Train Tickets in Advance?

Posted by kb1275 (Oahu) on 03/09/24 08:19 PM

Hello!

We booked our train tickets from Rome to Florence ahead of time, but for other days of our trip, we are unsure what time we would reasonably be at the train station to go to our next cities, examples being from Cinque Terre area to Bologna, as well as Bologna to Venice.

Are we okay to wait to purchase train tickets until we are at the station? Or should we lock ourselves into set times and book ahead of time? We like the idea of flexiblity in case we want to have a slower morning, breakfast in a city, then leave in the afternoon.

Posted by Frank

Tresana, Highlands Ranch, CO, USA

03/09/24 08:49 PM

23340 posts

A couple of issues. Purchasing tickets well in advance may provide an opportunity to acquire deep discount tickets but the tickets are no change, no refund so you are locked into that ticket at that day and time. You can look on the trenitalia.com web site and see the difference in fares. This only applies to the fast trains. The Regionale trains are like a bus on rail. Buy a ticket get on. Price never changes. Some of your routes will be Regionale tickets so till you get to the station to buy.

Posted by kb1275 OP

Oahu

03/09/24 10:02 PM

13 posts

Thank you! Is it easy to buy in person at the station? How much extra time should we allot for this?

Posted by Jean

Idaho, USA

03/09/24 10:08 PM

7337 posts

Use can just use the handy Trenitalia app to purchase your tickets while you’re in Italy.

Posted by acraven

Washington DC

03/10/24 01:29 AM

27217 posts

In my experience, staffed counters at Italian rail stations can be quite slow. I don't know what the deal is. I always use the ticket machines; there will be an English-language option. I haven't been to the Cinque Terre in ages and don't know about the availability of ticket machines there. At busy times you definitely might encounter a line at each ticket machine.

I had no trouble buying tickets online (website or app--I don't remember which) last winter except when I cut it too close and tried to buy a ticket less than 5 minutes before departure time. That doesn't work. Be sure you can get through the transaction before you hit that time limit. It is no longer possible to hop on a train, find the conductor and buy a ticket from him or her at a slight upcharge; trying that is likely to result in at least a 50-euro fine.