We want to keep our options open for the day and don't want to commit to a specific train departure time in case we change our minds and want to leave earlier or later. Should we purchase train tickets few weeks in advance, day before, or day of?
edit: train tickets from naples to rome, rome to florence, florence to modena, modena to venice in May 2019.
edit: high speed train purchased from https://www.italiarail.com/
Tickets from where to where? It makes a difference.
train tickets from naples to rome, rome to florence, florence to modena, modena to venice in May 2019.
You can save money with purchase of advance tickets on the express trains from Naples to Rome and Rome to Florence. However you must be willing to commit to a specific train, date and departure time as those trains have compulsory seat reservations. If you'd rather not do that, you can certainly buy tickets on the day of travel, but you'll be paying Base Fare (full price).
On the trip from Florence to Modena, there's usually one change in Bologna. The first segment is often via Freccia high speed, so the same rules apply as those have compulsory reservations. The second segment is via Regionale so you don't need to buy advance tickets for those as the price will be same regardless of when you buy the tickets.
The trip from Modena to Venice will be the same as the Florence - Modena trip, except the first segment will be Regionale and the second segment will be via Freccia high speed train.
One potential issue with waiting until day of travel to buy tickets for the express trains, is that if you're travelling with a group you may not be able to get seats all together. If you don't mind paying for full fare tickets, you can certainly "keep your options open".
Regional trains no need to purchase in advance. Buy from the ticket machine in the station. Fast trains if important to reserve a particular day or route I will often purchase before I arrive in Italy.
Another potential issue with buying tickets on your travel day is that you may hit a slow-moving ticket line. A ticket machine will usually be faster. There may be only two or three people in front of you at a staffed ticket window, but they may be doing something like buying tickets to Warsaw for a family of five. And I missed a train in Italy while a ticket-seller carried on an extended personal conversation with a purchaser in front of me.
People seem to have no problem living with advance nonrefundable air line tickets, but where there is fast train every hour, suddenly the don't want to commit. I haven't figured out why this is. You know you have to get from A to B on day X. Why not pick a convenient time to travel and commit. All you have to do is pretend it is an airplane.
All train tickets can be purchased up to 15 minutes before the scheduled departure time.
For fast trains if you purchase on the day you'll pay the top fares. Since May schedules have already been uploaded both on Trenitalia.com and Italotreno.it you can see now the price of flexibility. On the day, You'll pay the base price with Trenitalia and the flexi price with italotreno. All the others (Economy, Low Cost etc.) are discounted tickets that can't be refunded and that can be changed only at a price.
ItaliaRail is a re-seller. Transfers between trains run by competing companies are not protected.
