five nights each place with 20 yr old grandsons. looking for recommendations for train travel between these cities that allow us to select seats. so at least two of us can sit together/same car. Traveling in late May/June. Can I go to Roma Termini a few days before travel and book ? Short trip- don't really need super expenseive tickets
Posted by
Wilmington, DE, USA
1046 posts
easy! go to trenitalia.com and book on the Freccia line. The earlier you book, the lower the fare can be. Or, yes, you could book it in person at Termini.
Posted by
Green Bay
20146 posts
Also check Italotreno which also operates high speed trains on these routes. Often slightly lower prices and even nicer trains (many say). https://www.italotreno.it/en
As an example, the walk up price for Rome to Florence is 43.90 EUR per person, but you could go for as low as 10.90 EUR per person if you bought a completely nonrefundable, non changeable ticket now for select trains on May 30.
Posted by
Forest Grove, OR
11335 posts
Note that once you select your price and level of service (Standard, Business) on Trenitalia there is a slider to indicate if you want to select your own seats before you hit “Continue.”
Posted by
Italy
3812 posts
Can I go to Roma Termini a few days before travel and book
Yes, you can. Going in person to Termini seems a waste of vacation time since you can get tickets online a few days before travel.
that allow us to select seats
On trenitalia.com is possible to pay to select seats, but it's pointless: the system will always put people who bought tickets in a single transaction as close as possible. Otherwise, if you were in different cars, conductors couldn't check e-tickets.
People are always switching seats on trains, by the way. There are no attendants blocking them
Posted by
221 posts
We just did this, Rome, Florence, Venice, back to Rome. I booked everything in advance on Italo trains, using their discount codes for non refundable tickets - a huge savings for 2 of us. If your first train from Rome to Florence is NOT the same day you are flying into Rome then you won't have to worry about timing in case your flight is delayed. For our trips we booked trains that were mid day so we checked out of one hotel in the morning, and by the time the train arrived in the next city we could check in at the next hotel (or we stored luggage after check out so we could enjoy more of the city before heading to the train station.)
No worries on seat assignment, as already mentioned, you'll be assigned seats next to or very near each other. I did the bookings online, but also had the app and just showed the eticket on the app (or from confirmation email). Very easy. This was my first time using Italo trains and the app. I also used Trenitalia app for the first time for our FCO to Roma ticket. It all went much smoother than I expected.