We are going to take the train from Milan to Varenna on June 16, Varenna to Venice on June 19 and Venice to Rome on June 22. Should we wait to buy all of these when we get to Milan on the 15th? Many sites warn of schedule changes after June 12. Please advise---I have been on the trenitalia site but it gets confusing when trying to pay...and I know the reject a large number of US cards.
Best advice please!
Judy
Roseville, California
If you scan back a couple days you will find this question over and over and dozens of responses -- nearly all the same. It is nearly impossible to buy tickets from Trenitalia. A few claim success - very, very, very few. IF you are absolutely locked into your schedule, then buy the tickets at the first station you find. You might still get some of the early purchase discounts. Schedule changes are slightly. Mostly a few minutes of time adjustment. Don't not have wholesale cancel of trains or new trains added. Best advice ??? Take a deep breath, several, relax. The is almost unlimited capacity on Italian trains and the frequency is high. Buy the tickets when you get there.
Thanks Frank! I had read the train advice before but just before leaving it was getting personal! We'll get all our tickets when we get to Milan.
Judy
Remember that there is no advantage in buying advance tickets for any of the "regionale" local trains: no seat reservations are possible. The Milan/Varenna trip will be on a "regionale" train.
Milan/Venice and Venice/Rome are both heavily travelled routes, BUT train service is HOURLY and you're not travelling during the peak summer season, so you should be just fine.
Wait for the schedule changes on June 12 (they should be very minor). If you buy the Milan/Venice and Venice/Rome legs on or around June 15, you won't have any problem whatsoever getting your first choice of train departure.
Also, second class is fine on these trains.
PS: from Venice to Rome, you can save lots of money by travelling on the IC train rather than the much faster and expensive AV train. It's a tradeoff of fare versus time.
Is it common to not be able to obtain a seat and to have to stand for the whole journey? We are a family of 4 and planned to buy our tickets as we go- wanting to leave some options open. However, we don't want to be in the position where we will have to stand for a several hour train ride.
Chris, it's virtually unheard of to have to stand for a long train ride. You'll be fine. The most likely worst case scenario would be that you might have trouble finding four seats together. That's all.
Have a great time.
We just got back and had a very rude shock regarding trains. I purchased our first train tickets through RailEurope- very expensive. Before we boarded in Milan for Florence we decided to buy our four tickets from Florence to Rome and a side ticket to Naples (to see Pompeii). I had been advised to go in with all the train times and days written down so no mistakes would be made. We did that and had a not so nice ticket agent helping us. He sold us the ticket to Naples and also one he said we would use to Pompeii (ruins) even though I thought this leg was a private small train. When questioned he said he was right and the tickets ok. We looked briefly but did not check fully. Days later when we arrived at the train station in Rome to go to Naples we couldn't find our train listed- He sold us tickets for Sunday instead of Monday! He also sold us tickets to Pompeii city not the ruins! We were out about $350 and Trainitalia will not do anything! Please check your tickets fully before you leave the desk! As for buying everything in the states- we did not have a problem with strikes or schedule changes.
