Train tickets-to book ahead or not to book..that is the question

Melanie. You can safely wait. Trains between these locations are frequent. The trains rarely run full and when they do, buy a 1st class ticket. They are even less full. What you will need to do is spend some time in the train stations as soon as you get to your locations to make sure that you get your tickets 2-3 days in advance. You can get them closer to the train departure but take your time and get your tickets.

I suggest that you get your tickets from Cinque Terre to Rome while in Venice. Most of the five CT towns do not have staffed train stations. I believe that only Monterosso does. Most have self-service machines but no staff. Nearby Levanto and La Spezia have staffed ticket offices.

In Venice, the ticket line can be a bit long but it moves right along. Expect 20-30 minutes in line or you can use the self service machines that do display in English and do take care of your seat reservations.

The next big hint is to know in advance what date you will travel, from which town or city to which town or city and if possible, the time you wish to travel. You write this down on a piece of paper and hand it to the ticket agent or use the self-service machine. English may be the ticket agent's third or fourth language and you will do much better if you write down your request and hand to them. Also be careful to reverse the month and date as you write it. Europe writes the date DD/MM/YY. I'm not sure how Canada writes theirs but in the U.S., we write MM/DD/YY.

Also, you may want to know that in the Venice train station, there is a Trenitalia office that will design your journey for you and then print out an itinerary. This office is directly to the right and across the walkway from the Tabacchi (tobacco) shop. They don't sell the tickets. You need to walk over to the ticket windows and buy them there.

We always buy our tickets a couple of days ahead even in summer peak travel with no problems. Always use the ticket machines -- much quicker and easier. However, there is a short learning curve so the first time or two might be a little confusing till you get the hang of it. However, if crossing borders you will need to see the international ticket agent. Generally that line is separate from the local line.

Depends on how much you can afford to pay and exactly when you plan to travel. Fridays and Sundays can be busy, so if you wing it, you may have to wait for a train a couple of hours later. And by buying once there, you risk losing out on some cheap fares. Trenitalia, for example, has fares ranging from 43 to 76 Euro from Spiez (your link from Interlaken) to Venice during the day....waiting could mean you're stuck with a 76 Euro ticket.

I just winged it last fall and had no problems getting tickets. I just printed out a list of schedules for the day I was planning on traveling and put it in my notebook I took to Europe. The schedule was helpful because I could pick a time to depart that day. I also needed it to point to the one I wanted at one location. Use the self-service train ticket booths if they are available; they are very easy to use. I just printed the listings from raileurope.

Thank you so much everyone. I feel much more confident now.

If you DO take a schedule printout with you, don't use RailEurope's since they are far from complete. Check the bahn.de website for your travel days and pairs for a complete list of trains making the runs.