Lombardy pass 3 days. Italy, Lombardy - rail transport. Metro and commuter trains in Milan

This evening I begin a long (otherwise it won’t work) and, I hope, interesting story about a trip to Lombardy in January 2015. In fact, attentive readers have already seen the first signs of the upcoming inevitable Lombard epic in the lengthy story about the Ambrosian rite (and then three posts). It’s clear that I could only practice this ritual in Milan and its environs...

The trip to Milan turned out to be full of surprises. Initially, tickets were taken from Alitalia for the flight St. Petersburg-Rome-Milan and back on January 01 and January 7, respectively. Our State Duma has repeatedly frightened us by shortening the New Year holidays, but extending them in the form of vacation at our work is strictly prohibited, which is why initially (spring 2014) the run through Lombardy was planned to be so short. But sometime in the summer of 2014, Alitalia predictably acknowledged their impotence in their inability to operate flights from St. Petersburg to Rome in winter, and they also refused to change tickets for Aeroflot flights they sold without additional payment. As a result, Alitalia was sent on a long-distance sex tour, although, to their credit, they returned the money within three days.

Instead of Alitalia, Lufthansa undertook to take me: more or less acceptable tickets were at that moment for January 01 and 09, and, although at that time the exact dates of the New Year holidays were still unknown, I decided to take a risk. In this case, I was clearly entitled to champagne: the holidays ended up stretching all the way up to January 10 inclusive, and I didn’t have to take time off from work: the trip clearly ended during the holidays.

This time I flew there via Frankfurt, and back via Dusseldorf. When selling tickets, Lufthansa honestly warned that the return flights Milan-Dusseldorf and Dusseldorf-St. Petersburg were operated by their daughter Germanwings, but I didn’t even pay attention to this: both daughter and mother - as long as they got there. As it turned out on the return flight, Germanwings is a low-cost airline with all the expected amenities: passengers on board who slept the entire trip because they were not supposed to have food at all; luggage racks packed to capacity (carry-on luggage is free, but luggage costs extra money); delays and worries. I had a Lufthansa ticket, and my luggage was for nothing, I was even supposed to have lunch: one sandwich, one 0.2 liter bottle of water and one glass of tea; for everything else I had to pay (what else! We had a crisis raging, and I saved on everything).

The Milan-Dusseldorf plane was at most one-third full, and mostly the passengers were compatriots who, like me, had chosen a connection in Dusseldorf. At the time planned for landing, we had not even begun to descend; the delay ended up being half an hour. And only 55 minutes were allotted for docking. The men were smoking and freaking out, the women were drinking and were indignant, but the general hope was that the airport in Dusseldorf is small, we will only need to go through passport control, and we will make it in time.

No matter how it is! It was necessary to wander around the airport for a long, long time in order to eventually go through a personal search. In those days, there were terrorist attacks in Paris, and security measures were clearly strengthened. And since the scrupulous Germans took up the matter, the inspection threatened to be long and painful. First, they put me in a glass jar where they scanned me (well, now let the burghers, who have admired my biceps and abs, eat out the baldness of their fat-bellied burghers, that’s how they do it!); then they also groped me because the scanner didn’t like something (as it turned out, the scanner didn’t like the cross on my neck). The backpack was examined with passion: after all, without suspecting a second inspection, I bought alcohol at the Milan airport; The duty free packaging had just not been examined with a magnifying glass. And the departure time of my plane was rapidly approaching! Finally, having gone through these ordeals, I ran to the gate, looking for passport control along the way (otherwise you will slip past, then prove that you have left the Schengen zone ) As it turned out, for departures from Schengen in Dusseldorf, only two outer gates are open, in front of which passport control is set up. Here, compatriots smoked and drank, freaked out and were indignant again, because the German border guard didn’t give a damn about the fact that we were in a hurry. I to I was calm about this moment, like a mummy from the Capuchin Catacombs: firstly, the landing was delayed (it wasn’t even shown on the board), and secondly, in the evening of the same day another plane was flying to St. Petersburg, so I would have gotten there anyway home.

To put an end to this nervous part of the story, I’ll say right away that everything ended well: the landing was delayed by almost an hour, so everyone made it in time. Moreover, we apparently had a tailwind blowing from us, because we arrived in St. Petersburg ahead of schedule.

