I am planning a trip to Italy. We will arrive at Rome, then going to Florence, then Venice from Florence. Anyone know any web site to book tickets online? When I booked my train tickets with DB traveling in Germany back in August, they also offer discount tickets online. Will I find the same deal on any of the Italian train system? Thanks in advance.
Calvin
Posted by
Basel, Switzerland
8889 posts
Trenitalia (Italian National Railways): http://www.trenitalia.com/tcom-en Italian equivalent of DB.
Lots of discounts for advance purchase for long distance trains, which of course fixes you to one specific train, and you get print-at-home tickets.
Local trains ("Regionalle") do not have discounts for advance purchase.
There is also a competing company, which operates on some (only a few) long distance routes: https://www.italotreno.it/en
Posted by
Tampa, FL, USA
1054 posts
You'll find discounts on the Italian trains months/weeks in advance. The main Italian railway is TrenItalia which you will find here - http://www.trenitalia.com/. They have the highspeed routes, plus local regionale service
There is a second high speed train company called Italo that runs between the major cities and you can see their prices and schedule here - https://www.italotreno.it/en
Posted by
Vernon, Canada
32216 posts
calvin,
You can book tickets either on the Trenitalia or Italo websites or at https://www.trainline.eu/ which sells tickets for both networks at the same price. Trainline also sells tickets for trains in Germany, France, Spain and several other countries (one stop shopping). You'll need to register on the site with payment details, but after that the process is very user friendly. They also have a smartphone App.
When is this trip taking place? Discounted tickets in Italy can be purchased up to about 120 days in advance of the trip. Note that the cheapest Super Economy tickets are non-refundable and non-changeable so be sure of your travel details before you press "Buy". Economy tickets come with some restrictions and the the most expensive Base fare tickets have the most options. The bi-annual schedule change will be coming up in mid-December, so you won't yet be able to see travel details if your trip is a long way in the future.
Tickets for the fast trains in Italy (ie: Freccia trains) are specific to train, date and departure time, so can only be used on the one train listed on the ticket. If you board the wrong train by mistake, you'll be subject to hefty fines, which will be collected on the spot. There's no cost savings with advance purchase tickets for the Regionale trains, so you can either buy those online or at local stations. Note that locally purchased Regionale tickets MUST be validated prior to boarding the train on the day of travel, or again subject to hefty fines!
Posted by
OP
83 posts
Thank you very much for all your quick responses. I am planning to go in mid Feb.