Train Tickets

I don't believe you are going to need reservations in March.
But if you know exactly when you are going to travel, you can get your ticket online and print it out, plus you might be able to get 5% off.
The official site is www.Trenitalia.com
I personally don't like to reserve tickets ahead of time, because most of the time I change my plans.
I am glad I didn't do it last year when I went to Italy because sighseeing took me less time than I expected and I had to charge each of my departure time and dates.

My wife and I just returned from our trip on the 31st of December, and I would say that making reservations ahead of time is a good idea. We just showed up at the train station, and in all but one case, we ended up waiting between one and three hours for a train that had open seats.

I thought that we would have more flexibility to sleep in or spend more time in the cities, but in reality, we ended up seeing the insides of train stations in detail and then losing a great deal of time in the next destination.

Hope that helps a little.

Greg

" Pisa to Venice, Venice to La Spezia, Florence to Rome, and Rome to La Spezia "

Is this in order of travel? If so, consider going from Pisa to La Spezia and then over to Venice via Florence.

A lot depends on your travel dates. The previous poster was traveling during a major holiday season. We travelled during the last two weeks of November (Rome - Orvieto, Orvieto - Florence) and had no trouble purchasing tickets for the next train leaving.

For your travel dates, there do not appear to be any major holidays, so I think you are safe to not purchase ahead of time unless you feel like there is a specific train you HAVE to be on. Note that some trains (EurostarItalia for instance) require advanced reservations though.

Thanks you for all the comments and tips!

Bob -- the order is due to the fact that we are spending both weekends that we are there in Lerici with a friend who lives there (i.e., traveling back to La Spezia train station each Friday night to be picked up by him).

I would take Greg's advice with a lot of caution and it might be limited to a very specific situation. We have traveled extensively via train in Italy, generally in late May to mid June, and never encountered a problem with obtaining train tickets. Normally we buy a day or two in advance but have bought within a couple hours also. We normally buy the departure tickets when we first arrive at the train station. Some trains will require seat reservations others do not. On those you might stand but you do get to get on. In March you would have no problem with availability. We actually use bahn.de for schedule information.

The Christmas/New Years is a heavy time for locals so that may have caused Greg a problem but that would not extend to other times. We are just back from Spain (12/26-1/5). We rode the trains three times in that time period. While the trains were nearly full, we were always able to get tickets the day before.

Unless you hit a local holiday, you would no problem with tickets in March.

having made a few trips to Italy traveling by train, my experience has been that buying tickets as I went worked out without hitches. As for buying in advance, you're not going to get your US credit card to work on the trenitalia site. And many people report here that the private companies selling don't offer all the times & routes. As opposed to what it sounds like Greg did (showing up at the station with enough time to buy a ticket and board the train), I'd suggest you buy your tix a day ahead as you travel. However I must say that when I was traveling (not at a peak holiday time) we knew the schedule and had no trouble buying tix 30 minutes or so before the train we wanted.

Just buy your tickets as you go, ideally one or two days in advance. While regional trains don't offer them, you can often get Amica fares (20% discount) on fast ES and IC trains. If any of the allotted number of seats are still available, Amica fares are sold up to midnight of the day before departure.

we traveled italy this past march , milan, cinque terre, pisa, florence, siena, sorrento, and rome all by train and did not book ahead. we arrived on easter sunday and fromn that point on had no problems with getting seats on any train. good luck :):)

Thank you everyone for sharing your experiences and knowledge!

Funny I was in Italy over the holiday season and NEVER made an advance train reservation. My travels took me from Milan to Venice, Venice to Florence and Florence to Milan. Got my departure tickets at each train station the moment I arrived and did so by using the self service machines everywhere but in Venice. Traveled 2nd class at the times I preferred. Trains were extremely clean, always on time and not full. Maybe because I was traveling to larger cities there weren't any of the troubles expressed by other posters.

Is it worth it to buy first class versus second class tickets? We don't care about access to the lounge, but my husband is 6'5" and if the seats or space is significantly bigger in first class that would make a big difference for him!

The only time I had trouble getting a reservation on a train from Venice was when I showed up at the train station early one morning and thought I would be able to get on the next train. Well, that train was full so I had to wait an hour or so for a later train. I wished then that I had made a reservation the day before.

First class is only marginally better or bigger. It is NOT live the difference between coach and first class on airlines. 2nd class is more like business class in room and space between seats. I am 6-2 and fine 2nd class to be more than adequate.

My wife and I were in Italy last March around the same time as you have planned. When we arrived in a city's train station, we would just buy the tickets for the next travel date before we left the station for our hotel. To me, it was just one less thing to worry about. The day of our travel to another city, we would just show up and head for the platform with plenty of time to spare. Remember, some tickets must be validated before boarding, we almost made that mistake once.

We will be arriving in Rome at the end of may and plan on taking the bullet train to Naples. Should we book ahead of time for that portion of trip, then buy others over there?

Jonathan, go to the trenitalia site and look at how many trains they have on that route! There is the bullet train about once an hour in the morning (only time I checked) that takes 1:21, and another slower train every hour that takes 2:09 Buying when you're there is not a problem, and dodges the issue of what happens if your arrival into Rome is later than you had planned for. If you're flying in, just buy the ticket to the main train station and the train to Naples at the airport.