Now about Milan. There, as you probably know, there are two airports: Linate (within the city, a regular city bus goes to the center from there) and Malpensa (far from the city). I flew in and out of Malpensa. Special Malpensa Express trains run to Malpensa from two city stations: the one that goes to Cadorna station is really an express train (about half an hour, a couple of stations along the way, and sometimes not a single intermediate stop at all); the one that goes to Milano Centrale makes a bunch of stops and takes 50 minutes. For logistical reasons, however, it was convenient for me to take the train to and from Centrale.

The fact is that on this trip Milan itself did not interest me (except for two liturgies in the cathedral and a free visit to Brera on the first Sunday of the month), but endless travel around Lombardy was planned. Therefore, I did not splurge on a hotel in the center, but booked the cheapest of the decent ones - Hotel Vienna (available on Booking, 35 euros per night) near Milano Lambrate station. Trains from all the train directions I needed (except Varese) went through Lambrate, which was literally a three-minute walk away. And for trips into the city for the three specified purposes, there was a metro station nearby. If we translate Milanese realities into St. Petersburg ones, then we can say that I lived approximately on Udelnaya, only long-distance trains do not stop here at Udelnaya.

Of course, you could get from Centrale (and from Cadorna) to Lambrate by metro. But, firstly, we already had a crisis, and every euro counted, and, secondly, I still left the hotel before the metro opened. Therefore, a hiking trip from Centrale to Lambrate was planned in advance: https://goo.gl/maps/pJeVz. I relied on my memory and didn’t take the map out of my backpack, so I made an extra detour through the Lima metro station. As a result, instead of 30 minutes, I walked for about 50 minutes. Both there and back (I didn’t allow any detours back) it was an extraordinary walking walk: on the evening of January 1, as in the early morning of January 9, Milan was as if dead: no pedestrians, no there are very few open shops and very few cars. And Porpora Street - the main part of my route - was not particularly beautiful, so Milan immediately opened up to me from its, uh, unpretentious side.

A lot of bad things have been written about the Vienna Hotel on Booking, but, in my opinion, such reviews were written by very picky people. Clean rooms, kind service, a very quiet street, there are a lot of eating places nearby (I always ate at the La Cuccagna trattoria - the corner of Giovanni Pacini and Giuseppe Ponzio streets, I highly recommend it), the railway and metro are nearby, and for those who want adventure - right from Lambrate There is an old-fashioned tram to the Duomo. True, breakfast, air conditioning and internet are for extra. money, but they give fair warning about this in advance. I didn’t need air conditioning and the Internet, and for 5 euros I ate my fill at breakfast.

Recommended reading:
1. Morton "From Milan to Rome." I’ve praised him many times, but I can’t resist this time either. A witty author, a lot of historical information, a lot of travel impressions, sheer optimism and good English humor.
2. Muratov “Images of Italy”. It’s heavy, but it fills your head with useful information, which is why it’s useful. Sometimes the author gets “stuck” and spends several pages talking about the unknown work of an unknown author with a name that is difficult to pronounce. Most often, such an author dates back to the period of the XIV-XVI centuries.
3. Ippolitov “Especially Lombardy”. An author with monstrous conceit and narcissism, which is why his book is often called “Especially Ippolitov.” Still priceless in places.
4. LJ authors.

SINGLE TICKETS

Ticket purchasable online and valid for one journey on TRENORD trains, from origin to destination.

DIGITAL FORMAT TICKET (online, APP Trenord)

Use: one-way, on the route indicated.
Price: based on the distance in km between origin and destination, 2nd class only.
Purchase: ONLINE, APP Trenord.
Validation: NO.
Validity: for 3 hours for up to 50 km, 6 hours for between 51 and 200 km, 24 hours for over 200 km from the date and time indicated on the ticket (Cross-border tickets: 4 hours).

HOW TO BUY A TICKET ONLINE

1. Using the timetable, search for the route, date and time of your journey;
2. Sign in on your MyTrenord account or ;
3. Choose your fare (adult, senior, child) and any surcharges (bicycles, pets);
4. Go to your shopping basket, check that the journey details are correct and click on "Confirm";
5. Complete the purchase of your tickets by credit card or PayPal;
6. The virtual ticket will be sent to your e-mail address/via SMS, so you can print it/show it directly to the ticket inspector using your mobile phone.

