Italy Train Travel- Should I Pre-Book or No Rush

There are two types of train:

• Regionalle. Local trains. No discount for advance purchase, no reservations. You just buy a ticket, stamp it, get on and find any empty seat. Easy

• High Speed / Long Distance trains. Go by a lot of names. Work like planes. You buy a ticket, either in advance or at a station. Tickets are for a specific train, listed on the ticket. Seats are assigned, seat number also on the ticket. Only valid for that seat on that train. A lot cheaper if bought in advance. Once the cheap tickets go, you have to pay more. Buy tickets at the Trenitalia website: https://www.trenitalia.com/tcom-en

1) Varenna-Essino to Milan fast train -That isn't a fast train, it's a Regionalle. See above.
2) Milan to Bologna fast train. Buy tickets early for cheap prices
3) Bologna to Florence fast train (day trip) - ditto
4) Bologna to Padua Fast Train - could be ether category. Look up times on Trenitalia and it will tell you.
5) Padua to Venice fast train (day trip) - could be ether category. Look up times on Trenitalia and it will tell you.
6) Padua to Venice airport by bus, should I buy in advance, day before or upon arrival in Padua? -Dunno about buses

You can always buy at the station on the day, but for a High Speed/Long distance train it is a lot cheaper to buy in adavance, either at the station or on the internet.

For much more info read this: https://www.seat61.com/Italy-trains.htm

1 There are no fast trains between Varenna-Esino and Milano Centrale; there are only Regionale trains that have no reserved seats and offer no discounts for advance purchases.

2&3 Both competing railway companies run high speed trains connecting Milan, Venice, Bologna and Florence. On high speed trains you can save the difference between the top walk-up fare and the discounted ones for advance purchases. Trenitalia calls the full fare tickets "BASE", the discounted tickets are called Economy, SuperEconomy and "AR in Giornata". I can't remember Italotreno's fares names, but it works the same way.

Note that usually you can't buy discounted tickets on the day of travel.

4&5 Those routes are served by Regionale trains (no discounts etc. etc.) and by high speed trains. The travel time is not that different.

6 I doubt there is a single airport bus that actually sells out in Europe, but since you'll be at the station... why not? It will be a thing less to do on the departure day

If you purchase train tickets on the 2 official sites you don't need to print out the pdf files. You can just show conductors PNR and bar codes using an electronic display.

Are you staying some time in Milan before going to Bologna?

Have you already seen Venice by night? Sleeping in Padua and making a day trip to Venice is quite uncommon for first time visitors.

EDIT: Chris said it better and was quicker!

The standard price for the high-speed Milan-Bologna train is EUR 48,00. An advance-bought ticket can be as cheap as EUR 20,90.

note there is no manned ticket office at Varenna-Esino station. Machine, or travel agent around the corner and down the hill.

Thanks for the great advice
We have been to Italy before and beautiful Venice.
We didn’t want to stay in a place with lots of tourists. And we wanted to try different cities less frequented.
We will stay in Milan one night to see the Last Super and Duomo.
We will be traveling 2 weeks in Italy coming from 2 weeks in France
-3 night Lugano Switzerland
-3 nights Varenna
-1 night Milan, we had originally planned a day trip but we wanted to enjoy Milan a little more time
-4 nights Bologna a couple day trips , I may take a night from Padua for Bologna?
-5 night Padua a couple day trips
So I like to have things planned but also want flexibility.
I am sure we will enjoy
Thanks

Greg,

Just to add to the great responses you’ve received.

Don’t forget to validate (date/time stamp) your Regionale train tickets, prior to boarding the train, to avoid hefty fines.

Keep in mind that you’ll need to book your tickets to, ‘The Last Supper’, three months in advance.

Have a wonderful trip!

1. No savings on regionals. No reason to prepurchase.
2. Best savings potential here. If your dates and times are firm, prepurchase at least this segment.
3. About $9 potential savings each way. If dates are firm, it might be worthwhile.
4. Fast train saves about 35 minutes each way over the Regionale (1hr vs 1h35m). The Regionale is about 10€ the fast train is €28 full price. You can save 8€ each way by prepurchasing. It’s up to you, not big savings here.
5. Don’t bother prepurchasing. The Regionale Veloce trains are frequent and the travel time is the same.