i'm leaving for italy 17 oct 11 is the site raileurope ok to pre buy point to point tickets in italy? the site is based in u.s. and is user friendly. i tried trentitalia and had a hard time navigating for tickets.
do you know who is reputable and has the best prices? thanks for any advice you may have.
Posted by
Seattle, WA
17440 posts
Unless you have special circumstances, the only reason to buy in advance for tickets in Italy is to get the discounted "mini" fares. RailEurope does not offer these, so there is no point buying from them just to get advance tickets. It is well worth learing to navigate the Trenitalia site to get the mini fares. (I checked random trains for Oct. 19 and they were still offered.) It works well in English. Just put in your start and end points for your journey, the date, and a time to depart. (If you don't do this it will default to local time, which may be in the middle of the night). Also enter the number of people, and hit "search." The next page will show trains and regular prices. Choose one train and hit "continue". The next page will show the mini fares if they are available. If not, go back one page and a different train. It should be fairly easy from there. And if you cannot get the mini fares, you can just buy your tickets when you arrive in Italy, at any station. Even if you pay full price, it will still be less expensive than buying from Rail Europe. There are so many trains they rarely sell out, and buying there gives you maximum flexibility.
Posted by
OP
new port richey, FL, usa
4 posts
Lola, thanks so much for your advice, it really gave me a good understanding how this all works.
i'm in the process of getting a mini fare from florence to naples. The rest i'll book in italy tks Lou
Posted by
Pittsburgh, PA, USA
203 posts
Lou, I bought 5 point to point tickets on trenitalia's website in advance of my trip to Italy. Because I had a very rigid travel schedule, I knew when I would need to be traveling by train and booked each ticket far enough in advance to garner a hefty discount through the mini fare discount. If you prefer to have flexibility in your travel schedule, then you are better off just purchasing them as you go. But, for every instance when you have a high comfort level that you will not need to (or want to) change your mind about a specific train/time, book the mini fare and save $$$. Just keep in mind that missing the train or changing your mind after midnight of the night before your travel leaves you with a worthless ticket.