My husband and I will be in Italy in October. We intend to take 3 fairly long train trips. The first will be from Milan to Florence, next Florence to Venice, and finally Venice to Milan. Should we purchase train tickets in the USA? Which trains offer the fastest, but comfortable routes?
Thank you.
Posted by
Edmonds, WA 🌨 ☂
11194 posts
here is one source to help you plan
Posted by
Chicago, IL, USA
483 posts
None of those are really that long. You can probably get high speed trains now with either Trenitalia or Italo. Would yield better prices to schedule now, but would reduce flexibility in Italy. I think I would book now, as it would form me up on hotels and schedules for transfer days.
Posted by
Portland, Oregon
5687 posts
Use the www.Trainline.eu website to check prices for both Trenitalia and Italio trains.
Generally, the sooner you book, the cheaper the fares on the fast trains, as cheaper fares sell out closer to departure. If you have a fairly fixed itinerary already, it may not make sense to wait.
Posted by
Toledo, Ohio, US
11613 posts
I would not buy non-refundable tickets for the day of arrival by plane, otherwise, I usually buy up to 120 days in advance to save money. A couple of years ago I got a Frecciarossa ticket from Milano to Venezia for €9.
Posted by
278 posts
Italotreno is the other high speed train system operating much the way trenitalia does but it is privately owned. They offer nice trains at high speeds like trenitalia. I prefer Italotreno when traveling between destinations and on arrival day. Its just a personal preference after using them a few times. I have also used Trenitalia for day trips to Ravenna. I also liked them. The slow regionale trains connect to both.
For the day you arrive its best to buy the ticket after arriving. October is not as busy as say July. Its never been a problem and trains are frequent. The price may be higher but you won't run the risk of wasting your money if your flight is late. But for train tickets during the trip, such as day trips and moving to the next destination I do buy those in advance after firming up my plans and after booking my hotels/bandb/etc. For these I have always used trenitalia high speed and regionale trains. Regionale trains are the slow trains and many communities are served solely by them. But they are also cheap cheap to use. Nice enough but not as much as the fast train services.
I do find Italotreno's website easier to use as far as figuring out the station names. These trips go faster than you may think.
Arrive in plenty of time, I like 15-20 minutes at least. I use the app on my phone for both trains and the conductors do check for tickets, once we were asked for passports. (kept in money belt)
Posted by
OP
Warrington, PA, USA
13 posts
Thank you so much for your advice. We will purchase the tickets in the USA.