be valid for 4 hours from the departure of the first train you choose. For example, if you chose the 14.22 departure from Porretta Terme as the first train giving you a chance to complete lunch, an e-ticket for that would also be valid for the trains at 15.22, 16.22, and dare I say 17.22 even though the Bologna arrival would be a few minutes after the 4 hours? I think so, but I'm not certain.

Hoping you have a great trip.

 

[DedeC]

Andrew

Thank you for your thoughts.....I will buy two separate tickets.