Italy train travel

I don't think trips can sell out. But they don't show until 3 - 6 months before departure. How far in the future are you planning?

Even if using the English language Trenitalia site, you must enter the cities using the Italian spelling. Maybe you already knew that.

If the trip involves a regional train you won't see it until about a week before the travel date, because regional trains only go on sale about 7 days ahead. You can check by looking at a journey within the next week to see which trains are included.

... or wait a few weeks until the half-yearly schedule changes have been put into the system.

Travel is 2 months from now.
I can’t find a train from Milan-Levanto-Vernazza, or from Vernazza-Florence. I am using correctly spelled names in Italian. Was able to book Florence-Venice no problem. I will keep checking...thanks for all the tips/responses.

I checked and it is indeed the schedule change: Vernazza to Firenze is no problem for 9th June, but gives a blank (»Nessuna soluzione trovata«) for the 11th. Have a little patience.

tonfromleiden Is right, it's the summer timetable change.

I have to say that chani's above post is outdated and should be edited to make things easier for future travellers reading this thread.

Since 2015 local trains, called Regionale, go on sale 120** days in advance and not 7; but with a big difference that you have already discovered: most of them are not uploaded on the system after June 10 and December 9. It's like a window that becomes smaller and smaller the more you get nearer to the day of the timetable change.

It's not a problem, like the city buses and the subway you use every day, local trains have no reserved seats (so they can't sell out) and offer no discounts for advance purchases.

When a train is sold out (never happened) or it can't be offered for various reasons, Trenitalia shows it with a barred cart instead of the price.

Don't waste time keeping on checking many times, check only once on the 11th.

** soon to be extended to 180 as all the other types of trains.

Try raileurope.com

No, do not try RailEurope, ever...for a multitude of reasons.

www.trainline.eu is a reputable site to purchase your tix if trenitalia doesn't work for you.

Don't try RailEurope. They will have less accuracy than the company actually running the trains. They don't sell all trains, and some people have reported them accepting booking for trains which are not yet on sale, and taking your money but only sending you the tickets when they become available.

As the others say, trains virtually never sell out. Regional trains cannot sell out, and long distance trains always have some tickets left (at the highest price) for people who buy on the day.
Your tickets will be on sale, sometime, . . . . .

Only regional trains call at Vernazza, so no time table will show them until, probably, just before June 10.

For whatever reason, the IC trains from Milan to Levanto are scheduled up through June 30, but not after that date.

Avoid Raileurope. Second, avoid purchasing Regionale train tickets on line. There is no discount and they never sell but on-line Regional tickets come with more restrictions. Purchase at the station the day of travel or even a day or two before.

I agree with the others, forget Rail Europe!

Regarding tickets for Regionale trains, as Frank mentioned in the previous reply, there's no price advantage in buying these in advance. I often buy the day prior to travel, either from a Kiosk or staffed ticket office. However, a couple of important points to remember.....

• be sure to specify the correct date of travel as the ticket is only valid for the date listed on it.
• be sure to validate (time & date stamp) locally purchased Regionale tickets prior to boarding the train on the day of travel or you'll risk hefty fines!
  

Before I posted, I tried the Trenitalia site with a trip from Firenze SM Novella to Riomaggiore. I did get trains for May 15, but no "solutions" for 4 weeks later. Maybe the CT towns are an anomaly. But in fact, it seems that the CT is exactly where the OP wants to go.

Thanks for all the tips. I'm not going to worry about it! Sounds like we will need to book the regional trips shortly before we need to travel.

Those regional trips can be easily booked when you are here in Italy. I booked our Florence-Rome segment the day before online at a very cheap rate. So yes you have the right idea..don’t worry about it.