HOW TO BUY A TICKET ON THE TRENORD APP

1. Search for the station of origin, destination, date and time of your journey. Select a train from those available and click on the three dots symbol. A page detailing the train route will open. Check that the travel details are correct and click on "Purchase";
2. Select the number of tickets you require and the type of fare, from: adults, children , seniors , bicycles and pets. You can also opt to receive your PNR code via SMS by clicking on the button provided and entering your mobile phone number;
3. Proceed to payment. You can purchase your tickets using credit card , PayPal or other credit cards through the PayPal service;
4. Your purchase is completed. Before closing, wait until you are redirected to the Trenord APP. Check your email to make sure you have received the virtual ticket, to be printed/shown directly from your phone to the inspector.

PAPER FORMAT TICKET (to be validated)

Use: in either direction, on the route indicated.
Price: based on the distance in km between origin and destination, and on the class.
Purchase: ticket offices, resellers, self-service machines.

Validation: compulsory.
Validity before machine validation : no expiry.
Validity after machine validation: for 3 hours for up to 50 km, 6 hours for between 51 and 200 km, 24 hours for over 200 km (Cross-border tickets: 4 hours).

PAPER FORMAT TICKET (manual validation)

Use: in either direction, on the route indicated.
Price: based on the distance in km between origin and destination, and on the class.
Purchase: ticket offices, Trenord resellers, Trenitalia resellers.
Validation: compulsory.
Validity before validation: no expiry.
Validity after validation: for 3 hours for up to 50 km, 6 hours for between 51 and 200 km, 24 hours for over 200 km (Cross-border tickets: 4 hours).

ELETTRONIC TICKET

Use: one-way, on the route specified.
Price: based on the distance in km between origin and destination, 2nd class only.
Purchase: ticket offices and resellers on the Laveno-Varese-Saronno-Milano, Como-Saronno-Milano, Novara-Saronno-Milano, Asso-Seveso-Milano, Milano-Malpensa, Saronno-Milano-Lodi and Mariano/Camnago-Seveso-Milano lines .
Validation: compulsory.
Validity before machine validation: no expiry.
Validity after machine validation: for 3 hours for up to 50 km, 6 hours for between 51 and 200 km, 24 hours for over 200 km (Cross-border tickets: 4 hours).

MULTI-DAY PASSES

The "Io Viaggio Ovunque in Lombardia" offer is for tickets for short periods (1, 2, 3 or 7 days)for travel on the entire local public transport network(urban and intercity buses, metropolitan trams and suburban and regional railways) in the region of Lombardy.

They allow you to travel throughout Lombardy using any means of public transport: urban and suburban buses, trams, trolley cars, subways, suburban and regional trains in 1st or 2nd class, boats on Lake Iseo, on-demand services, cable cars and funiculars within the public transport network.

FARES
1 day (16.50€)
2 days (27.00€)
3 days (32.50€)
7 days (43.50€)

Purchase:railway ticket offices, self-service machines, Trenord authorized resellers or local transport agency resellers.
Validation: compulsory.
Validity before machine validation: no expiry.
Validity after machine validation: Validity depends on the type of ticket: it can vary from 1, 2, 3 to 7 days.

The metro in Milan (Metropolitana di Milano) appeared in 1964. Underground highways densely cover the city and even lead beyond its borders. Four lines, more than a hundred stations, serve to save residents and guests of the city time spent on travel.

The Milan metro has a total railway track length of about 95 km. Moreover, there are both underground and above-ground sections of the route. On the metro map you can see 4 lines.

Red (line M1, Linea M1)

It was with her that the metro in Milan began. Construction work started in 1957, with the goal of opening the first subway section to passengers in 1964. Line M1 has a length of 27 km, connecting the northeast with the northwest of the city, while there is also a small branch towards the southwest. Starting station: Sesto 1º Maggio, ending stations: Rho Fiera and Bisceglie.

There are a total of 37 stations within the Red Line. By following this line you can switch to the Green Line (Loreto, Cardona station) and the Yellow Line (Duomo station).

Green (line M2, Linea M2)

It stretches over 39.5 km and has 35 stations. The carriages of this line can travel from the northeast to the south of Milan. The terminal stations of this line are Gessate, Cologno Nord, Milanofiori Forum, Abbiategrasso. Several stations in the southern direction are ground-based. The metro on the section Famagosta - Milanofiori Forum smoothly turns into a commuter service between Milan and the town of Assago.

