We will be making our first trip to Italy in August. We will be traveling by train from Rome to Florence and from Florence to Venice. Is it better to purchase tickets in advance or wait until we get there?
Buy those two specific routes in advance to save.
(But the best practice is not to buy a train ticket in advance if catching it depends on your flight over arriving on time).
I bought three of my tickets yesterday for September. Came out to be 1/2 the price vs buying day of. I have a few that I will buy Day of because things are out of my control for those trips. So if you can buy ahead and you don’t plan on changing your plans take advantage of the savings.
You will save a lot if you buy them now. Look at both Trenitalia and Italo. Note that advance-purchase discounted tickets are for a specific train, and have restrictions and fees on making changes. So figure out the time you want to travel and stick with it.
( We bought First Class tix on Italo to go from Venice to Rome, and then one of our party wanted to change to an earlier train. The change was easy to do by phone and the cost was small. But we did this well in advance).
Buy those now. Once the Super Economy tickets are gone, you will be paying more.
Just like everyone else said, buy now if you know those dates won't change or depend on some other connection. We bought our tickets early for the past 2 trips to Italy and the savings allowed us to upgrade to business class! A nice plus when you are 6 feet, 4 inches tall!!
For perspective, the full-priced tickets in standard/2nd class are about $50 per person Rome-Florence and $60 Florence-Venice on the fast trains that most people want to take. That's the base rate to help you decide whether you're comfortable with the cost or would want to aim for cheaper tickets by reserving earlier. There's no deadline to buy a ticket and trains rarely fill up. On the day of travel, however, you might not find seats together in the cheapest class.
You have three levels of ticket prices with all trains in Italy except for Regionale trains -- Super Economy, Economy, Basic. SE is deep discount - no change, no refund. Econ is no refund and one very limited change. Miss a train and the ticket is dead. The numbers of these tickets available varies by train -- more at 6am and fewer at noon. Once gone they are gone. Basic is the standard fare and ticket can be fairly easily exchange prior to the train departure and up to an hour after the train leaves the station. If willing to commit to a set schedule the discounts can be a good deal.
Regional train tickets are a fixed price, never change, and never sell out and NO seat reservation. If no seat, you stand till a seat becomes available.
You have three levels of ticket prices with all trains in Italy except for Regionale trains -- Super Economy, Economy, Basic. SE is deep discount - no change, no refund. Econ is no refund and one very limited change. Miss a train and the ticket is dead. The numbers of these tickets available varies by train -- more at 6am and fewer at noon. Once gone they are gone. Basic is the standard fare and ticket can be fairly easily exchange prior to the train departure and up to an hour after the train leaves the station. If willing to commit to a set schedule the discounts can be a good deal. To get the discount ticket you need to purchase as soon as possible.
Regional train tickets are a fixed price, never change, and never sell out and NO seat reservation. If no seat, you stand till a seat becomes available.
Tickets go on sale online 120 days prior to the date.
As mentioned above, the discounted fare tickets (SuperEconomy and Economy) sell out fast.
Don’t forget discounted fare tickets are restricted. They are non refundable and non changeable. If you miss the exact train (date and time) that you book, your money is gone, therefore buy those only if your plans are firm.
Full price tickets (BASE fare) can be purchased at the station when you go. Those don’t sell out. There is a train every 20-30 min on that route.
The price of a full base fare ticket is about 45€ ($55) one way pp. from Rome to Florence and also from Florence to Venice (distances are similar).
Supereconomy is about 50-55% discount over the base price above
Economy fare is about 25-30% discount