London to Italy by train

Travelling by train to Italy

A choice of routes

There are endless routes to reach Italy by train, and most of them are scenic. Choose from the efficient high-speed route via Turin, or perhaps a detour through Switzerland with an overnight stay in Zürich before taking a direct tilting train to Milan via the Italian Lakes.

TGV via Turin - a scenic and gastronomic gateway to Italy

This is by far the most popular route among Inntravellers, and it is easy to see why, as it combines good-value fares with civilised departure times from London, a comfortable high-speed TGV journey, splendid mountain scenery and an overnight stay in gastronomic Turin.

You leave London St Pancras at around 8 or 9am and arrive in Paris in time for lunch, before taking your seat on an afternoon French TGV or an Italian Frecciarossa to Turin. Leaving the Paris suburbs behind, these high-speed trains glide between wheat fields, then through Burgundy’s forests, meadows and vineyards. After circling Lyon, you leave the high-speed line to climb eastwards towards Chambéry, beyond which lies some of the best Alpine scenery – you pass below towering peaks before entering the Fréjus Tunnel.

Shortly afterwards, you emerge in Italy, passing through a long, narrow valley between two mountain ranges and on to a plain. You arrive at Turin before 9pm, just in time for dinner.

It was among Turin’s elegant boulevards that the Slow Food movement first began to promote locally grown, artisanal and seasonal produce, so it makes a fitting start to your Slow Inntravel holiday. The Grand Sitea Hotel is ideally situated, within an easy walk of a wealth of good restaurants. After dinner, you could stroll around the Baroque Piazza San Carlo, then follow the grand porticoes of the Via Roma to the Palazzo Reale, the former seat of the Dukes of Savoy, often floodlit at night.

From Turin’s Porta Nuova station, many onward journeys involve a high-speed Frecciarossa train with compulsory reserved seating, travelling direct to the region of your choice or with a change at Milan’s impressive Centrale station. For some of our more rural holidays, you are also likely to have a change from your high-speed train to a local regionale train for the final leg. These local services don’t require reservations and make many stops as you head deeper into the countryside.

From Turin to Liguria

To reach our Cinque Terre & Ligurian Coast walking holiday, you have a four-hour journey from Turin. Take an Intercity or local regionale train south-eastwards through vineyards and the Asti Hills, then along a river valley to Genoa. Here, you change to another regionale train for a ride along the coast, past picturesque fishing villages.

From Turin to the Veneto, Italian Lakes & Alps

The Italian Lakes are within easy reach of Turin. To get to Lake Iseo and Lake Garda, you take a direct Frecciarossa across the Lombardy plain, alighting after less than two hours to meet your waiting taxi. Our Lake Orta to Lake Maggiore walking holiday, meanwhile, is just over two hours from Turin by local regionale train. The best views are saved for last, when the train briefly follows the lake's shore.

For our cycling holiday in the Veneto, you take a high-speed Frecciarossa from Turin to Milan, where you change to the tilting Frecciargento train. Two-and-a-half hours after leaving Turin, you reach the atmospheric city of Verona, famed not only as the setting for Romeo and Juliet, but also for its wealth of Roman monuments.

To the Italian Dolomites by sleeper train via Innsbruck

Our holidays in the South Tyrol are all within 3 hours of Innsbruck by the scenic Brenner Railway which runs south from Innsbruck through the South Tyrol towards Verona. This makes them ideal for connections with the Austrian NightJet sleeper train from Amsterdam and Cologne.

Take the direct Eurostar to Amsterdam and enjoy dinner in Amsterdam by the waterfront before boarding the sleeper. On selected dates in winter, when the direct Amsterdam Eurostar doesn’t run, you can travel to Cologne by Eurostar and high-speed train, and enjoy dinner by the Rhine before joining the sleeper. Whichever route you take, you wake up refreshed in Innsbruck, and can enjoy a leisurely coffee or a stroll before taking your seat to admire Alpine panoramas as the train crosses into Italy.

For the Senales Valley, after 40 minutes on the Brenner Railway, change at Brenner to a local train for a 2-hour journey along the Vinschgau (Venosta) branch line eastwards to Merano where you will be met for a 30-minute transfer to the welcoming Goldene Rose Hotel in Karthaus.

For the Pustertal Valley, after one-and-a-quarter hours on the Brenner line, change to the Pustertal branch line and a brightly coloured local train for a further 30 minutes, heading west, deep into the Pustertal Valley. You are met at the station for a taxi transfer to reach our Dolomites’ Three Peaks walking holiday and the Hotel Drei Zinnen in Moso.

For our holidays in the Adige Valley continue south from Brenner, gazing across vineyards towards mountains topped with castles. After 90 minutes you reach Bressanone/Brixen, stay on the train for a further 30 minutes to Bolzano where you will be met for a 1-hour transfer to our walking holiday, The High Dolomites. For the Secret Dolomites, change at Bolzano to continue on a local train which makes frequent stops along the Brenner line. Alight at Ora/Auer for a 25-minute transfer amid glorious scenery.

