My wife and I will be traveling by train from Milan to Monterosso on April 24th to visit the Cinque Terre. I am about to make reservations. Rick recommends using Trenitalia where super economy is 29.80 euros. A google search took me to ItaliaRail with tickets for what appears to be the same train for $19. Has anyone had experience with these different reservation sites and/or recommendations? Thanks.
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When we have made the trip in the past we have preferred to go through Trenitalia directly. No particular reason however it has always turned out well. I will say it is work a slightly higher fare to do the "First Class" Ticket... More leg room, less crowded. Excited for you... We are making a return trip in May.
ItaliaRail is a reseller
Hard to believe they are selling “same” ticket for so much less
Be sure about that, read the fine print
29.80 euros
Ehm... that's the price for 2 passengers, not per person. On trenitalia.com most direct IC trains running on April 24 cost € 14.90 per person.
ItaliaRail is actually more expensive than Trenitalia at $ 19 per person.
The only way to pay less than € 14.90 is departing before 7 AM or after 9 PM.
Be aware that April the 25th is a National Holyday and that SuperEconomy tickets can't be changed or refunded.
I'm interested to hear how and what you end up booking. We are doing that same route at the end of April and I've yet to figure out the best site to book or best shortest route in general.
The best place to purchase is on the actual train company website
https://www.trenitalia.com/content/tcom/en.html
There is also an app
One point to clarify....
Are you using the train to Monterosso directly after arriving on an international flight? One important point to remember is that train reservations are specific to train, date and departure time. If your flight is late arriving and you miss the train you've booked, do NOT try to use the tickets on another train, as you'll be subject to hefty fines which will be collected on the spot.
OTOH, if you're connecting with that train from another location in Italy, buying advance tickets can save some money. I agree with the suggestion in the previous reply that it's better to buy from the Trenitalia website. I've also used Trainline Europe in the past and found that worked very well (although I believe they may have a small surcharge). Both Trenitalia and Trainline have smartphone apps, so you can buy tickets using your phone (cellular access required if no WiFi available).
I'm having issues booking on Trenitalia. I've used the app, the website via my iPad, and the website using my work laptop. I get to the point of purchase and I'm getting an error message.
Check prices on Italo as well, depending on the route the prices might be less.
Always buy Italian train tickets from Trenitalia or Italo, or , not from anywhere else.
It’s similar to not buying airline tickets from a reseller like CheapoAir.
ItaloTreno runs only fast trains so I guess it would be fast train Milan to Genoa then change to a Regional Trenitalia
Trenitalia runs a direct IC Milan to Monterosso-no changes
IC trains are similar to freccia, assigned seats, just more stops
Price as Dario posted above
In response to WA-traveler, I booked a direct train to Monterosso using ItaliaRail and a return to Milan using Trenitalia. In both cases, i received confirmed reservations with seat assignments and barcodes so we will be able to board those trains with no further assistance. Also, they are comparable in price.
I had the same questions before we did our tour in October! Here’s what I learned: I booked all of my tickets before our trip began. I used Omio for all bookings. In comparing Trenitalia and Italo, we found the Italo train to be nicer (modern accommodations) but we only had one trip on that train so not a great comparison and the other 6 rides were on Trenitalia. Had I known if one was cleaner/newer, I would’ve booked more on Italo to get a better idea. That said, all got us where we needed to be and on-time, we did have one delayed train but it did not affect our travel day. I upgraded every seat to business class because we had 1-3 hour trips and we wanted to be comfortable and have access to drinks if needed. And because this was my first time in Italy, I wanted a clean itinerary before we left. There were a few times I would have preferred earlier departure times, but all of my tickets were locked and could not be changed or the change fee wasn’t worth my desire to have an earlier train. If you think you need flexibility on a booking, choose that during booking so you are covered.
I would select the train based on your timing need and then price and go with it. Best of luck!
