A group of friends and I will be flying into Florence, stay a few days there and train to Venice, stay a few days and fly out of there. Should we buy now the Eurostar one way ticket for the 4 of us from Florence to Venice or is it okay to buy it in Florence when we get there. We already have a specific day when we get out of Florence so just want to gather info whether to buy in advance now or wait till we get there. All accommodations and to dos are set except this one. Any suggestions is really appreciated.
Posted by
CA, USA
1112 posts
Eurostar is a high-speed railway service connecting London with Paris and Brussels. Maybe you are thinking of a high-speed train on the Trenitalia line?
If so, and you know the day you want to travel, advance purchase tickets are cheaper (and usually not refundable or changeable, depending on the price point you choose). You can buy them directly from Trenitalia, but I prefer the reseller capitainetrain.com that has no markup to the consumer but gets a commission from the rail line. Avoid Rail Europe which only shows some trains and sells at a substantial premium (unless you want to help them out, I suppose).
Posted by
Northamptonshire, England
32795 posts
Eurostar Italia is the old name for the Freccia high speed services of Trenitalia.
The Freccia trains still have the code ES at before the train number, like ES9207.
Del
If you can live with the terms and conditions of the cheaper tickets now available on line then you can go for it just like you would for a non refundable non changeable hotel room or airline flight.
If you 4 can't deal with those terms and conditions then you can buy - probably full priced - when you are ready to go.
Posted by
OP
Manchester, CT, USA
69 posts
Yes I meant the speed train of Trentalia, thank you both for the insights,I appeciate it!
Posted by
Ypsilanti
146 posts
I bought a train ticket from Venice to Florence. It was fairly cheap - like $29. I realize that I'm locked into that particular time but it's relatively cheap and I also won't be out of a lot of money if something comes up and I miss that train.
Posted by
Rick Steves' Europe
16893 posts
Going straight to the source (Trenitalia.com) works fine for most people, but if it really gives you trouble, then the US agents give you another option. Even full fare is relatively affordable, e.g. €45 from Trenitalia or $53 from Rail Europe for the cheapest class of service on Frecciargento; exchange comparison is similar for the advance discounts.
Posted by
Vancouver, BC, Canada
1200 posts
We bought our tickets online about 2 months in advance and were able to find a real bargain ticket of €10 pp for the Italo high speed train (300 kph!) between Venice and Florence. The other option was Trenitalia. You have to search for these bargains. They pop up, are not available for all times and sell out quickly.