From Turin to the Apennines & Tuscany

To reach these regions in the heart of Italy, you take a Frecciarossa or Frecciargento on Italy’s main high-speed line south from Turin across the Po Valley towards Bologna (2hrs 20mins).

Here, you alight and change to a regionale train on the Porrettana Railway for the Secret Apennines walking holiday. This line takes you through rolling hills cloaked in dense woodland which produces the chestnuts which feature in the highly praised regional cuisine. It takes just over an hour from Bologna, but it feels like you are stepping off the train into a different world, far from the madding crowds.

For most of our holidays in Tuscany (except the one which starts in Umbria), the fastest and most convenient route is to continue past Bologna, through a series of tunnels cutting through the Apennine Mountains, to Florence (3hrs). In this famous art city, you change to a regionale train for a 1-hour journey through rolling hills, vineyards and cypress-lined wheat fields, followed by a taxi transfer to your hotel.

From Turin to Umbria

Our suggested route to reach the Hill-Top Towns of Tuscany walking holiday, which starts in Umbria, uses a combination of the high-speed trains on the outward journey, returning on the Tyrrhenian Railway. You take a 9am Frecciarossa train for the 3-hour journey from Turin to Florence, changing to a local train for a scenic 2-hour journey that skirts the shores of Lake Trasimeno, before our taxi meets you for the short drive to your hotel.

Direct connections from Turin to Italy’s Deep South - the Amalfi Coast, Basilicata & Puglia

Reaching the Amalfi Coast from Turin couldn’t be simpler. A direct Frecciarossa service leaves Turin at around 9am, reaching Salerno in under seven hours. From here, we arrange a transfer to The Amalfi Coast & Villages walking holiday. Travelling home, we arrange a two-hour transfer to Naples for the six-hour train ride back to Turin.

Idyllic and uncrowded Basilicata is eight hours from Turin by direct Frecciarossa, departing after 9am. You leave the high-speed network after Bologna and continue south-east to skirt the beaches and fishing villages of the Adriatic before heading inland through vineyards and olive groves to bypass the mountains of the Gargnano Peninsula. There is a full restaurant car on board with waiter service, and a taxi will be waiting for you when you alight from the train, meaning that you feel relaxed when you arrive at the first hotel on our Sassi & Trulli cycling holiday.

For our Pedalling through Puglia cycling holiday, take the same Frecciarossa from Turin direct to Italy’s ‘heel’ (9hrs 30mins), followed by a short transfer to your hotel.

Navigating the Frecciarossa, Frecciargento & Frecciabianca

Frecciarossa, Frecciargento & Frecciabianca (Italy)
Frecciarossa (‘red arrow’) is Italy’s answer to the French TGV, and they have answered with gusto. With a top speed of 200mph, these stylish trains boast a good punctuality record and several different classes of seating.

Standard 2nd class is comfortable, with a pair of seats on each side of the aisle, all equipped with power sockets. There is a café bar and some long-distance services have a full restaurant car with table cloths and waiter service. Premium 2nd class offers similar seating to standard 2nd class, except that the seats are leather and passengers are served a welcome drink, a choice of an espresso, soft drink or prosecco. Business 1st class affords you more spacious seating with more legroom and elbow room, with a pair of leather seats on one side of the aisle and a single seat across the aisle. Meals are not included in the fare but a welcome drink is offered, again a choice of espresso, soft drink or prosecco.

The Frecciargento (‘silver arrow’) is Italy’s other high-speed train, which runs at 186mph on the high-speed line but is also a tilting train so it can also travel on non-high-speed lines and some Alpine routes. There are two classes of service (1st and 2nd). 1st class on Frecciargento is similar to Business 1st class on Frecciarossa.

The Frecciabianca (‘white arrow’) completes Italy’s ‘Freccia’ fleet. These are comfortable modern trains with two classes of service, usually running on the non-high-speed lines.

Intercity (Italy)
The Italian Intercity trains are older, more traditional trains, sometimes with compartments, but are air-conditioned and comfortable, with compulsory reserved seating. They run at a more sedate 125mph on the slower conventional tracks, some of which are scenic coastal routes, including the Genoa to Pisa line along the Ligurian Coast. The Intercity trains also serve the slower route south from Naples to the tip of Italy’s toe, where the train is driven onto a ferry to cross the Messina Strait to Sicily. These routes are popular, especially during the summer months, so it is worth booking early to be assured of a place. Catering facilities are not always available on Intercity trains, so be sure to collect picnic provisions before leaving Turin.

London to Italy by train

Where to visit by train in Italy

Travelling by train to Italy

Key journey times from Turin

Popular Italian holidays

Navigating the Frecciarossa, Frecciargento & Frecciabianca

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