The tickets I need between Venice and Monterosso in Cinque Terre in April, have become available. When I try to book super economy seats on the Trenitalia website they appear to be available, but as I progress, I get an error message that says to try later. (I have, may times.) When I go to the Man in Seat 61 site, and try to book thru them, the super economy seats appear to be available, but when I enter all my booking information, it says the seats I want are no longer available. Yet when I go back to the beginning and check, they still appear to be available. Does anyone have any advice/suggestions to offer? Thanks in advance.
Posted by
Seattle, Wa, USA
663 posts
I could be wrong, but I don't think you can purchase tickets more than 90 days in advance. Maybe it's 120 days? And even if you can purchase now, it might be a good idea to purchase only the tickets that you can get super economy on, depending on your route Venezia-Milano or Venezia-Firenze, and purchase the regionale tickets at the station.
Posted by
OP
Alexandria, VA
771 posts
Thanks, Angela. I have been checking the websites, particularly Trenitalia, and yesterday they were saying that it is not possible to purchase tickets more than 120 days in advance, but today they seemed to be offering tickets. We are looking at tickets from Venice, to Milan, to Monterosso. While I realize that is not the recommended route here, it only requires switching trains once, and has a 40 minute layover between trains. It will be our first train trip in Italy (except for my college days many many years ago) so not rushing between connections is appealing, as is the general route.
Posted by
Vernon, Canada
32202 posts
va,
That particular route appears to be via Freccia for the first leg and InterCity for the second. Since both of those have compulsory reservations, note that you MUST travel on the train, date and time specified on the tickets as they will only be valid for one specific train.
You might try booking tickets at Italia Rail as their website is a bit more "user friendly" than the Trenitalia site.
Posted by
693 posts
Hi va. What date are you trying to travel on? I just tried 26 April with no problem getting as far as the payment section on trenitalia. The tickets become available exactly 120 days before travel - to the minute. This means that on the 120th day out I might be able to buy a ticket on a morning service but not yet on an afternoon service. Might this have been the issue? Can I also check that you selected non registered user just above where you enter your credit card details?
Of course there might have just been a technical problem with the website!
Posted by
OP
Alexandria, VA
771 posts
Angela, Ken and MPH--thanks for your replies. MPH, I think perhaps you got it right. I was trying to book the tickets on the day they became available, but too early in the day. I have now booked them at the super economy rate for April 26th. Thanks! As always, this forum is the best! I have learned so much from reading all the posts, not just the ones that pertain to our travels.
Posted by
693 posts
No problem va. It is something I learnt from personal experience!