We will be traveling from Florence to Venice by train. The train stops in Bologna and we would love to hop off the train and spend the afternoon there. As I have tried to research tickets I don't see any that allow you to get off the train and get back on hours later. I would like to avoid having to purchase separate tickets for each leg of the journey because it's costly. Any advice would be great.
Thank You
The fast Freccia trains are like airplanes. You get a ticket with a specific seat reservation. If you get off in Bologna, it is not valid on any other trains, so you would have to by a new ticket to continue on to Venice.
Here is a compromise, buy a Freccia ticket to Bologna, get off and explore, have lunch (practically obligatory in Bologna), then when you want to head to Venice, buy a Regionale ticket and ride the hourly Regionale Veloce train to Venezia S. Lucia. They are only a bit slower than the Freccia trains (they make more stops), go once per hour at 20 past the hour (give or take a couple of minutes), and the price is always the same, 12.50 EUR per person. Since they are unreserved, get to the platform 10 minutes early to make sure you get seats. The trains originate at Bologna Centrale, so they will be spotted on the platform and available for boarding 10 to 15 minutes before scheduled departure. You can buy the tickets out of a vending machine ahead of time, then you decide when you want to go, head to Bologna Centrale, validate your tickets in the platform stamping machine, and board the waiting train.
You do have to purchase separate tickets. Most trains on this route require seat reservations, included as part of a ticket, as with most flights. Even unreserved Italian regional train tickets have a deadline to complete travel, such as 4 hours for tickets purchased online, and less for some short distances. Rick would advise you not to bother breaking up a convenient, direct train ride for the stop in Bologna, especially if you don't have at least three nights in those cities on either end. However, buying separate tickets is pretty easy to do. Breaking the trip in the middle raises the maximum price for standard class on the fastest trains from roughly $60 to $65 per person, assuming no advance-purchase discount. Choosing a cheaper regional train for the second leg of the trip only adds about half an hour travel time.
