Stopover in Bologna and other train questions

If you buy the ticket from Bologna the same day, you can buy it on your way out of town, the price will be the same.

Some Freccia trains may fill up in second class, but it's unlikely. In that case, you can go first class.

You can save a lot of money by buying tickets up to 120 days ahead, but the super economy tickets permit no changes or refunds.

As for Bologna, you can see the major sights in a day, perhaps a full day if you plan to eat a nice meal there (and you should).

Bologna Centrale may be confusing to negotiate since it has several levels and some "side" tracks, but there are escalators and elevators and the signage is clear.

Bologna

We made the same stop over last year on our way from Venice to Rome. It worked out well. We bought our tickets in advance to save some money and had no problems.

We caught a 9:00 train from S. Lucia and were off in Bologna by 10:30. Dropped our bags at the station and had about 6 hours to explore before our train to Rome. That was time to walk down to see (but not climb) the two towers, Garisenda and Asinelli, a first gelato at Gelatauro (fantastic!), stumble upon the Piazza Santo Stefano, spend some time in Basilica San Petronio, grab a lunch at Trattoria Belle Arti (tried Trattoria Anna Maria but they were closed), and one more gelato at Cremaria Mascarella. We caught our train at about 16:30 and were at Roma Termini about 18:30 if I recall.

We liked how it worked out. The stop broke up a long travel day and gave us enough of a taste of Bologna to know we want to go back.

Luggage storage in Bologna (which I assume you'll need):

http://www.grandistazioni.it/cms/v/index.jsp?vgnextoid=0e08d8a55b4eb110VgnVCM1000003f16f90aRCRD

Bologna's historic district is quite large, so you'll be able to make use of as much time as you can spare. I very much enjoyed an English-language walking tour organized by the tourist office, though I don't know how often those are offered in the winter.

One significant advantage of Bologna at the time of year you're visiting is that a lot of the streets are arcaded, so you will be somewhat sheltered from any precipitation that happens to be falling.

Because of the substantial difference between advance-purchase ticket prices and walk-up prices, you should take a look immediately at the range of fares for the trips you plan to take. Look at today's (or tomorrow's) fares and compare to your planned travel dates. If the fares are similar, you probably won't save much by buying now (perhaps others have already snapped up the cheap tickets) and you may as well wait. If you see large fare differences, you can weigh the cost savings from buying now against the flexibility you retain by waiting.

Trenitalia and ItaliaRail run the trains. Each sells tickets only for its own trains, I assume. Trainline.eu is a seller handling both; it has many happy customers here, though I've never used it. Some European rail companies choke on US credit cards, so Trainline might end up being easier to use.

My experience is in buying tickets at the train-station counters. You do not want to do that at the last minute, because even outside of the winter-holiday season, the lines can be long and the service not terribly efficient. I once missed a train while I was standing in line; I should have bought the ticket the previous day. You may well be able to use the ticket-vending machines to avoid the lines at the staffed counters. There have been mixed reports about their acceptance of US credit cards. If you're asked for a PIN, you can try just pressing "Enter".

There are self service Trenitalia machines in several places in the train station and Italo has a machine near their office. There is plenty to do in Bologna so you should have no trouble finding things to fill your time.

Here is how I would play this. In the late afternoon there is a train to Rome from Bologna almost every ten minutes or a bit more. All fast trains taking between two and two an half hours. So I would pick a time that is convenient for when you want to arrive in Rome -- say 4.30 (1630) departure from Bologna. Book that ticket now because you can get a substantial savings for a Super Economy ticket. Getting to Bologna is more flexible. The fast train is an hour and half and the fast regionale (Veloce) is two hours and cheaper. So 30 minutes is not a big deal. Purchase that ticket in Venice at a time that is convenient for you. Leave around nine and be in Bologna by 11 have a earlier lunch and still have four hours or so wonder around Bologna or schedule a later departure if you want more time. You will need two tickets.

Just to comment on purchasing train tickets...I purchased 2 tickets today using the TrainlineEU app (iPhone). It was super easy and I was even able to pay using ApplePay (no credit card info).

I purchased Super Economy tickets pretty far in advance of actual travel date and got a great deal.

Did I miss something? Are you listing dates for 2018? People's answers seem to assume so.

Thank you everyone for your replies! I guess my main question is if we want to go for just a meal and a half hour walk, how far apart should we book our tickets? We will be travelling from Venice to Rome (with Bologna stopover) on Dec 30.

A half hour will get you to and from the train station with a quick glance at Piazza Maggiore.

I would use Frank's schedule but have lunch at the normal time, so you have 4-5 hours there. Personally, I would want twice that long.

Bologna's train station is big, so allow time to check and retrieve your luggage.

Bologna is a large city. Even its historic district is quite large. And it's quite a walk from the train station. I really liked Bologna, but it's not where I would choose to go if I wanted to stop for a meal and a 30-minute walk. You'd need all of that 30 minutes, and more, just to walk to the center of the historic district.

I would think 5 hours would be the minimum. You'll need up to 2 hours just to check and retrieve your luggage, walk back and forth to the Piazza Maggiore area (about 25 minutes each way, part of it along the loggias) and find your departing train platform. Lunch will be about an hour if you eat at Tamburini (high-end deli with great lunch-only dining area in the back) and likely longer if you do a sit down meal. You can easily chew up more than 30 minutes just exploring around the Piazza Maggiore area. IMO, 4 hours would be cutting it too close. I really enjoyed my stay in Bologna, but had I rushed in and rushed out I would probably have left thinking it had little to offer.