Is there any reason we should not make train reservation on the internet before we leave home? We are traveling Venice to Florence and Florence to Rome on the high speed ES train.
Posted by
Elk Grove, CA, USA
6898 posts
Except for a major holiday, there is no reason to make train reservations before leaving home. There are 19 trains a day leaving Venice for Florence and 55 trains a day leaving Florence for Rome. Just go into the Venice train station just after you arrive and buy your tickets. The further ahead the better. If you know the dates and times that you wish to travel, write all this down and hand it to the ticket agent. They'll do everything. Also in the Venice train station, Trenitalia has a separate office where they help you plan your journey. Once nailed down, they will print out the itinerary and you can give it to the ticket agent at the other end of the station (they don't sell tickets in the planning office).
Posted by
The Hague, NL (AMS)
2207 posts
Carla,
The ONLY advantage to book train trip in advance might be to get a lower rate. if you book 24 hours in advance (via the web or walk-in) you can use the AMICA rate which which save you 20%. It's about the only discount NON-EU citizens get on the train.
The English website for trenItalia is:
http://www.trenitalia.com/en/index.html
The ES trains are great. Just came back from Firenze this weekend (Florence) and only 1:38 hours to Rome. save your money and buy 2nd class AMICA tickets in purchasing in advance - Otherwise Larry is right on the money; usually plenty of seats available! Good Luck!
Posted by
Calitri, Avellino, Italy (& US - where I live the majority of the time)
223 posts
you should not have a problem waiting - I did the same trips (in reverse) on last week on Good Friday - which is one of the busiest travel days in Italy (!!)I bought them at the machine when I arrived at the airport - which, fo us, was a week in advance of the train travel. We got the Amica fare for one journey and the family fare for the other...trains are frequent, so if you reallly want the discount, you may just have to travel an hour earlier or later than your first choice. I messed around with the Trenitalia website for HOURS trying to get a credit card to work and not get kicked off the system...it was a pain and so much easier to just use the machines at the airport while my husband was picking up the car rental!