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Last month we gave you a little easy-to-remember guide with common italian phrases on how to say some basic Italian phrases for travel and words, today we’re gonna do the same, but rather than it being standard essentials we’re gonna talk about how to get on public italian transport and all the things you need to know to ask, basically Italian phrases for travel.
Cause not many of you are gonna want to drive while in Italy I’m gonna imagine, but if you want to visit the country you’re gonna need to know how to ask “When is the next train to Milan?” or “Can I have a ticket for the next train to Naples?” and that’s where we come in to help you out with an Italian phrases for travel printable PDF.
Are you interested in sicilian slang, neapolitan slang, italian expressions to know?
Simple phrases for travel in Italy for tourists
Now we have all the basic travel phrases for tourists, nice italian phrase, requests, and questions you’ll need to ask a teller, so no worries once you’ve gone through the lot of it you can rock up to any station and ask all these Italian phrases for travel.
I would like a ticket to…
Vorrei un biglietto per…
Let’s start with the basics. You’re in the train station and you need to buy a ticket to the beach, let’s say you’re in Florence so you’ll probably be going to Viareggio (the Versilia, Forte dei Marmi), it’s the closet and you know want to get to the shore as quickly as you can ( I know it’s November, but hey it’s good to dream). So get yourself to the Teller and give them a good old “Vorrei un biglietto per Viareggio, grazie” never forget GRAZIE.
I would like a window/aisle seat
Vorrei un posto lato corridoio/lato finestrino
So now you told them about the train you want to get on, but alas the Viareggio train is first come first serve, so let’s change example. You’re in Rome and want to visit beautiful Naples, cause you’ve always dreamt of walking down the streets of such a renown city. Once you ask the previous phrase (changing Viareggio to Napoli) the teller will start typing in all the stuff he needs to, but before it’s too late tell them you want a window (finestrino) or aisle (corridoio) seat, this way you’ll fully enjoy your ride.
Where does my train leave from?
Da quale binario parte…?
Once you have your ticket in hand, with your preferred allocation, you need to find out where your train is, luckily there are screens everywhere telling you on which tracks you’ll find the train you need, but in case you’re getting frustrated, just ask someone where you could find it. Italians are pretty nice people at the end of the day. Now how can you go about doing that, just look for the most expert traveler, usually men and women in business attire are on trains every day (sometimes they aren’t that nice, but it’s not your fault, they probably have a delayed train. It happens a lot) and approach them with a “Mi scusi, da quake binary parte il treno per (put city of your liking)?” pretty easy really.
Which…goes to…?
Quale… va… a?
Enough about trains (jk you’ll always be on trains if you’re traveling around Italy), this next phrase can be used for any mode of transport except planes really, cause you usually know at what time your flight is. But let’s say you’re in town and need to get on a bus, let’s say you need to get to Duomo. Now as you approach the bus stop or tram stop, you might be a bit overwhelmed by all the people there and might lose track of which bus you’re supposed to take, in this case just ask. Ask “Scusi, quale autobus va a Duomo?”. Yeah, “Scusi” is really important when talking to strangers, it’s a nice formality.
When is the next…?
A che ora è il prossimo?
This is the perfect finisher to that last phrase we just saw. You’ve just asked a kind old lady which bus would take you to Duomo, and she gives you the info you need, but now you’re asking yourself “How am I gonna find out when it gets here?”, you can simply ask her “A che ora è il prossimo?” and bam she’ll probably say “5 minuti” (5 minutes) or “Guardi è in ritardo non glielo so dire, in questo paese tutto è in ritardo che figura ci fanno fare con il resto del mondo” at this just go “eh che ci possiamo fare signora” (that last phrase means “it’s late, everything is late here, we’re making a fool out of ourselves in front of everyone” and your answer means “what are we gonna do about it, ma’am”).
Could you let me know when we get to…
Potrebbe dirmi quando arriviamo a…
Now you’ve waited all the time you needed to get on the bus you were looking for, and your mind is still spinning because of the history of late trains and buses the lady has been on and you need a moment to compose yourself, but you realise “wait a minute when do I get off?”. There are two ways to ask this one would be “Quale è la fermata per Duomo?” meaning “Which one is the stop for Duomo” or you can ask the driver “Potrebbe dirmi quando arriviamo a Duomo?” meaning “Could you please let me know when we get to Duomo?” and if you’re lucky enough the driver will be really nice and tell you to wait next to the seat and tell you when to get off.
I need to go to
Devo andare in…
Enough of Public Transport, it’s time to treat yourself to a TAXI (I TAXI SONO QUIIIIII I TAXI SONO QUIIII, that’s a Jersey Shore reference, cause they were in Florence while I lived there and wanted to die a bit inside cause I’m from NJ myself). Anyway you hop on your cab and let’s say you need to go to “Via de Benci 30” (I have no idea what’s there, but Via de’ Benci is where all the pubs are in Santa Croce) so you get on the Taxi and ask the driver “Devo andare in Via de’ Benci 30, Grazie” and you know what I’m gonna add a bonus, cause maybe you don’t have cash and want to pay by card, always ask before, cause it’s a pretty new thing in some cities, in that case before you get in, remember BEFORE YOU GET IN, ask the driver, “Scusi is può pagare con la carta?” and depending on his answer get on or ask another one.
I’d like to rent a car
Vorrei noleggiare un auto
Well I did assume that you didn’t want to drive around Italy, but hey you never know, just in case it’s good to know how to ask about renting a car, to your hotel, an info point and so on. Even though in many cases these places do have English Speakers, it’s nice to know how to speak the local language, so to ask drop a “Vorrei noleggiare un auto” and whoever is on the other side will give you all the info you need.
