We plan to travel around Italy in March. Is it better to buy train tickets ahead of time, or is it easy to buy them when we get to the stations (Rome to Orvieto, Siena to Lucca, Lucca to Venice)?
Posted by
US Pacific Northwest
10344 posts
You can't reserve ahead because the Trenitalia website doesn't accept US credit cards. Yep, seems unbelievable, but this comes up once a week here. The vast majority of people posting here, once they understand this, choose to wait and buy tickets in Italy, say on the 2nd day in Italy when they can get to a train station (where your US credit card will be accepted). Two significantly more costly alternatives are RailEurope or going through a travel agent here.
Posted by
Vernon, Canada
32353 posts
Ray, it's VERY easy to buy tickets in Italy, either from staffed ticket office or from automated ticket machines. I wouldn't bother buying ahead of time, as it will surely cost more if you have to deal with Rail Europe. Pre-buying may also "lock" you into specific travel times and dates. You may find it helpful to have a look at * www.roninrome.com/ category/transportation * (cut & paste the link inside the asterisks). I usually research the routes and travel times using the Trenitalia website, so that I have some idea which trains are available at the time I'll be travelling. Good luck!
Posted by
Dallas, TX, USA
1170 posts
You can't buy or reserve ahead of time from the U.S. It's very easy to buy tickets from the automated kiosks in the train stations. March is the off-season so you will have no trouble getting a seat on a train.
Posted by
Los Angeles
425 posts
In any case, the Trenitalia reservations system won't accept reservations from anywhere in the world (including from Italy) for travel more than FOUR MONTHS in the future, or beyond the published web schedules, whichever sooner occurs!!!