Buy rail tickets now or later??
 

My family of four will be traveling from Rome to Salerno on Wednesday June 23rd, and I REALLY need to know if I must purchase the train tickets now. After reading about all the fun and games with trenitalia, I'd almost rather take my chances at an American Express office in Rome, or at the airport when we arrive on the 19th! So does anyone have a comment about how likely these trains will sell out? Neurosis rules my life these days.

I have just checked the Trenitalia site (with which I have never had any trouble) and on June 23 there are Eurostar trains from Roma Termini through to Salerno at two-hour intervals, increasing to one-hour intervals during certain periods of the day, as well as frequent trains that require a change of trains at Napoli Centrale, which I would not recommend. It seems highly unlikely that all of the Eurostars would be fully booked on June 19.

Hi ml,

I agree.

Get your tickets at the train station at FCO when you arrive.

I just returned yesterday, and had purchased tickets in advance via travel agent. However, every train we took required a reservation, which is an additional charge (from 3 to 8 Euros per person). My advice is to get them when you arrive, and purchase ahead for your next trip at each station upon arrival. We bought ours one or two days before each trip and had no problems - and the trains were full.

Trains are generally busiest around weekends and public holidays, so you shouldn't have any problem buying tickets a day or two in advance for travel on a Wednesday. If for some bizarre reason all the Eurostar trains are fully booked, there are lots of other trains from Roma to Napoli, including hourly stopping trains which take under three hours and do not have reserved seats.

Thanks to everyone...yes, after way too many hours staring at that trenitalia site, I am MOST happy to wait until we get there to purchase the tickets. And now I have permission...

My friend and I travelled from Rome to Salerno on a Tuesday (a week ago) and bought our tickets on Sunday. We also bought our other train tickets at the same time. We used information from the trenitalia site (that is, I had cut and pasted trains and times and I circled the ones I wanted and showed to the ticket agent). All went smoothly. We took the IC and had reserved seats. It's important to pay extra and get reserved seats on trains in order to guarantee that you get a seat. The Eurostar looked really nice, but you have to change trains in Napoli, which we didn't want to do. The IC goes direct from Rome to Salerno with only a few stops. We went 1st class, which was very comfortable and relatively inexpensive. My only warning to you is the train station in Salerno has no elevator or escalator, so you have to carry your bags down a long flight of stairs. No one working at the station was any help, but a kindly Italian man offered to help carry a bag. So travel light if you can! Don't worry. You'll have a ball. PamR

Hi,
direct trains Roma - Salerno are at:
9,45 arrival 12,16 (EUROSTAR)
11,45 arr. 14,16 (INTERCITY)
13,21 arr. 16,09 (INTERCITY)
no change at Naples.

If you have the chance to book your seats in advance it's better but you should have no big problems (if you are flexible with time of departure) to buy tickets arriving in Rome.

Ciao.

Gianni (Milan, Italy)