Help with Italy trains - to reserve or not to reserve...
 

I'm helping a friend and her mother with their Italy itinerary. They have their hotels booked... Is it better to book the main train trips (i.e. Florence to Rome, Rome to Naples/Sorrento) ahead of time through Trenitalia, or should I advise them to just wing it? Also, are train strikes still as much an issue as they once were? Are they still announced before-hand?

Italian laws requires strikes to be announced ahead of time ceb. But that means that travellers in Italy do need to somehow get the news.

I never buy my train tickets online, I always buy them a couple of days before taking the train.

As LoveItaly has said, they do announce impending strike dates. While in Florence, I've found notices on lampposts all over town. I'd just warn your friend that a strike can happen at any time. It's something that amuses my mother to no end as she's not been inconvenieced too much by a strike.

As for tickets, unless there's a cheapo rate online (ie-Eurostar from Florence to Rome for 15 euros), I'd just book at the station. It's relatively easy enough, and the ticket agents speak enough English to provide the right tickets (although I suspect they KNOW English, and tell you they understand only "a little").

There are also ticket machines available, and you can select English as an option before you do anything.

Overall, no worries, as long as you know where you're going. :)

Hi ceb,

The advantage to booking ES* trains online is that you don't have to stand in line to buy tickets.

(I know, someone will pop in to say that they got their tickets in 15 sec from one of the machines. :) )

Your email confirmation is your ticket.

You can't buy tickets to Sorrento online. The Circumvesuviana train from Naples Centrale is a commuter line.

((I))

Ira,

Is there any added fee for purchasing tickets online in advance?

For ES* tickets, will someone on the train come check my email receipt?

Thanks!

Texstout -

Not Ira here, but in any case ...

There is no extra charge for buying tickets online from Trenitalia.

The conductor MAY come through and check your e-mail ticket/confirmation. At least that's what happened to us last summer on each of our train trips.

KC

When I can, I try to buy my tickets leaving a train station for my next journey out, if I know for sure what time I will be leaving that town. That way, I don't feel like I have to take time out of my touristing to purchase tickets (either by going back to the train station or hunting down a travel agency) I especiallly like to purchase at least a bit in advance if I am traveling a Eurostar between popular destinations.

However, sometimes I am just not sure what hour I want to leave. Sometimes I enjoy a place so much I don't want to leave until the last minute. Other times, I'm more interested in moving on to my next stop than lingering.

Another reason to wait to book is that it is just one less thing to worry about losing. I'd rather not be carrying all my train tickets from place to place.

Thanks for the replies. I think they'd like to stay as flexible as possible and would prefer to just buy tickets at the station. I thought buying them ahead of time would save some hassle, but I did forget about the advent of the ticket machines! I'll just present both options as equally workable.