I will be booking tickets from Rome to Salerno and later from Salerno to Florence and then to Venice. Will I save money by booking in advance or should I just buy tickets at the train station. I see that from Rome to Salerno is only 9 Euro. We are traveling in late June. The chat agent at Italiarail.com told me 89 days out I could purchase tickets. I guess the only route that may fluctuate due to exploring Florence would be the Florence to Venice leg.
Posted by
Tresana, Highlands Ranch, CO, USA
23310 posts
Use the search and you will find lots of discussions on purchasing Italian train tickets. Or just scroll back a couple of pages. In summary, all trains except the Regionale require a reservation and ticket prices come at three levels - Super Economy (probably the 9 Euro ticket), Economy, and Base. SE and Econ tickets come with restrictions - no change, no refunds (small exception for Econ), are limited in number per train and day and time. Once the discount tickets are sold, there are no more. Base is the standard fare and available till train is sold out and that rarely happens. The discount tickets need to be purchased on line when they become available. Base can be purchased day of train.
The Regionale train is a slightly different creature. No reservations and no discount. Cheapest fare on the slowest trains because they hit nearly every stop. Those tickets should never be bought on-line and they never sell out. Use the trenitalia.com web site.
Posted by
Toledo, Ohio, US
11613 posts
You can buy tickets up to 120 days in advance from the railway companies directly, Trenitalia.com and Italotreno.com. Late summer schedules may still be loading on these sites, but many dates are available.
Posted by
18 posts
I used ItaliaRail to book all my train tickets. It's very user friendly. There is a booking fee ($5?) and they will try to sell you a membership ($18) when you check out, but just opt out of this before you complete your purchase. I like this site, because it shows you all the options. If you purchase Regionale tickets, you will be emailed confirmation later and will still have to pick those tickets up at the station kiosks when you arrive. As for the other trains, your print out should serve as your ticket. Just read all the instructions on your print outs.
Cheers!
Sara
Posted by
18 posts
Here's the link: https://www.italiarail.com/
Posted by
Vancouver, BC, Canada
1212 posts
Crendel
Booking ahead can save you (a lot of) money. If you can get Rome to Salerno for €9, that is a real deal. I just did a quick search and the same trip for next week is about €40-60. Dont wait too long, those cheap tickets will sell out fast.
The only downside with these super cheap tickets is that you cannot cancel or change them. So if you want maximum flexibility and want to be able to change your itinerary up to the last minute, then you should probably not lock yourself in with the cheap tix.
We booked direct with the train co e.g. Treitalia or Italo. I hear that captaintrain.com is also very good to see all companies at same time for the same price.
Posted by
Vernon, Canada
32219 posts
crendel,
You can also book tickets at www.captaintrain.com, as they sell tickets for both Trenitalia and Italo at the same prices as those of the rail networks (no extra fees).
One point to note is that the tickets you'll be buying for the fast trains have compulsory seat reservations are are specific to train, date and departure time. The ticket can ONLY be used on the one train listed on it. If you board any other train by mistake, you'll be subject to hefty fines on the spot when the conductor checks the ticket! Also note that the €9 ticket you mentioned is likely a Super Economy version, and those are non-refundable and non-changeable once purchased.