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train reservations in advance?

Hi, we will be traveling from Cinque Terre to Venice, near the end of May. Is it recommended to book our train tickets here from the US or to buy them when we get to the train station? Do they tend to sell out?

Posted by
32173 posts

royal,

Tickets don't usually sell out. Whether to purchase online in advance or at local ticket offices will depend on what type of trains you'll be using. For the trip from the Cinque Terre to Venice, you'll be travelling either via Milan or via Florence. Which route to take will probably depend on which of the five towns you're travelling from. The Florence route is probably a bit shorter, but it will still be about a six hour travel day.

You'll need to check either the Trenitalia or Bahn.de websites to determine the composition of the trains at the departure time you choose. You'll probably be using a combination of Freccia / InterCity / Regionale trains. Note that your arrival station will be Venezia Santa Lucia. For the first two types of trains, pre-purchase of tickets can save money if bought up to 120 days in advance, however you MUST be willing to commit to a specific train, date and departure time since those tickets can only be used on the ONE train listed on the ticket. Trying to use them on a different train may result in hefty fines, which will be collected on the spot! With the Regionale tickets there's no reason to buy those in advance, nor is there any price breaks for doing so. It's just as easy to buy those when in Italy, either from a Kiosk or staffed ticket office. BE SURE to validate Regionale tickets prior to boarding the train on the day of travel, or again hefty fines!

Posted by
67 posts

We are in the same situation, royal. I have decided to book in advance since my itinerary is set, I would expect the cheap tickets sell out first and I love a bargain.

Posted by
23178 posts

How, just to reinforce -- DONOT buy Regionale train tickets on line in advance. There is no discount for doing so and on line tickets come with restrictions.

Posted by
11613 posts

The only time I buy a regionale ticket online in advance is if it is a segment of a journey that includes fast trains; since I'm buying the fast-train ticket, I'm already restricted on changes, so why not get the regionale at the same time and not have to stop and buy one segment of a journey at the station?