Italy train travel help
 

I would like some help with our travel in northern Italy. On Thursday,September 15 we will be departing from Varenna, Lake Como headed for Ortisei and the Dolomites. In short, I am looking for the easiest and affordable train trip. Trentalia website confuses me and if I google this trip I get different prices and am not sure what a good deal is anymore. Some options have us train to Bolzano and bus to Ortisei. Secondly, I qualify for a senior discount if I apply from trentalia but they mention a me and you fair for two people as being discounted as well. Lastly, should I purchase these tickets now for our trip later this fall or wait.

Thank you for any response ,
michael

The man in seat 61 is a great resource. www.seat61.com
Sometimes he comments on here too.
If your trip is in the fall, I'd wait a bit because sometimes the schedules change.
Also make sure you use the Italian spelling for towns when on the Trenitalia site. I'm sorry if this sounds stupidly obvious but some people don't and encounter problems.

I'm going to Naples from Zürich on October 1 and can't book the Italian trains yet. Wait until mid June.

Thanks so much for your help, I will give that a look.
Mike

Hi Micheal,

The Italia Rail website is in english if that's easier >>> www.italiarail.com

The site mentioned previously is: https://www.seat61.com/Italy.htm

Hope that helps!

After using both italiarail and the Trenitalia site to buy tickets, I'd recommend using the Trenitalia for purchasing (I love seat61's advice for what ticket and when to buy)

Booking direct with Trenitalia made it easier to use the app to show tickets and to send them to email for printing a physical ticket.

The senior fare is only available to people who belong to Trenitalia's Cartafreccia loyalty program, and I don't think you can participate unless you're an Italian resident. The two-for- one (Insieme) discount is available to all. Tickets cannot be changed or reimbursed under either program. www.thetrainline.com has a good English language website for buying train tickets, covering both Italo and Trenitalia, Italy's two major rail companies. They may have a small commission, but the prices I see are essentially the same as Trenitalia's. They offer tickets for many European rail companies, and even cross-border tickets.

https://www.thetrainline.com

bv, thanks that is useful

Just back from Venice, Florence and Rome. Took trenitalia and italo. Can buy tickets online. I ALWAYS check out rome2rio. ESSENTIAL to get an overview of transpo options.

Thanks everyone, so it looks like I will wait till mid June or so to book these tickets online. The me and you fare or you and me ( can't remember which way) is the way I was leaning. I realize it's nonrefundable and no changes. Would you book at this time knowing that this is the route we need or can I afford to wait another month. I just don't know how popular a route and don't want to miss out on second class seats?

Also, we need to fly from Naples to Catania later on in the trip. I am curious if you would book the flight now as well?
Thank you

Looking at your itinerary, I would suggest not buying any discounted tickets. A good part of your trip, on both ends, will be on regional trains. The middle segment on reserved trains is not very expensive. The first segment will be on Trennord, which is a different company from Trenitalia, and not known for highly reliable service. If a late Trennord train causes you to miss a reserved nonrefundable connection, you'll need to buy a new ticket. I would reserve a full-price flexible ticket on trains that have reservations. (I see that there is at least one EC train on the last segment between Verona and Bolzano. This is an international train, which has different discounts from Trenitalia, but equally nonrefundable. )

Varenna to Ortisei is a long tedious journey. I would advise three things:

Travel very light.
Start out early in the morning
Allow for plenty of time between trains, with no tight connections.

I'm sure you'll need to take a bus from Bolzano to Ortisei. I myself wouldn't take such a long, complicated trip all in one day. Would you consider spending a night in the lovely city of Verona?

I recently spoke with an ItaliaRail consultant by phone - a free 1/2 hour phone call with someone who can answer your questions. You can call them or make an appointment on this website:
https://www.italiarail.com/contact-us.
Hope this helps...

Thanks Stricky, I may just give that a try. Thanks all for your help, praying that our trip becomes a reality at this point.

I had a question, if you can help bvlenci,

we are planning to travel from Rome to Naples on 11 August. I can see the tickets are not available to book yet. For the Freccerosia trains, can you just turn up and get tickets on the spot? I only ask as these are reserved seats? How much if any price difference is there for booking them in advance? The latest ticket i could see was 28 July and that was €13 one way.

Many thanks!

do you mean Frecciarossa?

Thats the one bilbo, the high speed train.

To see the price of last minute tickets, look up prices for tomorrow compared to several weeks in advance..

Rome2Rio is not always reliable. I ended up on their site yesterday by following a link. The itinerary was one I know well, and I was just looking for ticket information. The directions had two errors, not huge errors, but still errors.

I myself prefer Google Maps, which occasionally also has some errors, but far less annoying advertising.

yep rome2rio is really only trustworthy to get an idea, the quality is doubtful

Now i feel like a donut for not trying that haha! Thanks!