Hi everyone,
I am taking my son to Italy in May. It is his first time in Europe, but I have been there many times, though it has been a long time since I traveled in Italy.
In my research, using the RS Guide and the Trenitalia website, the cost difference between a 3-days-of-rail-travel-out-of-7-days pass and advanced purchase point-to-point tickets is about 26Euro for me and 6Euro for my youth class son. (The pass is the slightly more expensive option)
I would wholeheartedly choose the passes so that we had more travel schedule flexibility, but Rick’s guide says Italian passes aren’t good for “hop-on, hop-off” benefits since they require seat reservations.
My question is, how far in advance of the train departure do I need to reserve seats? (The pass includes free reservations)
Specifically, I’d like to be able to chose my train departure each evening the day before travel. So it’s not really hop-on/off, but I would like to benefit of the departure time flexibility up until the night before travel.
Is it easy to do a seat reservation the night before? It seems I can’t do it on the app (is this true?), but apparently it can be done on the Trenitalia website. (I certainly don’t want to have to do it an a ticket window, and I’d rather not have to make a trip to the station the night before to do so at a ticket machine).
Thank you in advance for any help you can provide. We are on a budget and I really want to make a prudent decision without sacrificing some convenience.
Below are the details of the pass that I’m considering:
https://www.trenitalia.com/en/offers/trenitalia-pass.html
Posted by
🏝️ Hobe Sound, FL⛱️
3294 posts
Seat reservations depend on the particular train on which you will travel. If any of your potential trains is a Regionale, no reservations are needed; it’s first come, first served. It also seems that with the pass if you do hop off and then back on, it would be counted as 2 journeys. The passes are for not for 3 days of rail travel but 3 journeys in 7 days.
I’ve made extensive use of the rail service in Italy and never used a pass. Bought my tickets early to get the best price. Bought Regionale tickets using trenitalia app the day of travel.
Posted by
OP
111 posts
Thanks Philip.
I understand that these are for 3 trips, not travel days.
Is it difficult to get a seat on the faster trains if I’m booking them the day before travel (with this “pass”, so they will be “free”.
Is it easy to make seat reservations?
Can I make them the night before travel?
Our desired trips will be using the faster, non-regional trains.
Posted by
🏝️ Hobe Sound, FL⛱️
3294 posts
Since I have never used a rail pass in Italy, I don’t know how you would make reservations. When purchasing my point to point tickets, I made the seat reservation at the same time. I would make the seat reservations as soon as you decide on which train you’ll travel. Sometimes they sell out so I wouldn’t wait till last minute.
Posted by
Gettysburg PA
7245 posts
We are on a budget and I really want to make a prudent decision
without sacrificing some convenience.
Rail passes in Italy are rarely cost effective or convenient.
The most budget friendly way to train travel in Italy is to pre puchase your ticket. Trenitalia usually has some good discounts, 2 for 1, etc. ItaloTreno offers discounts if you sign up for their emails.
You’ve already indicated that the pass is more expensive.
I assume you have a set itinerary (I hope so) so you know where you need to be each day as far as lodging?
May is a very busy time in Italy and the days of just showing up and looking for a room are long gone. Fast trains can and do sell out. If you wait to make a seat reservation on a fast train the night before you may find yourself out of luck. Or sitting in separate coaches.
Use the official sites:
Trenitalia- fast trains and regional
https://www.trenitalia.com/content/tcom/en.html
ItaloTreno- fast trains only
https://www.italotreno.it/en
Both have easy to use apps.
More info here- ignore any advice to purchase tickets from a reseller like ItaliaRail or Trainline.
Posted by
Italy
3812 posts
If getting a seat on a specific route was routinely difficult, railway companies would add more cars and make more money.
Are you travelling before or after May 1? Are you going from Milan to the Cinque Terre villages during a week-end? If not, you can get tickets up to 15 minutes before the departure time and rest assured that you'll always find a couple of seats. At an higher price, of course.
Some would say at an extortionate price, but you can check by yourself. Enter you day of travel in May: on trenitalia.com the walk-up fare is called BASE, on Italotreno it's FLEX. All the other fares are discounted and can't be purchased on the day..
Posted by
Bellingham WA
12 posts
Last June we only reserved seats when we absolutely needed to get somewhere by a certain time. Otherwise, just hopped on the next train going our way. We used the trainline app, quick and easy and didn't feel gouged by extra fees. For longer trips it may be worth shopping rates.
Posted by
Green Bay
21229 posts
kenw post is a bit strange in that for Freccia high speed trains (or Italo trains) and IC and EC trains, you MUST have a seat reservation, and for Regional trains, there are NO seat reservations.
Posted by
Minnesota 🎒
16628 posts
Last June we only reserved seats when we absolutely needed to get
somewhere by a certain time. Otherwise, just hopped on the next train
going our way.
Per Sam's response, any Italo or Trenitalia 'fast' train REQUIRES seat/carriage reservations. This is NOT a new thing so no, you can't just hop any old train without them. Please do NOT try and do this as only regionale trains have open seating. And please use the Trenitalia (fast or regionale trains) or Italo (fast trains between larger cities) websites for your schedules and bookings.
https://www.trenitalia.com/en.html
https://www.italotreno.it/en
Posted by
OP
111 posts
Thank you everyone for your responses!
I think I’m going to go ahead and book my tickets now. Though it is a bit more expensive, that 3-ticket “pass” would have enabled an 80% refund if I had to cancel my trip.
Buying the no refundable saver tickets is a bit riskier in that respect, but I think I’ll feel more comfortable having my 3 long-distance rail trips already booked (complete with seat reservations, as they are all 3 going to be the faster trains.
Christine—May I ask why Italy is busy in May? I had thought it was a moderately traveled month.
Posted by
Minnesota 🎒
16628 posts
Packy, May is definitely a high-season month in much of Italy. It'll be very busy.