Italy Train Ticket Confusion

Almost want to say, Call me !! Trains are easy to use in Europe except Americans have been trained by our airlines as to service, frequency, and pricing. If you want to check Trenitalia use the same day of the week next month. Schedules are rarely posted more than 60 days out so that could be your problem. Direct trains are nice but not critical since changing trains is very easy. After the first time you will wonder why you even worried about it. Trains rarely if ever sell out. We always buy our tickets a couple days before. We may miss some discounts that way but it is the convenience factor that we appreciate. In fact, we rarely check schedules until we arrive in country. Really no need to do so. You can give your driver your arrival time the day before with no problem via phone or the internet. Relax, the trains are simplest part of your schedule.

Morgan, you are looking out too far on the Trenitalia website. Trenitalia s their schedules in June and December and looking out beyond June at this time will reveal what you now see. Not to worry. Trenitalia shows 50 runs a day from Venice to Florence and then onto Naples. Simply put in a date that is before the end of May on the day of the week you are traveling on and you will see the train runs. RailEurope will list runs farther out but they most likely won't send you the ticket until Trenitalia s their schedules and informs them. It's impossible for RailEurope to be more accurate than Trenitalia.

Thank you Frank and Larry! I just put down the brown paper bag that I was breathing into, thinking we had no train options! Clearly I was mistaken with the 90-day out scheduling. In terms of changing trains, is there typically an ideal amount of time you recommend in between? I looked at the schedules one-month-out and there were a few options with only 15-20 min in between - is this manageable? Besides the price, do you prefer first class or second on a longer journey? I figured since it's a 5+ hour train ride, we might lean towards first in order to be more comfortable. Thoughts? Thanks again!!

See Ron In Rome's excellent site for the answer to your question about 1st v. 2nd. Here's how that page starts: One of the biggest debates on an Italian travel board is often, "Should I ride in 1st or 2nd class on a train?" Followed closely by, "What's the difference between 1st and 2nd class?" And also course, "Is is worth the cost to purchase a 1st class ticket?" http://www.roninrome.com/transportation/1st-class-versus-2nd-class

Morgan:
You don't need long to change trains. In smaller stations, you may only have 5-7 minutes! In a larger station 15 minutes is plenty of time if you: A- Are ready to get off as soon as the train stops. Gather your luggage and stand by the door as it pulls in. B- Know the number of your departing train. (Easier to reference than the city sometimes because the city posted might be beyond your destination.) C-Make boarding your priority. Don't plan to stop for bathroom or coffee if you only have a few minutes between trains. Once you've been there you'll wonder why you worried!

In most circumstances a 10-15 connection time is more than enough. Trains do run late from time to time but more often than not I think you will be surprised by how on time they are. Maybe not quite a reliable as the Swiss or German lines but pretty amazing given the complexity of the system overall. The platforms are designed to make it quick and easy but they seem to all vary a bit. I like to have more than a couple minutes to re-orient myself but 10 minutes should be enough time for a quick espresso.

When you do have your ticket in hand, go immediately to one of the time-clock looking machines posted all over the train stations (usually outside, and painted yellow or red) and put one end into the slot. It will time stamp it; this is called Validating your ticket. You MUST do this! If not, the conductor will fine you and you have to pay him/her right then and there. We forgot once (that's all it took!) and it was a 50 euro fine for each of us! He didn't care that we were tired and forgot; he was rude and glarey! Others we met along our trip were very nice, and one even passed me by when I told him in a panicky, near-tears voice, that I couldn't find my ticket: "You sit down and find it, I come back!" he said in a relaxed, don't-sweat-it kind of voice. (I DID find it right after that, by the way...) It's easy to forget to validate your ticket, so as soon as you walk out to where the trains are, look for the validation boxes and then find what track you need.
Once you "do" the trains once, it'll be a snap and you'll wonder why it was such a stressor. I'd never ever ridden on a train before, and we did fine.

You only have to validate your ticket on regional trains, basically any train that doesn't have a seat reservation. If you are on a high speed train with a seat reservation no validating is necessary as the ticket is only good for that particular seat on that particular train. The train schedule is due to change on June 12th so there won't be many, if any, trains listed after that yet. As that date gets closer they will add the high speed trains first then the slower regional trains. I assume you'll be traveling high speed so just keep checking the trenitalia site for updates. The times and fares won't change much so you can enter an earlier date to get an idea of the times and prices. As for 1rst or 2nd class, it really is a personal choice. I like to go 1rst class for really long trips (4 hours or longer) but it also depends on the price difference. I have noticed the first class cars tend to be less crowded which is nice on a long trip but other than that there is not much difference. Donna

Hi Donna, thanks for your reply. Just to clarify - you mention that the schedules are changing June 12. Does this mean I will not be able to purchase tix before June 12? I know it's not necessary to book ahead of time - but I was still hoping to scratch that off the list if possible. Thanks again!

The closer we get to June 12th the more trains they'll release for after the schedule change. You can keep checking the site and if the train you want pops up you can purchase those tickets. Just keep checking. As has been mentioned, you don't need to buy that route ahead of time so if you wait until the beginning of June you'll be fine and able to get the train you wish. Donna

Re: first class ticket vs. regional train ticket comment: true, you don't have to validate first class tickets. BUT why take the chance if you are going to be on and off the trains a lot? We had first class tix a few times, but most were regional trains. For how busy we were, and how tired we were, we didn't want to take the chance on getting lax about it, accidentally forgetting to validate a non-first class, and suffering another fine. We validated EVERYTHING after that! You don't get fined if validate a ticket that doesn't need it, but you do get fined on the opposite. Don't take the chance, IMHO.

The only tickets that need to be validated are the ones for the regional trains. It doesn't matter if you are in first or second class on a high speed train. You will have a seat reservation and thus you will be on a specific train. With a regional train you don't get a seat reservation or a specific time to be on the train, you just hop on the next one available. This is why you must validate those tickets, because they can be used on any regional train. A train ticket for a specific train and a specific seat can only be used on that specific train. If you miss the train your ticket is worthless if you used a mini fare or possibly changeable depending on which fare you used but you may have to pay a change fee. Don't get too wound up with validating. Just remember, if you buy a ticket with a specific seat saved for you then you don't need to validate. If your ticket doesn't have a seat reservation then you need to validate. Donna