We are traveling the following routes and dates:
Turin>Rome December 26
Rome>Florence December 29
Florence>Milan December 31
Milan Central>Malpensa January 1
Do I need to book tickets in advance?
If not, will it cost more to purchase tickets on the day of travel at the train station?
Which is better, Trenatalia or Italo?
Thank you!
It is definitely cheaper to book these in advance as all the bargain fares go first
Turin>Rome December 26
Rome>Florence December 29
Florence>Milan December 31
Trenatalia or Italo are about the same except the latter has slightly cheaper prices in some cases
I recommend this site to buy tickets as it sells tickets on both carriers
https://www.trainline.eu/search
If you mean within the next week, in the holidays, yes take what you can get. These tickets will have been on sale for ages.
Have you checked what is still left? Don't worry about which company, Trenatalia or Italo, at this stage - take what is available somewhere near the times you want to travel.
I second the suggestion to use Trainline.eu to buy tickets, as they sell tickets for a variety of rail networks. You'll have to register on the site first, including payment details, but once that's done the process is very user friendly.
You don't need to buy advance tickets for the Milano Centrale-Malpensa route as that's a Regionale train and prices are always the same. You can buy tickets on the day of travel or the day prior to travel at local stations. BE SURE to specify the correct date of travel when you buy tickets. Also, you MUST validate locally purchased tickets prior to boarding the train on the day of travel, or you'll risk hefty fines which will be collected on the spot. That apples to all Regionale trains, buses, metro, etc.
Thank you all!
Also, you MUST validate locally purchased tickets prior to boarding the train on the day of travel - WHERE do you do this?
Grazie!
I be leave there are color coded boxes right by the trains or platforms.
But as another question on this subject...? We will be traveling in the beginning of Sept... as a few of the routes, [Sorento to Rome...Rome to Florence....Florence to Venice.]
...Does " "purchasing in advance" include a 1 & 1/2 days before departing? When traveling in Swiss/ Aust./ Baveria...we just baught tickets when we arrived, for 1 & 1/2 days before we were departing & had no trouble. Will I really need to make reservations to get the trains at the time I would like, 2nd class? Or is Italy different? I don't like making definate times, so we can stay more flexable? Thank you for any sugestions.
Trains will be very busy with holiday travelers, so as Nigel advised, get tickets ASAP. You will want the high speed freccia trains for Turin to Rome, Rome to Florence, and Florence to Milan. The regional trains can be bought day of, but there are no reserved seats, they are slow, and I suspect many segments will be SRO.
