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Traveling Venice to CT - advance buying of regional train tix?

Posted by on

I'm sure this has been asked before but searching still leaves me uncertain.

We're traveling from Venice to CT - The fastest route seems to be Venezia SL to Firenze SMN (either Frecciarossa or Italo), and then regionale from Firenze SMN to La Spezia and then CT express to vernazza.

Where I'm stuck is that I've read conflicting reviews about buying the regionale and CT express tickets in advance. If we buy them in advance, then we're not scrambling to buy the tickets and validate them between trains (am i correct that we won't have to validate the regionale and CT if we buy in advance?); BUT if we're late or miss the train then our tickets won't be valid and we'll have to buy new ones?

Thoughts? Wrong assumptions? TIA!

Posted by
20085 posts

You buy it as a single transaction, if your Freccia train is significantly late, you can get the Regionale tickets reissued. However that probably will not be necessary, since your Regionale tickets are valid for 4 hours after the time of the train shown on the ticket. So if you miss a train, there will certainly be another in an hour or so and the tickets remain valid. CT Express trains are every 30 minutes.

Posted by
1216 posts

Hi. "Buying in advance" can mean different things; there are pros and cons.
(1) buy online before your trip. The down side to this is that if your plans change, you have unnecessarily lost the cost of the regional tix.
(2) buy at any station in Italy at your convenience. I do this because I like to retain flexibility and minimize possible loss, but it's a matter of personal preference. If so, just buy the regional tickets when you get to Venice, or the morning of your trip, or whenever else at your convenience from either a machine or a teller. Just specify the day of your planned travel, then the ticket will be good for any regional train on that route that day; just validate before you board the train. Enjoy your trip!

Posted by
2 posts

@Sam - Ok, good to know. Italo is much cheaper at this point though.. but let's say I buy through Trenitalia - they are all validated already?

@Bob - I can buy a regional ticket from Florence to La Spezia/Vernazza from the Venice station?

Posted by
1216 posts
  • For any ticket bought online, including regional, a date and time is listed, therefore there is no need to validate.
  • Yes, you can buy any ticket at your convenience at any station in Italy; at the counter or at a machine. Machines have an English option; it will ask what cities you want to travel to / from and on what date. Enjoy your trip!

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