italy train reservation question
 

hi, i was wondering if someone knew the answer to a question i had about italy trains.

im trying to book a train from rome to florence on trenitalia.com at the end of august. i wanted the cheapest one, the "R" train, but it seems like it's the only one that doesn't let you book very far in advance, maybe like one week. the ES ane EC have tickets available at then end of august though.

is it that the tickets are sold out or that u cant book them that far in advance. im the super planning type that has to have all my tickets before i leave on my 1 month trip around europe... anyways, if you guys know how it works or can suggest when and how to get the cheapest ticket from rome to florence thatd be great!

There is no reservations at all on the "R" train. You buy a ticket, validate at the platform, hop on and find yourself a seat (or standing room if all occupied). That's it.

im trying to catch a train on aug 31st from rome to florance, do you think itd be hard to get a seat then?

you also have IC trains, a step up from Regional trains and between Florence and Rome may only take 45 mins longer.

Seats 71-87 in each car on IC trains are non-reservable so without a reservation (optional) be sure to look for a seat in these rows as other rows may well be reserved though there is nothing to indicate this and you could be given the boot at some intermediate stop.

As to finding seat 8/31 - that could be a very heavy travel weekend to Aug vacation period - maybe someone will know more. But you can always get on regional and IC trains, even if there are no seats emtpy.

With an R train ticket, you can get on any R train the does the route for which you bought a ticket, in your case Rome to Florence. No reserved seats so sit anywhere you find a place.

The same is true of IC trains. If people have paid for an optional reservation, they have a particular seat assigned on a particular train. Otherwise, you just hop on any IC from Rome to Florence and search for a seat. There used to be little cards placed by seats that showed if the seat was reserved, but this was discontinued. So if you sit in any empty seat, except the numbers PalenQ mentioned, eventually someone with a reservation for the seat might make you move.

This is also confused by another level of train IC Plus, which I think includes a reserved seat and so is good for just that particular train--much like ES trains.

FYI, the R trains are the lowest level of train, can be old, well-worn, sometimes dirty, and probably don't have air conditioning.

For a quick comparison

Rome-Florence on ES
1 hr 37 mins (nonstop)
1 Cl: 47 euros
2 Cl: 33 euros

Rome-Florence on IC
2 hr 27 mins (6 stops)
1 Cl: 36 euros
2 Cl: 27 euros

Rome-Florence on R
3 hr 37 mins (17 stops)
1 Cl: 23 euros (though this class might not actually exist)
2 Cl: 15 euros

You decide which is more important: time/comfort or money.

thats interesting thanks for all the help.

actually, im plannin to go from rome to florence, then to venice. since u can get on any train in between a route, does it work so that i can buy just a venice ticket, stop in florence for 2 days and continue on to venice at no extra cost? sounds silly, but i just wana make sure. thanks!

Unfortunately, you can't stop en route for two days. Standard Italian train tickets are valid two months from purchase. You must stamp the ticket in a machine before boarding the train; this puts the station name, date and time on the ticket. The ticket is then valid for six hours (for journeys up to 200 km) or 24 hours. From Roma to Venezia, the ticket would be valid 24 hours, so you could stop overnight in Firenze but not for two days. If you want to spread the journey over more than 24 hours, you'd need to buy separate tickets (Roma-Firenze and Firenze-Venezia).

>you'd need to buy separate tickets (Roma-Firenze and Firenze-Venezia).

But the sum of these two tickets won´t cost much more than the ticket for thhe entire distance.

Hi ex,

Buying a Rome/Florence ticket and a Florence/Venice ticket is the same price (almost) as a Rome/Venice ticket.

((I))