Train from Piombino to La Spezia

[Lorns Bruwer]

My sister and I will be in Tuscany from Mid September until early October. To say we're excited is an understatement!!
We are going to visit Elba Island after a week long stay in the Chianti region of Tuscany and need to catch a train from Piombino (after we disembark the ferry) and travel through to La Spezia in order to get to Vernazza where we are staying for four nights. Please could you recommend how we go about booking this train trip as I am battling to navigate the Trenitalia website. Can we leave this sort of booking for when we actually arrive in Italy or should we book it in advance before we arrive? Please
share any tips or experiences you've had with booking a train trip like this. Thanks so much.

 

[Chiara]

Dear Lorns,
I perfectly understand your disappointment for trenitalia website, sometimes I feel like need an instruction booklet!
Anyway, you don't need to book this train trip in advance before you arrive in Italy, you could reserve it when you arrive there, better if a few days earlier.

I think you were maybe battling with the website because when you are on the English home page, on the left hand, you read 'Ticket' (on a red background) and 'Passes' (on a grey one). You need to click on Ticket and enter the departure and arrival station.
Coming from Elba, you'll arrive at Piombino Marittima Station (located just in front of ferry boarding) and need to go to La Spezia Centrale station (with a change of train), where you'll take the train to Vernazza. Anyway, since booking train ticket online on this website is quite complicated and you don't necessarily need to book the trip in advance, I suggest you do it once you got there.
You can book train tickets at ANY train station in Italy. You then have the chance to explain your needs and preferences to the ticket agent, who will immediately issue your train ticket with no feed added.

Greetings from Tuscany

Chiara