My family and I, including two teens, will be traveling to multiple cities in Italy in July. My cousin in Italy recommended that we purchase all of our train tickets ahead of time as July is such a busy travel time. I have tried to purchase through the trenitalia website but cannot purchase without registering and can't purchase without an Italian residence. I looked for the box that said guest, but can't find it. I tried the raileurope site which is easier but much more expensive! Will I safely be able to purchase when we are in Italy? I am most concerned about our travel from Venice to Rome on Sunday the 6th. Many of the tickets are sold out!! Thank you!!!
Posted by
Knoxville, TN, USA
7209 posts
Why not use your cousin's address? I just made up an Italian address for my account, but I only purchase print-at-home tickets so it really doesn't matter.
And do NOT purchase via RailEurope.
Posted by
Rick Steves' Europe
16895 posts
Trains don't look like they're selling out, but the cheaper fares certainly will. For instance, you can book Venice-Rome at 9:25 on July 6 for 49 euros from Trenitalia or 73 dollars from Rail Europe. Those prices are not very different. Do try again, but if you can't get Trenitalia to work for you, then it would be cheaper to pay $73 to Rail Europe instead of paying the full 80-euro base fare in Italy. I assume that your other routes are shorter and cheaper. You can't buy this early for regional trains (such as Rome-Assisi), so do buy those locally.
Posted by
Pa and Italy
4152 posts
You don't need to register to use trenitalia. Once you have selected the train you want you'll go to the next page which has an area to list the passengers. Under that you'll find a couple of small boxes in the "contact buyer" section, one says "non registered user". Check this box and you should have no problems booking the trains you want.
The benefit to buying ahead of time are the deep discounts you can get. These discounted prices are non-refundable or changeable so be sure of your travel plans before booking.
Donna
Posted by
Columbus, OH, USA
2112 posts
We just returned from Italy and were very pleased with our Italo train service. They do not have the extensive network that Trenitalia has, but their website is super easy to navigate. The trains were spotless and on time and the personnel we dealt with were friendly and helpful. In Rome we had to use either Tiburtina or Ostiense stations...they do not service Termini. We also were able to ride from Rome to Bologna in spite of the trenitalia strike because Italo was running. The ten hours waiting in Bologna is another story, but that was spent waiting for Trenitalia to resume service at 10PM for our connecting regional train to Ravenna. Advise your credit card of your intent to purchase. I did not, but my CC arranged a 3 way call to Italo and it was all efficiently and quickly cleared up. I'm not sure why nobody seems to mention Italo on this board. Travel with Italo was great. Safe travels!
Posted by
3 posts
Just at this train site and cannot buy withou registering
Posted by
Tampa, FL, USA
1054 posts
Use Trenitalia to purchase you tickets. Traveling July 6th you may not get the super discount prices of 19 or 29 euro. I saw some earlier in the 49-80 euro range. If you book ahead you can lock in the cheaper rates on the high speed train say 49 today vs 80 at the station.
Or if you were traveling on a saturday Trenialia has a 2 for 1 sale going on now.
http://www.trenitalia.com/cms/v/index.jsp?vgnextoid=c6f0bd6bc1abf310VgnVCM1000008916f90aRCRD
Posted by
Towson
125 posts
If you decide to go with Italo consider spending the additional 5 euro per person to upgrade from Smart (equivalent to second class) to Smart XL. You'll get the upgraded seating from first class but without the additional first class features. Well worth it in my opinion.