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Train Travel in Advance - Flexability

Hi, I would like to buy my train tickets in advance from Trainitalia and Rail Europe and was curious if anyone knew if you buy a ticket or a certain time and miss it, can you use it for another time (as long as there is room on the train) ? I have a good idea of when I want to be places, but we may encounter the unexpected. Also, we are going from Cinque terre to Florence and might want to stop at Pisa and get back on. I am not sure if I should just hold off on the ticket purchases. Thank you!
Also, does anyone know if The Leaning Tower is right at the T stop or do you need to bus it there. It is not that important to us, but if it's right there we would go see it!

Posted by
307 posts

If it were me I'd wait and buy my train tickets as needed, rather than commit to certain trains on certain days, it takes away some of your flexibility...
If I recall correctly, it's about a 15-20 min walk from the train station to the Leaning Tower... yes, there are buses available...

Posted by
23418 posts

You do understand that ticket from Rail Europe are more expensive and limited schedules. Rail Europe is a travel agency and not a train company. Advance, discounted rail tickets in Europe are just like advance discount air line tickets in the US. Miss the train and the tickets could be more good depending on the limitations place on the ticket. Read the fine print. No problem is you miss a connecting cause by a late train because it is their fault., If you have a regular ticket and miss the beginning of a train, you have about 90 mins to exchange it for another ticket. Of course, this all applies to all trains with reservations. In Italy the slowest train, Regional, is that only train that does not require a reservation so that ticket is good for 24 hrs after validation in direction of travel, Get on anytime and go.