I read through old posts and Rick's book but not too much on trains posted. Am I safe just flying in and getting trains quickly within an hour or two? i.e. Milan to Padua; Padua to Venice; Venice to Florence; Florence to CT; CT to Pisa & Lucca; etc..One person said she's never had a problem. Rick's book says reservations are required for fast trains between major cities, but can you get a reservation right before? I can't seem to use the trentalia website. For instance if I type in Milano to Padua there is nothing. Must be a code for cities I don't have...Suggestions? Should I just call a US travel agent and have them book all my trains?
Posted by
US Pacific Northwest
10344 posts
You cannot book tickets online in advance at the Trenitalia site using a US credit card, period.
For searching this site, you have to do it
using the search method described here
Posted by
OP
Seattle
6 posts
Thanks Kent on the search tip. I did see that that you can't reserve using a US credit card, but I'm even just trying to see the schedules.
How do people travel by train then in Italy? Must work ok without reservations?
Posted by
Seattle, WA
1317 posts
For most trains that require reservations (i.e., Eurostar Italia), the reservation comes with the ticket you buy. You can buy your ticket at your first stop when you get off the plane. For ES Italia, I think there is a 30 minute reservation period--i.e., you have to have purchased your ticket & reservation 30 minutes prior to the train departing. My memory is a little fuzzy on that one, so hopefully someone can confirm/correct me.
You CAN search on the treintalia website, but it's definitely an exercise in patience (kind of like a lot of things Italy-related...). It helps to use the italian spelling, and if you know the stations, even better. Milano works better than Milan, Firenze instead of Florence (or Firenze SMN for the main train station there), etc.
If you know roughly which trains you want, you can buy all your tickets at your first stop, or buy them as you go. If you're traveling on the regional trains, there aren't any reservations to be had.
Posted by
US Pacific Northwest
10344 posts
This website is easiest for looking at Italy train schedules
Posted by
OP
Seattle
6 posts
Ok great. Thanks so much to both of you. Sounds like it won't be an issue. I'll just spend some time the first day getting some reservations