Milan, where to stay during a trade fair...
 

Inadvertently booked an arrival into Milan LIN during a popular trade fair in early October. It's only one night and we're continuing by train to the coast the next day. Seen Milan before so no need to really go back. Is there an interesting secondary city/town that we can get to easily and go into Centrale the next morning?

Bergamo perhaps.
I havent been there but I am at the moment checking it out as a possible daytrip from Milan (for my own trip to Milan next month).
50 minutes by train from Milan Central Station.

I'd suggest heading to the Lake Como area. One hour by train from Centrale.
The suggestions available here are very good.

What time do you arrive at LIN, and what time do you depart Centrale in the morning?

1600 arrival into LIN and departing just after noon from Centrale. Thought of Pavia as we could catch our train (1st stop after Milan) there the next morning but rates are not exactly low either.

Had booked a B&B by got mail from the owners saying they're discontinuing the business after end of August.

Pavia has some nice restaurants in a very appealing "old town", but it is clinically dead after 7:30-8 pm. Combined with the fog for which the chances in October stand at about 80%, it provides you with a pre-suicidal atmosphere. But there are people who like this, so who am I to judge ;)

Bergamo alto or Monza.

BTW: train to which coast?!

Figure you'll get to Centrale at around 5PM or later. With a noon train out the following day, you really don't have time to visit anyplace, and would basically just be finding a place to stay other than Milan. Pavia seems a reasonable choice, as if you are going to the coast, it's on the train rout to the coast. You won't have to go back to Milano Centrale to catch a train that will go back past Pavia on the way to the coast. It gives you some extra time. There's really no place great to visit arriving in the evening and leaving the next day at noon. Pavia is as good a choice as any. You'll just be getting dinner, walking around, sleeping, get up. walk around, catch a train. At least it's a smallish town, and will be nice.

Or Voghera if you are on the way to Genova by train.

Thanks all. We are off to Cinque Terre (tickets to La Spezia but will probably get off a stop or 2 before). We had a booking in Milan but the owners claim to be closing the outfit after the end of the summer season. Been to Milan and seen the sights (except for La Scala) so no real need to look around.

I take it the Trenitalia tickets will be good for getting on and off anywhere on the route of the specific train between the beginning and end of the ticket (Milano and La Spezia).

I've never tried to do it, but I don't think so. If you take a regional train you have to stamp it or get it validated before you board. Once validated, it is good for four hours. So, you can't stay overnight in Pavia, then get on another train and continue the next day on the same ticket. Mobile online tickets are pre-validated, and are also only good for four hours. There are only regional trains to Pavia from Milan.

The travel from Pavia to La Spezia is a longer ride, and you'll be on a freccia or intercity. These will be tickets for an assigned train on a specific date so if you get off, and get on a different train on a different day with the same ticket, the conductor will consider you to be ticketless.

I'm not aware of on and off privileges, except that you can change to a train one hour later or earlier than what your scheduled one is, or to the next available train if you pay a fee of 8 euros, or somehow arrange for the conductor to give you a voucher or sticker for another train. The only way I know of to get on and off at different cities at will is with a weekly regional travel card, and that gets expensive going from one region to the next.

I could be wrong, but I just don't think you are going to be able to get on and off different trains on different days with the same ticket without it getting pretty complicated.

Sorry, just to clarify the train question.

We have tickets for, say, the IC XYZ train that leaves Milano at 1200 and arrives in La Spezia at 1500. IC XYZ stops in Pavia at 1230 and Montereggiano at 1430. I take it that since Pavia and Montereggiano are stops between the ticketed points (Milano - La Spezia) we can get on and off that one specific train anywhere en route between the ticketed points? No intending to use the ticket the day before or the day after. Just on the day for that specific train.

No, you cannot do this. You would have to buy a ticket to Pavia, then a ticket to La Spezia. There is no way to get on and off different trains. As they say in Italy, "Not possible." If you really want to see Pavia, that would only cost you about 3 euros on a local train from Milano, then you could catch an Intercity from there to La Spezia. I think that Monterregiano is a region in Tuscany, it's not on the way to La Spezia from Milano.

I believe the stop in question is Monterosso.

If I did stay in Pavia or somewhere down the line, I would buy a seperate ticket from Milano to there.

What I was saying is that I have a ticket for Day X between Milano and La Spezia on Train Y (a specific train (in this case, an IC) at a specific time on Day X). What I am saying is that I presume that on Day X, I can get on and off train Y at any points between the specifically-ticketed points (Milan and La Spezia). Pavia and Monterosso happen to be stops for train Y on Day X between Milan and La Spezia.


And yes, it is Monterosso that we're planning to get off at.