We will be taking a day trip to Cinque Terre on a Monday or Tuesday mid-month in September. I am a little confused about the best options for buying train tickets between Lucca and La Spezia Centrale Station. The choices are IC, Regionale and Frecciarossa trains or some combo thereof with most connecting through Viareggio. We will buy Cinque Terre Cards when arriving in LaSpezia either online or from the ticket machine.
I would like to ensure my chosen Lucca departure times, between 7-9:00 a.m and LaSpezia return times, between 7- 9:00 p.m. are available and therefore hesitant to wait for the day of travel to purchase. Do the fares change? I think I would be more comfortable buying tickets online from Trainline a week or so before, but if I miss my chosen scheduled time, will I be able to take the next available train? Also, if my first train is late for my connecting train, can I just take the next one?
Any recommendations will be appreciated.
Posted by
San Francisco Bay Area (USA)
16133 posts
Your travel will be mostly if not totally on Regional trains. No need to purchase anything ahead of time. Prices don’t change and seats don’t sell out. Seats on Regional trains are on a first come first served basis, like a commuter train or a subway train in North America. Buy the tickets at the station just before boarding or via Trenitalia app (if you buy a paper ticket at the station don’t forget to validate it at the machines before boarding).
Intercity trains (or Freccia) offer discounted fares (Economy or Supereconomy) if purchased in advance. Tickets on IC are train specific since seats are reserved, but they also don’t sell out except for extremely rare occasions. The BASE price is the full price and that doesn’t change. Intercity trains are more expensive than Regionali, since they are faster trains. However the distance from Viareggio to La Spezia is so short that the time saving is not worth the extra price. Take a Regionale and save the money for a gelato. If you must take an IC or Freccia at all costs you can still buy it at the station when you depart. There will be no discounts available by that time but seats won’t sell out and you will have full flexibility if you change your plans. If you buy a discounted ticket ahead of time then you are stuck with it and you can’t change it anymore, so you will lose your money if your plans change.
www.trenitalia.com is the train company website. Trainline is a reseller.
Posted by
Italy
3812 posts
Tomorrow half of the country will be going somewhere, August 15 is the second most important Italian holyday after Xmas.
Only one of the IC and Freccia trains from Lucca to La Spezia running tomorrow is sold out. I have just checked and it's 9 pm in Italy. There is no reason to fear that the same trains will be sold-out on a random day in September.
Note that Trainline is a re-seller, a middle-man that doesn't work for free and that won't be at the station in case of troubles.
If you are going to take a Viareggio-La Spezia train with reserved seating, check if it calls also at Monterosso. As an Example, the notorious IC train #666 leaves La Spezia at 10:09 and stops in Monterosso at 10:31 AM.
Posted by
San Diego, California, USA
1144 posts
Hello mosesrus,
You have heard from two of the most informed people with "on the ground" train experience here on the boards so the only thing I would add is to get the Trenitalia app and use that to check schedules, track trains and buy tickets via the app.
I say this because I had downloaded the app on the advice of a friend but wasn't planning on using it to buy tickets. But when I encountered huge lines at La Spezia train station for the tickets machines I purchased tickets using the app and we ditched the line and went to the platform to catch the train. This was in September of last year you may have a similar experience.
Have a great trip,
=Tod
Posted by
OP
Franklin, Tennessee
182 posts
Thanks for the help!