How far in advance to book train tickets?

Hi Jan, I buy my train tickets for Italy on the Trenitalia website or app. They’re usually available about 45-60 days out. I don’t select the first class; the regular one is completely fine.

When you buy them, check the total travel time. You want the fast train, not the slower ones with multiple stops.

Right now you can book tickets for May 8 on both Trenitalia and Italotreno websites. Trenitalia has tickets starting at €12.90 - non changeable, not refundable. Italotreno has tickets starting at €9.90, also non-changeable and non-refundable. Both are on high speed trains that take approximately 1 hour and 36 minutes. Trenitalia also sells tickets for slower regional trains (that don't need pre-booking) with a journey time of 3:30-4 hours. Use Roma Termini and Firenze Santa Maria Novella as the station names.

https://www.trenitalia.com/en.html

https://www.italotreno.it/en

also, the prices go up as the allotted lower prices for each fare are bought, so if you know its what you want, go ahead and save some money! I was able to book some pretty nice first class seats for less than a normal second class ticket when I took advantage of sales :)

@Mary, thanks so much for sharing that the May tickets are already loaded on Trenitalia! I spent an hour buying several for my trip in May. : )

I'm interested in this myself!

I hope the OP doesn't mind if I jump in with another related question: I'm a little nervous buying train tickets ahead (we'll be traveling from Mestre in Venice to Florence Santa Maria Novella in early July) because we'll just be arriving via international flight and what if we're delayed?

How do you handle locking in prices/times when flights can be unpredictable? Do you just book ahead hope for the best?

@Elizabeth99 , many (if not most) people buy all of their train tickets in advance EXCEPT for the arrival day ticket. Any number of things could happen to cause you to miss it. The last time I flew into Rome, it seemed like it was quite quick getting off the plane, through immigration/customs, getting luggage and all, and by the time we got to the train station it was NOWHERE NEAR the time that I thought a "quick out of the airport" time would be. You can book train tickets in advance, but give yourself a LOT of cushion, because the cheapest ones can't be changed and are non refundable. I would still hold off and buy at full price on the day and take that as the cost of boarding a train at your convenience rather than saving money and missing the train or having to wait a long time to get on a later booked train. As soon as I land I want to get moving.

I agree with Katherine about not purchasing the day of arrival train ticket ahead of time unless you’re willing to wait around with a large “just in case” buffer of time. We have sat in some airports waiting for the time when we can board the train with our prepurchased ticket. It is really difficult to sit or alternate walking around the airport & sitting when you have jet lag. We were flying from the West Coast; if you live on the East Coast and it’s a non-stop flight, then it won’t be as bad.

Thanks so much for the advice! I will buy day-of tickets for arrival in Venice, but we should be fine booking tickets ahead when we take the train back to Venice from Florence later in our trip.

There are intermediate solutions for tickets on the day you land, to maintain a bit of flexibility with the low advance fare. On Italo, if you look far enough in advance, you will see there are four ticket price levels. Look at Milan to Venice for Monday, April 22. Under Economy class you will see four types of fare;

EXtra Magic for €9,90
Low cost for €19,90
Economy for €23,90
Flex for £43,90

The same array shows for Prima Class, although the lowest fares may be already gone. Use the little “I” symbol next to the fare name to see the terms. You will see the following for Economy fare:

Economy Supplement 20% Deduction 40%

Change your ticket details as often as you want, at an additional cost, up to three minutes before the original >scheduled departure time. Reimbursable, with charges deducted. In addition, by paying an additional fee, with >the EXTRA TEMPO offer, if you miss the train you have 2 hours to find another seat on the next possible train - >in this event, please speak to Italo staff at the station. Limited offer, subject to availability.

In other words, you can change the time of the ticket by paying the supplement of 20%, which for that €23,90 fare is less than €5.

Only the Magic fare is totally non-changeable.