We are taking a RS tour in early Sept that ends in Florence then going on to Venice for a few days. I want to buy our train tickets from Florence to Venice as soon as we can for fear the train will be full and we won't be able to get tickets. The rest of our party wants to just buy them the day we are leaving.
I keep picturing myself sleeping in the train station in Florence because we couldn't get tickets.
Do the trains sell out?
You are far more likely to seat on a train next to a unicorn than to experience the possibility of having all seats sold out. It simply doesn't happen. Not even close. There are one to two trains an hour from Florence to Venice and Trenitalia (the train company) is lucky if they reach a 80% load rate. The only risk is that they run out of 2nd class tickets for the very next train. In which case you can buy a 1st class ticket (those never never sell out) or, if you don't want to spend the extra fare, buy the 2nd class ticket for a later train, 30 or 60 min later. Or if you want you can buy the tickets the day before at the station, and you are guaranteed a seat in any train.
Having said that there is an advantage in buying tickets online ahead of time. You can find discounted tickets that way (discounted tickets sell out fast). If you want discounted tickets they appear for sale 120 days prior to the date of travel. Be alert however that discounted tickets (called Economy or Super Economy) are non changeable and non refundable. If you miss that specific train you book, or if you change your mind, your money is lost.
The full price (base price) for a second class ticket is €45 pp one way. The Economy fare is €29 and the super economy fare is €19. First class tickets are about 50% more.
Pretty much never, and trains from Florence to Venice run every hour and sometimes more often. The only reason to buy early on line is to get the Super Economy fare of 19 euro. These are advance purchase nonrefundable tickets that must be used on a specific train or they expire with no value. The base fare is 45 euro and available anytime before the train leaves the station. There is also a whole other train company called Italo Treno that also operates high speed trains to Venice 5 times every day. Their Super Economy fare is 21 euro and they are supposedly nicer than the Trenitalia trains. Trenitalia does not have timetables out for beyond June 14, But Italo Treno is booking now for September.
Remember now you have options besides the state-controlled railway. ItaloTreno (www.italotreno.it) runs few times a day on that route as well, and they have, for the time being, better, newer and more comfortable trains (AGV).
