Buying train and bus tickets in advance

There are only two sites to be used for trains, the sites of the 2 companies that run the trains: Trenitalia.com and italotreno.it/en

There is a national timetable change on December 14, on December 15 you'll be able to buy tickets up to June 14.

Most trains will be uploaded before December 14, but:

1. you may have to wait for the discounted tickets Of all high speed trains to be released.
2. The Local trains without reserved seats (like those from Florence to Siena) will be uploaded on Trenitalia.com one week before the deadline. A train without reserved seats can't sell out and has no discounted tickets.

Nobody buys full price tickets in advance online, don't be fooled by railway companies.

I wouldn't buy tickets that far in advance because I wouldn't want to lock myself into a specific itinerary that early in trip prep. I am far from an expert on Italy, but I was just there. You can save money by purchasing the Naples to Rome train tickets in advance. I went Rome to Naples and purchased mine about 2 months in advance. I purchased my bus tickets for Italy either day of or day before. I took a bus into Siena instead of a train, because most often, the bus goes into the city (Gramsci) while the train station is outside and downhill from city center.

When I was planning my trip (I used trains/buses quite a bit because we traveled from Zurich to Lake Como, CT, Florence, Siena, Rome, and Sorrento) I looked at routes and times and prices and only the high speed and intercity trains are cheaper when purchased in advance and nothing seemed cheaper when looking further than 2 months in advance.

Incidentally, for our return from Sorrento back to Rome, we did not prepurchase train tickets. If are staying in Naples, I would prepurchase the tickets, but on our return, we first had to take the local Circumvesuviana to get to Naples. Those trains do not seem to be super reliable and I didn't want to allow excessive time or risk missing my train from Naples. So when we got to Naples, our choices were to take a super cheap, 3 hour train ride; a super expensive 1 hour train ride (which would have been cheaper purchased in advance); or a moderately priced 2 hour train ride (about 20 euro). I'm not sure that is particularly clear, and if your starting point is actually Naples, it doesn't apply to you. I just was super grateful when the issue with the Circumvesuviana trains was pointed out to me.

Train schedules to be fully loaded on Dec 15; lowest prices when they go on sale, usually 120 days, sometimes longer.

Jane,

Don't worry, I don't think anyone will "jump" on you. This is a very helpful and polite forum!

It would help to have some idea when your trip will be taking place? There are schedule changes twice a year for Italian trains and you may be looking too far in advance.

What ticket sites are you using? I often use www.trainline.com as they sell tickets for both major networks in Italy, as well as for a number of other countries (one stop shopping).

In some cases, you'll be able to save money with advance tickets, while in other cases there will be no difference in price whether buying in advance or at local stations. I'd suggest using high speed rail as much as possible, as it's a more efficient use of limited travel time.

A few thoughts on the trips you mentioned.....

• Naples to Siena - you'll likely be using a high speed train from Napoli Centrale to Firenze SMN, and then a Regionale train from there to Siena (about 4.5 hours). An easier method is to use the Corse Rapide bus from Florence to Siena, as you'll be dropped in the centre of town rather than the bottom of the hill where the rail station is located. Travel time on the bus is only about an hour.
• Bologna to Rome - that will be high speed all the way (about 2 hours).

Good luck with your planning!

I believe that third party websites like Trainline sometimes offer tickets that are a combination of Trenitalia and Italo trains. Be attentive to such tickets as the connections between train companies are not protected - for example, you won't get a free ticket for a later Italo train if it's Trenitalia that causes you to miss your original Italo train. If the tickets are with the same train company, then you're protected.

Thank you all. I didn't know about the new schedules coming out in December. That explains why I couldn't even call up dates in January!

The two routes I mentioned will be in June 2020. I don't particularly want to book them now, but I would like to get an idea of how much they would cost, and what times of day they are available. (You know, the normal pre-trip fretting and planning.)

So I'll sit back and wait patiently. :-) 120 days out will be mid-February.

Thank you all for the tips and suggestions.

Ken, I agree that the vast majority of folks on the Forum are kind, polite, and helpful; that's one reason I hang out here. But there are a few who are quick to criticize, especially if a topic has been covered previously. I've had my tail feathers scorched a time or two, and I don't like it.

Hi Jane:
You can put in a date for next week or so, with the day of the week you plan to travel.
That way you can get an idea of schedules and prices.
They don't change much on the next published schedule.
Sometimes if you travel a longer route on a Saturday, you can get two for one tickets.
We got two tickets Rome to Naples this past September, and only paid E19, on Trenitalia.
There are great apps for Ipad for both train companies.

I just double checked, and IMO, your fastest route is the high speed train from Naples to Rome Termini and then bus from Rome Tibertina (right next to the train station) to Siena. Florence is well north of Siena. Also the advantage of the bus into Siena is that you will not have to find a way up the hill from the train station. There could be a city bus from the train station or obviously a taxi, but that adds time and cost. If you are staying in the older town area of Siena, your best best would be a bus to Plaza Gramsci.

When I planned and budgeted my trip to Italy. I experimented with the train routes and looked at prices day of, week in advance and a couple months out. It turned out to provide excellent estimates. I also found that the Trenitalia website was extremely easy to use. I had no problems with routes or purchases with my credit card. That surprised me because in other countries I had resorted to Loco2 (which now is merged into RailEurope and I wouldn't use) or trainline.

Also, FYI, the Naples train station can be overwhelming and has a bit of a bad reputation. Never having used this train station made us nervous, and I'm not sure its particularly well signed. We were glad we had given ourselves extra time and we found the there were plenty of helpful train and station employees.

In terms of searches on the forum, I would agree that for whatever reason, they are cumbersome and often I can't find a particular thread that I know had good info. I have been reasonably successful doing searches on BING or google. Often what I'll do is type "Rick Steves" " advance train tickets" and add maybe the name of a person that I recall participated in the thread.

I agree that sometimes responses on the forum can feel brutal. I have on occasion provided a response and then have added that I believe there had been recent threads on the topic. This is not to admonish the OP, but to provide extra into. Sometimes, it can be very hard to discern intent/tone in internet "conversations". Also, I think well experienced travelers might forget how it felt to be a new traveler. Or that some OPs are well seasoned travelers, just new to a particular country or area.

So I'll sit back and wait patiently. :-) 120 days out will be mid-February.

Again: If you are travelling before the 14th of June, Check on December 15, NOT in mid-February.
Trenitalia publishes the schedules up to 180 days in advance not 120, but in 2020 the Summer timetable change will be on June 14.

Trenitalia's on-day price is called BASE and it's displayed up to 180 days in advance together with the discounted fares called Economy and SuperEconomy. Once the 3 fares are published on Trenitalia.com they won't change, you don't need to waste time looking at prices the day of, week in advance and a couple months out.

On December 15, Put your actual day of travel and see the available prices. Buying On the day of travel you'll have to pay the top BASE price, but not more.

Thanks for the details, Dario; I will check December 15. We're going Naples - Siena 2 June (probably), then Bologna - Rome probably 10 June.

Jules M, thanks for the tips. Yes, we will be staying in Siena Center, just off the main square.