Hello, With your help I’m hoping to find the best IPhone train App for Southern Italy, which will allow me to buy and save tickets on my phone. I’d prefer to avoid paper tickets. I am in Sicily and Puglia 5 weeks and would like more confidence than I currently have about solo travel and train tickets.
I downloaded the Trenitalia App, however, it appears to require a VAT #.
Thanks all
Did you "tell" the app you are not italian? Usually it's chrome that auto-translates an Italian Fiscal Code as a VAT #.
The problem can be easily solved turning auto-translate off and using the official English version of a site. Otherwise you can get an Italian CF https://codicefiscale.it// It's just a way to summarize your name, surname, place and date of birth in a single code.
Sicily is (badly) served only by Trenitalia.
In Puglia many cities and seaside villages are served by Trenitalia, but private railways running trains on secondary lines are still active. If you don't find a train on trenitalia.com, try:
https://www.ferrovienordbarese.it/ (Bari airport)
http://www.ferroviedelgargano.com/it-it/
http://www.ferroviedelgargano.com/it-it/ (recently acquired by Trenitalia's mother company)
https://eticket.ferrovieappulolucane.it/FAL/ (Bari, Matera etc.)
There are apps where you can search Trenitalia's and all the above schedules at once, but not for iPhone.
I can just speak for the part of Siciliy I visited (southeast). I wouldn't assume that trains are always best since some stations are further away from the town centers than where the buses can drop you off (example of Taormina). Plus the trains were slooooow, regional trains that make every local stop (with old school conductors coming through and checking every ticket). I don't know how you'd validate your tickets when the confirmation is solely on your phone (not a hard copy), or why you'd want to purchase them in advance. It's easy enough just to buy them through an automated kiosk at the station (the smallest rural stations may not have one, though, so you'd need to either buy a round-trip at the departing station or finding a tabac shop). This is a part of Italy where you just have to go with the flow, not to try to be super efficient because the infrastructure is not exactly cutting-edge. Looking at Italian websites was a doozy, and I can understand Italian (they were very basic/ clunky, not user-friendly)
I'm pretty sure that all of the trains in Sicily are run by Trenitalia. (There are no Italo trains in Sicily that I could find.) The Trenitalia website and app are probably as good as you are going to get. However, note that there are not many train lines in Sicily and buses are often the better option. For example: to get from Palermo to Ortigia/Siracusa, the train journey with a change in Catania is anywhere from 5-7 hours long. However the direct bus (Interbus) is 3'15". There are smaller, regional bus lines, also, for example in and around Trapani.(I took one to and from Trapani/Segesta for a day trip.) For many routes between larger cities and towns, the Interbus buses will be your best bet: interbus.it. I highly bet that no Interbus driver is going to have a hand-held scanner to read a ticket on your phone and really doubt if they are ever sold as a computer-generated piece of data saved to your phone. I found that going to the bus station a day or two before your onward trip, and purchasing your ticket in person is usually the way that most folks purchase tickets in Sicily. (In some cases, the tickets are only sold on day of travel; see some posts a couple of years ago by Zoe.) I know that this is not what you want to hear, and it was very frustrating to me when (as an over-planner) I was trying to pin down all our my travel arrangement before leaving the States for a recent Sicily trip. However, when in Rome.... or in Palermo....
I don't know how you'd validate your tickets for those
As elsesewhere in Italy: You punch Regional tickets locally purchased into a time-stamping machine by the tracks.
There are no Italo trains in Sicily that I could find.
Italo runs only high speed trains, no high speed rails... No Italo.
and it was very frustrating to me
You are Very frustrated by means of transport that don't need to be purchased in advance? A good doctor Would say you suffer from deep-water-fish disorder. Anyway I'd check if local tobacconists sell bus tickets before going to the bus station.
I don't know how you'd validate your tickets for those
As elsesewhere in Italy: You punch Regional tickets locally purchased
into a time-stamping machine by the tracks.
I clarified my earlier post. I meant tickets saved on a smartphone, not a hard copy. Do conductors scan those? I don't recall seeing one on a Sicilian Regionale train with a scanning machine, although I might have just missed it.
Lori,
I traveled around Sicily last year via public transportation.
As previously mentioned by jmauldinuu, buses are sometimes a better option on some routes.
If you share your itinerary, I can help you figure out which bus company services that route.
The Lonely Planet Guidebook was very helpful during my planning.
I took several buses and only 3 trains during my 3.5 weeks in Sicily. Trains were taken for the following routes: Palermo to Cefalù, Siracusa to Milazzo, and Milazzo to Acireale.
Here’s my trip report if you’re interested: My trip to Sicily- In Zoe’s memory...
Enjoy your trip!
Edited to add...
Regarding buying train tickets while in Sicily, I bought one at the train station and the others on my phone using the Trenitalia website (not the app).
The train ticket inspector does come around to check tickets with an electronic scanner.
Buying bus tickets was interesting...
I wanted to buy them in advance, at the bus stations, but was told to wait till the day of travel.
You can buy bus tickets at the bus station, a travel agency, or sometimes from the driver.
