Planning to take the Eurostar from Florence to Rome on a Saturday this September. After checking Trenitalia's website I'm noticing that some of times are selling out. Since we are returning a rental car I'd hoped we could just buy a ticket for the next train out of SMN in Florence and not have to prepurchase to avoid missing our train. But now I'm worried that we won't get a ticket or will have to wait hours at the train station to find one with seats available. What do others recommend? Do the Eurostar trains ever fill up completely. We really don't want to take one of the slower regional trains.
Posted by
Green Bay
21159 posts
How would you like to be a beta tester for the helpline? There is a new high speed service called Italo between Florence and Rome. They appear to have good availability on Saturdays in September. They go to Rome Tiburtina station. They have nonrefundable fares for 20 EU, changeble but not refundable fares for 32 Eu, and full fare for 46 Eu. 1 hr 25 min non stop.
Trains are every hour (with a few exceptions) at 23 past the hour. Go to italotreno.it Take it and report back.
Posted by
Minneapolis, MN, USA
8700 posts
I checked some upcoming Saturdays. Super Economy and Economy discount fare tickets are sold out. At this late date I would expect that to be the case. Base (full fare) tickets are not sold out. You should be able to buy a ticket at SMN and get on the next train. If that train is sold out (highly unlikely), you won't have to wait long for the next one.
Posted by
Tresana, Highlands Ranch, CO, USA
23626 posts
Where or how are you determining that the trains are sold out? In our experience of nearly a full month of travel in Italy over an extended period of time, we have never found a sold out train. Just too much capacity and trains are too frequent. And most of our travel has been in the summer when the train traffic is heavier.
Posted by
OP
York
2 posts
@ Sam - Unfortunately, we must arrive in Termini station in Rome so we are not able to test this new train. @ Tim & Frank - I just saw that the economy tickets were sold out on some trains & erroneously thought it was an indication that there were few tickets left. I will rest easy knowing that there WILL be tickets available to buy when we arrive at the station. Thanks to all for the responses. Ciao!
Joan
Posted by
Monein, Pyrenees, France
425 posts
Eurostar in Italy????
Posted by
Northamptonshire, England
33847 posts
Roger, the brand name for high speed trains operated by Trenitalia in Italy is Eurostar Italia. Its logo is a moving star.
Posted by
Green Bay
21159 posts
Not sure why you must go to Termini. The 2 staions are only about 2 1/2 km apart. If you are continuing on to Fiumicino Airport, there are trains every 15 minutes from Tiburtina AND they only cost 8 Euro when they are 14 Euro from Termini. There is a subway station at Tiburtina and 4 stops away is Termini. There are also rail connections between the 2 stations, although not as many as I would have thought, approximately 1 per hour, cost 1 Euro.
Posted by
Monein, Pyrenees, France
425 posts
Nigel - thanks for the explanation - you learn something every day!