We would like to take a train on Sunday Aug. 28 to Florence. I checked the Rome to Rio website and can only find tickets with 4 stops. My questions are:
Are there trains that have less stops?
If there are no direct trains do we have to get off the train and transfer to another?
Should I purchase tickets in advance or can I purchase a day or 2 in advance, or maybe even now?
Is it safe to purchase via the Man in seat 61 website?
All advice is greatly appreciated.
Lorie
There are direct fast trains (Frecciarossa) from Venice to Florence. Make sure you choose the times that offer the direct trains. I checked your date and there are trains departing Venice 26 minutes after the hour: 5:26, 6:26, 7:26, 9:26: 10:26… etc.
I’d suggest booking your train tickets now to take advantage of discounted (super economy) tickets here: Trenitalia.com
Keep in mind that the discounted tickets are not refundable and unchangeable, so make sure your dates are firm.
Train stations you’ll need to book your tickets:
If you book online, you’ll can print your tickets at home, or keep them on your cell phone, to show the conductor.
Enjoy your time in beautiful Italy!
Using Rome2Rio is a waste of time. Besides Trenitalia, another company, Italotreno also operates trains on this route. www.italotreno.it
All of these trains are "direct" meaning you do not have to change trains along the way. None of them are "nonstop", meaning they do stop to let passengers off and let new passengers on. These are in major cities between Venice and Florence, namely Padua, Ferrara and Bologna.
Man in seat61 does not sell tickets, just provides links to sites where they can be bought. Try buying them from the people who run the trains, Trenitalia and Italotreno.
You can also check Italo to see if their schedule, fares and policies work for your trip. It looks like they offer direct trains too.
Italo has tickets on the direct train for your date for as low as €16,90 (with restrictions). The website is easy to use.
This is a perfect example of what is wrong with RometoRio.
I agree with the others that the best move is to buy from the train company directly online. You can scout the fares better. We used Italo exclusively on our recent 2-week trip for intercity travel between Milan-Florence-Rome-Naples. The trains were clean, and consistently cheaper fares, though they vary. "Smart" is 2nd class; "Prima" is worth a little extra for more legroom and slightly better snack service but Smart isn't bad.
It was puzzling when I was buying them trying to figure out if the seats faced forward or backward. I later discovered that's because they run in both directions. If you pull into a main train station in a city facing forward, you'll be facing backward for the next leg. This doesn't bother me at all, but if riding backward will bother you, reserve seats facing each other (some have a table in between) and flip with your partner as needed.
Lorie, all the direct trains have stops between Venice and Florence. You don't have to change or get off. Other people get on and off. That's it.
Hi Lorie, I just purchased that ticket today for an upcoming trip in late Aug/September. As Priscilla mentioned, go to www.trenitalia.com. At the top you can switch it to English. I buy my tickets a month or two ahead of time to save on Super Economy or other offers.
There’s the list of options by time of departure. Look at the column that has “Details”, “1 Change”, “2 Changes”. You want one of the options that just has “Details” which means you are not transferring trains during the trip.
Rome2Rio can be helpful when you're traveling to or from a smaller place and aren't sure whether it has train service at all, or you know it does not and are looking for the name of the bus company serving the area. If you know there are trains, Rome2Rio is a waste of time, in addition to often displaying fares, frequencies and travel times that are incorrect. The place to go for accurate information is the website of the company whose train or bus you will be taking. That's also the cheapest place to buy tickets.
Seat61.com is a great source of general information on trains. It's very useful to skim through the section on each country you'll be visiting. That is where you'll learn things like the existence of two companies (Trenitalia and Italo) running high-speed trains between Venice and Florence.
From a passenger's point of view it makes no difference if the train makes 3 or 4 or X intermediate stops. Except for the travel time, but Venice is too small and too far from Rome to have a no-stop link.
You'll be assigned a car and a seat and they won't change during the all journey.
If you had to transfer somewhere it would be obvious, you would receive two e-ticket codes, two car and seat numbers.
I assume you can buy tickets for the fast trains on the day? I know you can’t get a discount, but I’d hate to spend money now and then my flight is delayed.
I assume you can buy tickets for the fast trains on the day
Why not? Go on trenitalia.com or italotreno.it and check by yourself. Use today as day of travel and see if trains departing within the next 2 hours are sold out.
It is very rare for a train to be sold out. And -- if it is -- wait 30 minutes, maybe an hour, and the next train probably will have open seats.
Thanks Dario! I’ve done that and also see that tickets are changeable so I think I will order one at the lower price knowing I can change it if my flight is delayed.
so I think I will order one at the lower price knowing I can change it if my flight is delayed.
Wait a sec, On trenitalia.com only the expensive walk-up "BASE" fare is changeable and only up to one hour after the departure of the booked train. If you want to buy in advance there is no reason to risk and pay the same top price you can pay at the station.
If you see discounted Economy and SuperEconomy fares on sale on Trenitalia.com, you are seeing trains running tomorrow (Italian time). These discounted tickets are wasted one second after the departure of the booked train. Are u ok with that? Please, Read carefully the T&Cs
The Economy tickets can only be changed once, and only up to one hour before scheduled departure. You will have to pay the price difference between what you paid originally and the cost of the new train at what will probably be the Base price. So if you bought an Economy ticket at a good price for a trip immediately after an international flight, and while on the flight you realized you were going to be late, you would have to be on the plane's wifi and change the ticket at least one hour ahead. You would end up paying the Base price in the end.
