Hello - we are family of 4 (2 adults, 13, 16 kids) travelling to Italy in end of July and wondering do we need to buy tickets in advance for Venice - Florence, Florence - Rome.
If we buy in advance we will be locked with the time but do we get a better rate OR booking at the station on the day of travel would be fine in terms of getting reservation and good rates ?
Thanks for your response !!
If you buy at the station on the day of travel you will pay full fare, and there is the possibility of a sellout, although I think that's unlikely. Best to go to http://www.trenitalia.com/tcom-en and book soon. The site is a bit wonky, you won't get the deep discounts I don't think being only 6 weeks out instead of 3 months out, but I'll bet you still save 30-40% anyway. And the fares aren't so much that if you have to miss the train because of an emergency, you won't be out more than a couple hundred for each leg, maybe less.
(Just checked for you. Venezia/Firenze SMN tomorrow is 39.90, end of July 24.90. Firenze SMN/Roma Termini tomorrow is 39.90, end of July 34.90, all in Euro.)
The full/base fare in the cheapest class of service is about 40-45 euros per adult, per leg, for your destinations. A 13-year old pays half price or may qualify for some other discounts with limited seats available. To get four seats together on short notice, you may have to bump up about 10 euros per person to the next price level. There's a lot of service, so a train would rarely sell out.
You may also want to compare prices and schedules on Italo at http://m.italotreno.it/en. We rrecently ride Trenitalia and Italo and preferred the Italo trains. They don't travel everywhere, but they do go between Venice and Florence, and Florence and Rome.
Thanks all for such quick and helpful replies !!
There are three levels of ticket prices in Italy - Super Econ, Economy, & Base. The SE and E tickets are limited in number per train. Early or late day trains will have more available than mid-day trains. But numbers are fixed so once sold there are no more. SE and E come with restrictions. SE - no change period and E with one change credit towards the next ticket. Miss a train with a SE, E ticket and they are dead. The Base ticket is exchangeable, etc. SE can be very cheap but sell out quickly around the 90 day mark.
At this time most of the discount tickets for July travel will have been sold. A few could be left for odd schedules or very early/late trains. So, if SE or E fares are not available on-line, then I would wait till you are in Italy. If you buy a couple of days early you should be fine for getting seats together or at least 2 and 2. Also found the Italians are pretty good (tourists not so much) about switching seats. Trains rarely, if ever sell out.
The one exception to all of the above are the Regionale trains (R). No discount, did not buy on-line,, one price, and no reserved seats. These trains never sell out. Buy a ticket, validate it, get on. No seats available, wait till they are at the next stop. Regionale trains are slow because they hit nearly every station. But if if not in a hurry, they are kind of fun (for awhile to ride). You see the locals and the country side and lots of small stations.
Train travel is great in Italy. We have ridden a few thousand miles and we are still alive.
If you want a better fare (Economy or SuperEconomy fare), you might need to book ahead, because they may be gone the day you go. But it is correct that Economy and SuperEconomy fares come with restrictions (no refunds, no changes) therefore you must be reasonably sure about your travel plans. Once a specific train is booked and paid at those discounted fares, there is no going back.
If you don't want to lock yourself into a specific train, you can buy the tickets at the station when you leave, or maybe the day before. I lived and go to Florence regularly and I have never experienced a train that is fully sold out to either Florence or Rome. At most the standard class (2nd class) was sold out, in which case I just waited for the next train 1/2 hour later (which was always available in all classes), or just bought tickets for the higher class if I didn't want to wait for the next train.
TIP: if you leave later in the morning or in the middle of the day (after 11am basically), the chance of Standard class being sold out is zero, and you might even have Economy fares available. For example I'm checking the website for tomorrow 14 June 2017, so basically a few hours from now (it's past 11:30 pm in Italy as I write this comment), and there are still Economy seats available in both segments if you go late in the morning.
