Hello
I traveled to Europe 13 years ago and there was a wonderful woman here in the states that booked it all for me. I got her name from this website but can’t find the info now. If anyone knows of her or someone who does this I would really appreciate the information.
Thank you
There will be lots of people who will claim to "do this" so be be careful. Honestly, this is something you can do on your own as you will find loads of good advice on these boards from experienced well travelled individuals to locals. Where are you wanting to go and what are you wanting to do? Give us a little more info, ie dates, itinerary, etc, and you will get lots of great information on which trains to take, and how to book. Check out traineline.com, and The Man in Seat 61 seat61.com, as well as italotreno.it for the Italo trains and trenitalia.com. We have traveled all over Italy on trains, and if we can do it, anyone can! lol We just need more info!
A reputable travel agent can do it for you.
I would either contact a travel agent, or download the trenitalia app and purchase using the app.
It is as mentioned easy to book train tickets yourself. But, avoid Trainline and other 3rd party resellers!
All you need to know about booking trains
italy4mee, it's not clear why you need someone to book these tickets as in a previous post you mentioned that you are re-locating (moving) to Italy. If that's still true, you will be using trains a LOT so learning how to buy tickets yourself will pretty much be a necessity.
As well, the cheaper, regionale trains have ticket prices which do not change, whether purchased on the spot or in advance, so there's no need to pre-book those. There is an advantage to buying tickets for the "fast" trains in advance if you can land price breaks on them. Anyway, whether to pre-book or not depends on where you're going and which trains you need to get there.
What can you tell us about your journey? Where are you trying to go, and from which location?
Just a heads up from a lesson we learned. We bought our train tickets on line, ahead of our trip.. They are less expensive if you buy ahead, everything was fine. Our problem was our plane was delayed, re-routed and arrived in Rome 5 hours late. We missed our train out of Rome to Lucca. We were out of that money.
They are less expensive if you buy ahead
Again, it depends on the type of train one needs to take to get where they're going. As well, even the reduced-price tickets for the trains for which they're available can sell out so the timing has to be right. But yes, unless it's an inexpensive enough ticket to take the risk losing $ on, buying a non-refundable, non-changeable ticket in advance isn't usually recommended for an air arrival day. Those tickets are almost always the ones that offer nice advance price breaks but you need to be able to make your specific train on time.
It’s not for me is for a family that are taking there first trip to Italy. I struggled the first time I went and the lady that made the train ticket reservation helped me so much and also gave us some of the best tips to wonderful places where we stopped.
The family will be visiting Rome, Florence and Venice in mid July. They have 2 young children. They want there kids to have some train experiences. Also since you really know Italy , the dad has been trying to book tours in all cities and hasn’t had any luck (sold out)I told him that he could find tours once he arrived with local people but he doesn’t want to risk it. I really have only done one tour at the Vatican and we found our tour guide at a cafe in front of the the main entrance area. I would appreciate any information you might have on this as well.
My plans haven’t changed I will be moving to Italy. I can’t wait 🌻
Thank you for all your help
Thank to all that replied. I appreciate you help.
Also since you really know Italy , the dad has been trying to book
tours in all cities and hasn’t had any luck (sold out)I told him that
he could find tours once he arrived with local people but he doesn’t
want to risk it.
Not sure where he is looking or who told him everything is sold out but that is absurd.
No way every tour in Italy is sold out! Could be that he is looking to soon, that the tour company calendar is not out yet for July (although i kind of doubt that)
Many here recommend and use Walks of Italy and Through Eternity tours but I am not really sure they are appropriate for little kids.
If you could share more info- exactly what sort of tour are they looking for in each local?
You might also suggest that this family purchase the RS Italy Guidebook and begin working on their plans. The book will have all the info they need to plan train trips, tours, and more.
If they are able to use the internet they can easily book their own train tix (as needed in advance) and research and find appropriate guided tours for kids.
OK, first thing is to have an adult from that family sign up to post on this forum so that he/she can ask questions and we can answer them directly. It's a lot easier than trying to communicate via a third party.
Christine is spot on: there is NO WAY that tours in all three cities are "sold out". It's simply not possible. If they would provide their travel dates to each city and the things they wish to see when they are there, we can help them find resources. We just need a lot more info, including the ages of their children.
Again, they really should be asking the questions on this forum themselves 'cuz It could eliminate a lot of confusion. I assume they speak English? Maybe not?
The family will be visiting Rome, Florence and Venice in mid July.
It's 3 train tickets for 4, with no changes and using only high speed trains. Nothing complicate. Can't you wait for late May and get the tickets for them?A train ticket is just an e-mail after all. I mean as a friend, not for a fee.
Judging from the "sold out tours" I think the all family could watch some youtube videos about how to ride the trains in Italy.
Travel agent or not, they should learn the basic stuff like "look for the train code on the Departures board and not for your destination".
Or "train cars are connected, but walking along the aisles with luggage in tow is a pain. On the platform, Wait close to where your car will hopefully stop".
Or: "You are not taking the train just for the experience, you are taking the high speed trains because any other option would make no sense"
I think The Dad needs to step-up and book his families trains himself, or he can farm it out to a licensed travel agent. The seat61 link provided above is a good starting point for The Dad. The procuring sweet spot seems to be 90 or 91 days before each train segment. Later.
