Booking Train Tickets before arriving in Italy

If we haven't purchased them in advance, we usually like to pick up our tickets a few days ahead of time; you could buy the Rome>Venice tickets on the 29th or 30th. Then you'll have no worries about possible long lines at the ticket counter, etc. For the other cities, you could purchase tickets for the next leg when you arrive at the station (i.e., arrive in Venice, purchase tickets for Bologna). And on that subject, I know this wasn't your question, and perhaps you have a good reason for the itinerary, but instead of one day in Venice and one day in Bologna, I would highly recommend two nights in Venice and skipping Bologna. We were frankly underwhelmed by Bologna, but most people find Venice to be a fascinating city well worth at least 2 nights.

Ditto Charlene on skipping Bologna and spending 2 nights in Venice. You'll stop in Bologna twice in your travels to and from Venice. That won't be enough to see Bologna but you wouldn't have seen much more given the itinerary you have above.

You should probably book online if there are still Economy or Super-economy tickets available. You'll save money that way. However you must be 100% sure you are going to make that exact train you book, because discounted tickets are not changeable and not refundable. If you miss the train you lose the money. If there are no discounted tickets available anymore, then pre-booking is not necessary because in all my life I've never had a case where a train was totally sold out. You can buy it there just on the spot, pay the full base fare, and find a seat in the very next train. In the unlikely event one is full (2nd class seats sometimes sell out, although it has happened to me only once in decades traveling in Italy) you will certainly find a seat in the very next train maybe 30-45 minutes later or buy a 1st class, which is what I did that time since I didn't want to wait (1st class never sell out). Edit: I checked now for Jan 3 and discounted tickets are virtually all sold out. There is one train with Econ. fare available for Eur 49 but it's kind of late (close to Noon). So the full fare of Euro 80 is the only one available if you leave earlier in the morning. If you want you can still buy online. If you pay the full fare, you'll be able to make all the changes you need without penalties. It's up to you, but I never buy online unless I get a discount. There are 1 to 3 trains per hour from Roma to Venezia. Base full price is Euro 80 (2nd class) or Eur 109 (1st class).

Thanks for the advice especially about not booking online if there is not a discounted fare listed.Should be able to get on one of those morning trains by showing up a little early and buying the tickets.

Since you can book on the fast trains as early as 120 days out, most of the great fares are probably gone by this time. For Jan 3, I see the full 89Euro fare for almost all runs. It's a 3hr40min journey on the fast train. You can get the Intercity train at 10:32 for 49Euro but that run takes 6hr17min. For Jan 4, I can see some 19Euro fares for this run. The full price is 30Euro so you are not saving much. Bottom line here is that by trying to book this late, you will not be able to save much on the fares. However, by registering on www.trenitalia.com and buying your tickets now, you can print them out at home and take them with you. But, your departure date is close so all of this is very tight. You can easily wait until you get there to buy tickets. And don't worry about few or full trains. The runs between Naples/Rome/Florence/Bologna/Venice have departures at least twice and hour. It could be a bit busy during the holidays but each train hold in excess of 400 passengers so there's a lot of seats. You should be just fine. Also, you can buy tickets from the ticket machines in the train stations. They will prompt you in English and accept your U.S. credit card. All seat assignments will be made by the machine. Looking at your itinerary, you won't see much by arriving in the afteroon, having dinner, spending the night and heading for the next train early the next morning. You will be able to say you've been there but you won't be able to say you've seen it.

Don't forget to check ITalo as well. Don't limit yourself to Trenitalia.

I also vote for skipping Bologna and adding time to Venice. Italo has a discounted fare available on the 3rd to Venezia SL. It's 52 euro in seconda classe. However it's an early departure at 6:25am (arrive at 10:00am). www.italotreno.it If you decide to go with Italo, instead of Trenitalia, remember that you must use the Roma Tiburtina station (in the Pietralata district) instead of Roma Termini. It's close to the city centre.

My experience in Rome, is that the next day after we get in we go to a travel agent sit down book all our train tickets and we are on our way. Very little hastle you are given all the options. Hasn't cost us anymore, and tickets in hand when you walk out the door. We have done it for a full two week vacation. And they speak English.

Thanks for the advise. Any travel agent in particular that you would recommend? We are staying near the Vatican.

Judy, Not all discounted fares are available to travel agents. And they have an embedded incentives to sell you the tickets that pay higher commission to them (at your best interest on lowest fares).

We just got back from Italy last night. We did not book our tickets ahead of time and paid full fare for everything. If you know your plans won't change as far as dates/times go, book now and save $$.