How / when to buy train tickets in Italy - please help!
 

We want to travel by train in Italy in July. Please help me to understand how and when and from whom to buy tickets for the following:
from Rome to Venice; from Venice to Verona, Verona to Mennagio (I think there will be a ferry involved?), then lastly from Mennagio to Florence.
THANKS!

To get the cheapest fast train tickets you need to book as early as you can (like from Rome to Venice). I always use www.trenitalia.it to book our tickets.

OK thanks Jamikins! Do you perhaps know what station in Rome I will use when staying in Trastevere? And to which station in Venice should I aim if I am planning to stay near Piaza San Marco? Or is there only one station for Venice? Where do you look up these things? Sorry, this is my first time!

Venice to Verona: You can take either fast trains or regional trains.

Verona to Menaggio: Your train route will be Verona - Milano Centrale - Varenna-Essino. Take a ferry from Varenna to Menaggio.

Menaggio to Florence: Take a ferry to Varenna. Your train route will be Varenna-Essino - Milano Centrale - Firenze S.M.N.

For Rome you will leave from Termini (you can take the train to Termini from Trastevere or just make your own way there) and I believe the station in Venice is Venezia St Lucia (you DO NOT want Mestre)

Venezia Santa Lucia is the main station and it is on the island. That's the one you want. Venezia Mestre is on the mainland.

Trains between Rome and Venice use Roma Termini. Regional trains run frequently between Roma Termini and Roma Trastevere.

One more thing: Seat reservations are required on high-speed trains. They come with the ticket and are included in the fare.

There is open seating on regional trains and your ticket is good on any train. You must validate (time stamp) your ticket in a machine at the station before boarding. If you don't, you'll have to pay a hefty fine on the spot.

You can only get discounts on the fast trains and those tickets can be purchased 120 days in advance on Trenitalia (the discounts can sell out). The slow trains (R) don't have discounts and you should buy those when you get to Italy as the R tickets have more restrictions if you buy them online.

No train station in Mennagio. Closest train stations are Como S. Giovanni (bus or ferry on to Mennagio) and Varenna (ferry to Mennagio). Varenna is only served by R trains from Milan. Como S. has R trains and EC trains headed for Switzerland. You would book a fast train Verona/Milan and Milan/Florence and just buy the R trains in Italy. You can buy all your R tickets in Rome at the station.

Before ordering on Trenitalia, notify your credit card company that you will be making an Italian online purchase so they don't block the transaction.

Scroll down this link (don't click any of the links on the page - keep scrolling) until you get to the part about registering on Trenitalia and how to purchase. It gives you screen-by-screen instructions. Some screens might look a bit different now as Trenitalia has updated their website some.

http://www.roninrome.com/transportat...ebsite-updated

I have now realized that I have religiously studied all your valuable advice, and never even said thank you! Thanks to everybody - hope I can assist somebody else next time! Tickets booked, visas ready ... less than two weeks to go!! GULP.

Hello kosve, I took the tram that runs on Viale di Trastevere a short ride to the Train Station bought tickets a few days in advance and got a discount,.there was no line. I got back using the same tram ticket because everything was done in a sec.

Thanks Graziella5b - I am making furious notes!

For Graziella and others who may not know, in Italy you can buy train tickets at travel agents who display the Trenitalia logo in their window. Most Italian travel agents speak some English, and there's no surcharge for the train tickets. So no need to make a special trip to the train station. Just stop at a travel agency you run across in your sightseeing.

Thanks Mimar I guess I knew that, however in the case of the Trastevere Train Station it was more convinient for me going there than nothing else., but you are right.
One question, I think now travel agencies charge a mínimum fee, same in Spain.
Actually in the main Termini in Rome I believe there is a travel agency that sells tickets, it Looks like being part of the Station but I understand it is some kind of a prívate agency and a tiny fee is charged.
Can anyone confirm this, just for the récord. thank you.

There are travel agencies in Termini selling tickets, but Trenitalia also has their own ticket windows along with rows of ticket machines (no waiting for the machines like at the ticket windows). You can also buy train tickets in tobacco stores/convenience type stores that display the Trenitalia logo.