I would appreciate so help with planning trains. I was able to purchase my tickets for travel in July from Rome to Venice, but I am striking out on figuring out how to get from Venice to Perugia. Am I correct in assuming that I need to travel to Florence first and then book a train to Perugia? I am concerned that I can get a ticket to Florence, but for some reason I can't get the ticket from Florence to Perugia. I would like to buy them at the same time to make sure that the connections work out. Anyone have some insight for me?
Also, we would like to take the train from Perugia to Florence and Pisa another day. Are you able to buy tickets this far out, or just wait until you are there?
Posted by
Watertown, MA
118 posts
The majority of trains from Florence to Perugia are regional trains. You don't want to buy those tickets on-line because they are only valid for four hours. However, if you buy a regional ticket at a train station ticket window, self-service machine or travel agent, that ticket is good for two months and can be used when you want (one time only of course!)
Florence to Pisa is also a regional ticket.
I would recommend you buy all of your regional train tickets in Italy for the routes you want or buy when you are ready to travel.
Make sure you time/date stamp regional tickets by inserting them into a small machine on the train platform. That "validates" the ticket and you are ready to hop on and choose any seat you like. Failure to validate a ticket is like traveling without a ticket and would result in a fine.
sounds like you have a very nice trip planned!
Posted by
Elk Grove, CA, USA
6898 posts
The difficulty you are having purchasing tickets from Venice to Perugia is due to Trenitalia's tardiness in getting all of their refreshed schedules up on time. They do concentrate on getting the fast train schedules up which is why you to see and purchase the tickets from Rome to Venice. But, the Venice/Perugia run contains a fast train and a regionale train. They are slower in updating the regionale train schedules. Schedules are refreshed or updated in mid-June and mid-December. If you look at June 10, you will see the current schedules. I have looked at June 10 and July 20. July 20 says no solutions found. Seems every other train system in Europe can get their schedules up so travelers can look ahead 90 days. Trenitalia over the years does not get all of the updates done. The June 10 schedules should give you some guidance. The refreshed schedules won't change much. You will also see that the trip will take about 5.0hrs and you will return to Florence and change trains. Just keep trying. They will appear someday soon.
The train from Florence to Perugia is a regionale train but when the schedules are up, Trenitalia will definitely sell you a run from Venice to Perugia because the total journey contains a fast train and a regionale train. You will eventually see the tickets and you can buy them. When you print out your tickets at home, you will have two tickets. For the tickets from Florence to Pisa, these will be regionale tickets. You will be able to see the runs when the schedules are updated but Trenitalia will not sell you one online unless you are within 7 days of the travel date. You can easily buy these tickets when you arrive in Italy. No seat reservations permitted on the regionale trains. They can't be sold out either. If no seats, you can stand. The run originates in Florence so the train will be empty when you board. It's like your local bus.
Posted by
Watertown, MA
118 posts
As Larry mentioned, the full schedule for all trains is not up, so for planning purposes and an idea of how often the regional trains run, look up train times using a date a few days in advance. Again, waiting until closer to date of departure means higher prices because all the regional trains are not fully loaded.
You can purchase the faster train tickets now up to 120 days before date of travel, which I would recommend if you want to take advantage of discounted ticket prices. However, the deeper the discount, the more restrictions.
I have bought tickets for the more expensive fast trains for late June/early July a few weeks ago and saved quite a bit of money. If you don't want to wait until mid-June for the full schedule to load, I would purchase the Venice to Florence portion now and then buy the regional tickets later in Italy.