trenitalia website: Must I wait to book until 7 days prior to departure?

Posted by Susan (St Peters, MO) on 02/25/15 01:37 AM

Wanting to visit Assisi from Rome. Connections through Foligno and also Terontola. Checked the Trenitalia website multiple times. Shows an icon with a cart to the right. Clicking on this, it says you cannot book until 7 days prior to departure date. One section did allow me to click on to purchase a ticket. However, it said there is not a connecting train available to Assisi.

I prefer to have my travel arrangements completed before departure mid March. I already have room reservations in Assisi. Is it possible the trains are completely booked? or do they not allow reservations prior?

The Italian railpass does not provide seat assignments, and the cost is greater. From what I have read, the trains could even charge an additional fee if already booked.

Posted by Frank

Tresana, Highlands Ranch, CO, USA

02/25/15 03:08 AM

23626 posts

You are dealing with Regionale trains which do not have reservations. You can only purchase Regionale tickets on line seven days in advance. However, do not purchase Regionale tickets on line. Regionale tickets purchased on line come with restrictions. They should be only purchased in the station. Regionale tickets do not sell out and not sold at discount. So there is absolutely no reason to purchase in advance on-line. Don't do it.

Don't understand the last part of your question. All trains in Italy except Regionale trains require a seat reservation. With a train pass the seat reservation is an extra charge - about 10 Euro per leg for the fast trains and maybe 8 for the ICs. A train pass rarely makes financial sense in Italy..

Posted by Priscilla

California 🦋

02/25/15 04:32 AM

5293 posts

As Frank has explained, there really is no advantage in purchasing Regionale train tickets on line.

If you do purchase these tickets online, you must understand that they come pre-validated and have to be used within four hours of the time you have chosen to travel.

You can easily purchase these ticket in Italy & they can be used up to 2 months from the time of purchase.

Make sure you validate these tickets prior to boarding the train to avoid hefty fines that will be collected on the spot.

Posted by Ken

Vernon, Canada

02/25/15 05:10 AM

32352 posts

Susan,

As the others have mentioned, there's no need to purchase Regionale tickets in advance, and there are no price breaks for doing so. The method I normally use is to buy at Termini station a day or two prior to travel and then just validate prior to boarding the train on the day of travel.

If you're travelling second class on Regionale trains, it's very unlikely that the trains would be completely sold out. If that was the case, it's not a huge problem as there would be another train along in an hour or so. The Regionale trains don't have reserved seats, so that won't be a concern.

Using a Railpass in Italy is generally not a cost-effective method, as the per-day cost of the pass is usually higher than the cost of local tickets on Regionale trains, or pre-purchased tickets on the "fast" trains such as the Freccia.

Posted by Zoe

Toledo, Ohio, US

02/25/15 03:00 PM

11613 posts

There is a regionale veloce direct from Roma to Assisi several times a day, no change of trains required. These tickets are available 7 days in advance (price is under 10 euro).

As Frank mentioned, there are restrictions on buying regionale tickets online, so be sure of your travel plan before you book the ticket.

Posted by Laura

Rick Steves' Europe

02/25/15 05:39 PM

16895 posts

Susan, Pursuant to your last question, I think that you don't have a rail pass and probably don't need one. Do buy the regional tickets in stations. If you had a pass, then you would just jump on the unreserved regional trains and find a place, but would pay for required seat assignments on faster trains.

FYI, there is no scenario where it would be accurate to say "trains could even charge an additional fee if already booked."