My trip is in March and I've been looking at train tickets from Florence to Naples, and Naples to Rome. First question is should I purchase my tickets in advance or at the station?
I've searched all three sites and they seem to be about the same in price (plus or minus a few dollars). Is there a best train to take? Or is it best to just go with the least expensive option?
Yes, they are all selling the same train tickets for basically the same price from the same database. So you can use whichever seems easiest or cheapest, if you're ready to book a specific departure date and time. Trenitalia is the train operator and the others are outside agents. There's no requirement to book ahead, but the cheaper fares you're seeing now are not sold on the day of travel. Some of these offer limited exchanges but you shouldn't book until your plan is set. Individual trains can fill up, but it's rare. You should also have already seen full fares in your search - at Trenitalia they're presented in very obvious grid structure, once you select a particular train departure.
Thanks Laura! Great to know.
I make my train decisions on the basis of travel time and convenience of the departure time. The fast trains on the routes you mentioned should all be very comfortable.
in addition to Laura's point about fares generally being lower if you buy early, I want to mention that you can run into very slow-moving ticket lines at Italian rail stations. If the ticket machines happen not to like your credit card, it is possible to be stuck in a ticket line until after your planned train departs.
The Florence-Rome-Naples line is used also by www.italotreno.it/en, the private competing company that's often cheaper than Trenitalia. On the day you'll pay Italo's top "Flex" fare, but you can Subscribe their newsletter to receive the discount codes.
Thanks for asking this! I am booking for the same route in March as well. I am using Italiarail. The question I still have is if it really make a difference to book seats in premium or business vs standard?
I have spent over 2-1/2 years in Europe as a tourist. I have never bought a first-class / premium train ticket. I find standard / second class totally comfortable. You can take a look at photos of some Italian rail cars on the Seat61 website; you'll need to check the captions. I think the major difference is that first-class carriages have 3 seats across and second-class carriages have 4 seats across. But the second-class seats feel roomy to me; they're not at all like coach seats on an airplane.
I find that thetrainline.com is slightly more user friendly for booking tickets than trenitalia. They do not add a booking fee. In March it is unlikely that trains will sell out so if flexibility is important you can just wait till you are there, but the lower priced tickets will almost certainly not be available if you wait. And as mentioned, ticket lines at Italian rail stations can be really slow. I've waited in line for over an hour when there were only 4 people in front of me! So you just have to balance price, waiting time, flexibility to decide if you want to book in advance.
I also have never chosen first class. Once I accidentally ended up in first class (was booking at last minute) and I'd been in the seat for some time before I realized I was in first class. Hardly any difference.
You may have to go with whatever site accepts your credit card. I had multiple problems trying to use trainline even when registering with the site. I used Trenitalia with no problems. I didn’t even need to register. So, I guess pick one and try it and if that first one doesn’t work don’t stress, just try another of the recommended sites.
Also if you're thusly inclined, note that from the States at least, on the Trenitalia web site you can pay for your ticket using PayPal (at least such was the case the last time I used the site in Spring of 2019).
-bb
Trainline.com shows both Trenitalia and Italo. Raileurope is a ripoff.
Can Trenitalia tickets be purchased online on the day of departure? Seems like that might be more convenient, as it doesn't require waiting in line and electronic tickets do not need to be validated.
I believe trainline.com now has a service charge as of sometime last year. For those trying to buy deeply discounted tickets who just cannot get a purchase to go through on the Trenitalia website, the trainline fee would be worth paying.
All Trenitalia tickets can be purchased either online or in-line up to 15 minutes before the scheduled departure time. Same for English speaking ticket machines. You'll pay the full Base fare, discounted tickets are not available on the day of departure.
Time-stamping a regional train ticket takes 1 sec, I wouldn't buy a local sim with data only to save that 1 sec.
