Is it worthwhile to book train tickets in advance?
We will be traveling in Sept/Oct. One major route (Florence to Rome) while the other 3 train trips are Rome to Volterra, Volterra to Manarola and Manarola to Florence.
Posted by
San Diego
1540 posts
Definitely buy now. I am going in late Aug. and most of Sept. I found that I was too late for the super economy tickets on a couple of trips, but able to get them on others. I did not use trentalia, I used ItaliaRail. I also found that some routes were sold out (certain times Milan to Venice)
So, yes - book now.
Posted by
Pa and Italy
4152 posts
You will usually only find trains sold out on public holidays. This doesn't mean you can't get from point A to point B it just means that the 9am train might be sold out so you'll need to take the 9:30 train. On popular routes there are usually several trains an hour departing so finding them all sold out is a very rare thing. If you wish to find the lowest fares it's best to buy online ahead of time. With the majority of your trips you'll be on the cheap regional trains so if you wish to buy them at the station you can. These trains never sell out but there are no seat reservations. Donna
Posted by
Elk Grove, CA, USA
6898 posts
Several of your runs will be on Regionale trains. You can't purchase them in advance online unless you buy within 7 days from the date of travel. No discounts and no seat reservations. Not much you can do in advance on these runs. You can easily buy the tickets when you get there. If you are interested in locking in a specific date and departure time, you can get some nice discounts on the run from Florence to Rome. You can book them now by registering on www.trenitalia.com. The tickets do have restrictions. For Volterra, there is no train station there. You can either take the train from Rome to Cecina and then by train to a town very close by or you can take a bus from Cecina to Volterra. Alternatively, you might like taking the train to Siena and taking the bus to Volterra from there.
Posted by
OP
Mount Horeb, WI, USA
2 posts
Thanks for all the info. Looks like we'll book for the major route to save a few bucks and play it by ear for the others. I knew about the Volterra station, but have any of you taken the bus from Cecina? or Siena? Otherwise, I believe there is a bus from the train station closest to Volterra. Any thoughts on what might be the best option - for either scenery or ease? Thanks again for the help
Dan
Posted by
Elk Grove, CA, USA
6898 posts
There is a CPT bus that goes from Cecina to Volterra but it looks like you change buses at Saline. The schedule looks a bit limiting but you can check it out. Here's a LINK to the schedule.