Making train reservations in advance?

Bobbie...you can usually opt for a "ticketless solution," a form of E-ticket where you take the e-mail confirmation they send you, then hop aboard the train and show it to the conductor. Or there is the "self service" option, where you pick up your tickets at a ticket machine, using the reference number e-mailed to you. There have been problems with people booking on the trenitalia site, so here are some tips to try to avoid that. First, go to the trenitalia site and go directly to the registration page...do NOT try to register part-way through a booking process. Trenitalia will eventually send you an e-mail with a temporary password. As soon as you possibly can, get on the Trenitalia site with that temporary password and change it to another password. That should allow you to get back on the website and book as many tickets as you need. In ascending order of speed (usually) and price, trains include IC (inter city), ES (EuroStar Italia), and AV (the new high speed Alta Velocita trains). When you book, try for the Amica fares, which give you 20% off the standard price. Use second class, since first class isn't worth it IMHO....and make sure you check the conditions for refunds and changes.

Unless you are traveling on a holiday, trains in Italy don't usually run full. There are exceptions such as the Cinque Terre and the Circumvesuviana trains to Sorrento but these are local trains and if there are no seats, you stand. You literally cannot sell out the local trains. The higher category trains do have seat assignments but still, your fear is unfounded. For example, if you are traveling from Florence to Rome, there are 55 trains a day going in that direction and each one holds more people than a 747. This is very hard for a North American who may never have been in a train station to comprehend. The trains don't fill up.

It would help if you would identify further where you are traveling in Italy. If you can also buy tickets in Italy on www.italiarail.com if you must have them in advance. They are a ticket broker in the U.S. and much easier to buy from than Trenitalia. The ticket cost is a bit more but if you are freaking about your tickets, it's worth it.

We did not buy our tickets from Venice to Florence in advance and had no trouble buying them at the station 45 minutes before departure. It's good to have a timetable so you know which trains you want.

We planned our itinerary here then went to the train station and bought all our tickets at one time..some of the amica fares were gone but it still worked well...we did change one trip after purchasing in cinque terre but it only cost 3 euros to change
JN

We were unable to buy from the USA but I printed out my wish list from home, walked into an American Express office in Rome(we don't have their card) and they sent me to the last desk. Totally effortless. Even got my Amica fares with only 2-7 days advance purchase.All trips were in Italy and no overnighters

Bobbie: I fretted about this too when we planned our June trip to Rome, Assisi and Florence. We took the Trenitalia train from each city and finally back to Rome for departure back to the USA. I really am a compulsive planner and buying the train tickets before we got in the car to drive to JFK was a must do. But it didn't work out. I couldn't buy them in advance. And . . . it ended up not being a problem AT ALL. We were easily able to puchase train tickets on the day of our travel. In fact, in hindsight, I think it's better to not be so precisely planned. Because if you want to stay for an hour or two or longer or leave earlier, you're stuck with your pre-purchased tickets. Some flexibilty is called for while in Italy. There's just too much to enjoy to not have some room for spontaneity.

However to feed my compulsive planning and to ease my anxiety, I did do some pre-trip organizing and this did help alot. From home, , I printed out the schedules from the Trenitalia website for the times, with several options, and the destinations on the exact date that we wanted to travel. When we arrived at the train station, I handed the print out to the ticket agent, pointed to the train I wished to purchase tickets for, said "due biglietti, per favore" and, to great relief on both of our parts, the communication barrier was lifted! At no time, were tickets sold out. The trains are huge, efficient, clean, and on time. Italy has mastered train travel for visitors and residents.

Fly by the seat of your pants on this!

We bought tickets in advance for the trains. We ordered them online from two different websites (see list of websites above) and had them delivered to us. Most people suggest against this on the forums. I'm glad we did - the trains we rode were full as far as I could see. I don't think we would have been able to find three seats together if we'd waited to buy until the day of travel. At the train stations there were long lines at the ticket counter as well. They do have machines for buying tickets; I have no experience with those. I'd rather do my waiting in line and ordering things at home.

We bought our train tickets online so when we got to the station we could go directly to the train. We didn't have to take time the day before to go someplace and buy tickets, or risk doing them the same day we wanted to travel. We paid more for the tickets than we would have at the train stations but the benefits were worth the price for us.

Our tickets from The Rail Experts (http://www.railconnection.com) were delivered without a hitch. When I ordered from Raileurope.com the price on our order was $164. They charged us that amount and sent us an order confirmation. Then, a day or two later they called to say the price on their site was wrong and hit me up for an additional $50, which seemed sleezy to me. That little after-the-fact price hike made their price higher than The Rail Experts, but they already had some of my money so I felt stuck. I won't order from Raileurope.com again.

THANK YOU to everyone who answered my questions-great advice from everyone!!

Bobbie

Lived in Italy for years and now travel there often - almost always in September. I always wait until I am in Italy before purchasing tickets. You can purchase your tickets at any travel agency to avoid lines at the station. Train travel in Italy is the main source of transportation so there are plenty of runs per day - not like the USA where there may be only one or two per day. The trains will not be full. Plus booking in advance ties you down to a schedule. What if you are loving Rome and want to stay an extra day or two?

Bobbie,
Just visited Italy the end of June. We took the train from Genoa to Cinque Terre; CT to Florence; Florence to Orvieto; Orvieto to Rome - never bought in advance and no issues. Have a great trip!