Yellow (line M3, Linea M3)

Length - 17 km, has only 21 stations. A relatively new line was built in 1990 to connect the north and south of Milan. Line boundaries: Comasina station in the north and San Donato station in the south. Moving along the M3 line, you can make transfers to other metro lines: line M1 (Duomo station, Duomo), line M2 (Centrale station), line M5 (Zara station, Zara).

Lilac (line M5, Linea M5)

Milan's newest metro line, which went into operation at the beginning of 2013. The locomotives of this line operate fully automatically without the participation of human drivers. This transport line leads from the northeast of the city to the west. The movement is carried out within the framework of: Bignami and (San Siro Stadio). Intersection stations with other lines: Zara (M3), Garibaldi (FS, M2) and Loto (M1).

Line M4

It was assumed that the work of the Milan metro would be of better quality due to the launch of another line - M4, was supposed to go into operation in 2015, timed to coincide with the opening. However, funding delays have prevented the M4 line from being used to this day. It is expected that the fifth and fourth by number metro line will be available to passengers no earlier than 2022.

Each line has its own color, which is indicated on the metro map. In addition, stations and trains are decorated in the colors of the line.

Milan's metro system is connected to the city train line "Passante Ferroviario", having 8 ground stations on their route.

You can also use the 14th suburban lines (Linee ferroviarie suburbane Milano) within the city. A detailed diagram can be viewed on the official website www.trenord.it

Helpful information

The M1 line will be the most useful for tourists., since in the immediate vicinity of its stations there are the main ones: the Victor Emmanuel II Gallery, exhibition complexes.

Lines M2 and M3 (station Centrale) suitable for those who want to quickly get to (Milano Centrale).

Opening hours

From 06:00 to 00:30, trains depart with a break of 5 to 10 minutes. Two holidays a year: December 25 and May 1, shorten the working day: from 07:00 to 19:30.

How much are the tickets

It will be useful for tourists who decide to visit Milan to know that the transport company ATM serves not only the metro, but other types of urban transport: buses, trams, electric trains. Therefore, a traveler can buy tickets valid for all types of municipal transport:

• City ticket (Biglietto Urbano)- costs 1.5 euros, valid for 90 minutes after composting. Suitable for one trip by ground transport, metro or city train.
• Ticket for 10 trips (Carnet 10 viaggi)- costs 13.80 euros and is good for 10 trips of 90 minutes. Travel conditions are similar to the City Ticket.
• Ticket for 4 trips (BI4 Biglietto integrato per 4 viaggi)- costs 6.00 euros, for 4 trips of 90 minutes.
• 1 day ticket (Biglietto giornaliero)- costs 4.50 euros, good for 24 hours after composting. Suitable for all types of urban transport, including trains.
• Ticket for 2 days (Biglietto bigiornaliero)- costs 8.25 euros, good for 48 hours from the moment of composting. The conditions are the same as for a 1-day ticket.
• Ticket 2x6 (Settimanale 2x6)- costs 10.00 euros, allows you to make 2 trips within 6 consecutive days. If the ticket has not been used on 1 or more days of the week, you can use it on Sunday.
• Evening ticket (Biglietto serale)- costs 3.00 euros, valid from 20:00 until the metro closes.

A travel card will greatly facilitate the use of metro services - rechargeable plastic card “RicaricaMi”, in which 4 types of tickets can be activated. The basic cost of the card is 2.50 euros, this money guarantees one trip. Then, if desired, the traveler can add to the pass: several options from the above tickets.

It is important to remember that paper and electronic tickets must be validated at the beginning of the trip. Controllers are actively working in the metro, which can impose on the “hare” fine of 100.00 euros!

Where can I buy a ticket

You can buy a ticket or top up your card at special machines inside metro stations. In total, there are about 2,200 ticket sales points in Milan: tobacco and newspaper kiosks, bars, bus stops. In addition, sending SMS with the text “ATM” to number 48444, will allow you to pay for: a single trip on the metro for 1.50 euros.

You can plan your trip, view a metro map, and check ticket prices on the metro website. The resource supports Italian and English. Basic information in Russian is presented in this article. 🙂

• Official site: www.atm.it
• Online metro map: www.giromilano.atm.it

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