This is Vernazza which is part of the 5 crazy costal towns that make up Cinque Terre in Northern Italy. I hiked 1.5 hours from the next town of Corniglia as most of the other trails were closed for repairs. I would give it about a 7/10, not Amazing but definitely worth doing.
To hike the trail you need to buy a day pass. I had heard that the cost of the day pass (5 euros) includes a return train fair from the nearby major station that takes you to the 5 towns, so when I bought it I asked. The guy seemed to understand and sad yes it did include the train journey. Sweet! However on the way back to the main station the train conductor slogged me with a 5 euro ticket and a 5 euro fine for not having a ticket. Apparently the dude just lied to me as it is a different ticket that gives you the train trips included.
Yesterday I had a similar problem when I bought a ticket for the exact train I was catching, but failed to validate the ticket. For some stupid reason you are expected to know that you need to validate your ticket on some weird machine, even if you buy a ticket for a specific dated and timed train ticket, which makes absolutely no sense to me. It is not instructed except in small writing on the back of the ticket, because everyone reads the back of their train tickets… Again I got a 10 euro fine for this. Great.
Im not usually one to point out the flaws and annoyances of public transport systems, but after these two incidents I am sure Italy makes their ticketing procedures and info as unhelpful as possible just to dish out fines, thanks Italy you jerk. If you really want to start confusing people why don’t you just install a MYKI ticketing system and get it over with.
