Rome to Venice train ?
 

Hello, I planned on using Raileuope.com to book the train travel from Rome Venice but I keep seeing references to the trenitalia.com site on some of the posts. I have only used raileurope.com for train tickets. Is there a difference? is there preference of one over the other?

Trenitlaia I believe is the actual train company. Raileurope is a resale place the most likely marks up the price.

prices on www.trenitalia.com are usually significantly cheaper than RailEurope - you can print out your own tickets or get a code to retrieve them in Italy in ATM-like machines or a code to give the conductor.

That said the trenitalia.com site is finicky to say the least.

If the site isn't friendly to you i'd recommend you just buy the tickets at the Rome Airport train station when you land - so many trains you'll have no problem getting tickets and reservations when landing. RailEurope will also charge a $15 mailing fee and a $15 handling fee - pushing the costs way up if buying here.

Trenitalia is the Italian national rail company. It's always cheaper buy a ticket at a station or to book on a country's national rail site than to go through Rail Europe. Here's a price breakdown for Rome-Venice:

Rail Europe 2nd class - $79 US (E61)

EuroStar Italia train
Standard 2nd class fare if bought at a station - E44.93
Special "In Eurostar a 29 euro" online fare, if seats are available - E29 for either 1st or 2nd class

InterCity train
Standard 2nd class fare if bought at a station - E38.89
Special "Liberta di viaggiare 15 Euro" fare, if seats are available - E15 for either 1st or 2nd class

And on top of the $79 RailEurope fare you'll pay the $30 S&H and reservation fee! (Unless your order is over $200 then you'd just pay the $15 S&H.

Note that until this year RailEurope's Italian fares were actually quite in the ballpark of what you'd pay in Italy - excluding the Eurostar specials - but this year they jacked the prices up considerably.

There is no need to buy in the U.S.

Wow, thank you, We have six tickets to purchase that should be quite a savings. Regardless of how you get the tickets you are still traveling on the same exact trains? same service?

As PalenqueBob says, the Trenitalia site can be very finicky. People sometimes have trouble registering, which is necessary before you can book tickets online. Also, you can't book more than 60 days in advance.

When you're ready to book, enter Roma as the departure station and Venezia S Lucia as the arrival station.

The differences in service vary according to the type of train and the class chosen, not where or how you buy the tickets.

Yes, Rail Europe is simply an agency selling tickets for trains run by Trenitalia. There are no separate trains for US tourists. Whether you buy tickets in advance in the US or at the station in Italy, you will be travelling on trains used by Italians.
I've always bought tickets for journeys within Italy at the station. Most trains don't need advance bookings, and trains are frequent on most lines, so you'll never be stranded. From Roma to Venezia, even in the unlikely event that the through trains are fully booked, there are many other connections involving a change of train at Bologna.

Yes, mwatson, regardless of how you purchase your tickets, you'll be traveling on the same train and get the same service.

Also, when on the Trenitalia site, look under the Frequently Asked Questions section .... Travel Conditions >>> http://www.trenitalia.com/en/area_cl...iaggio3.html#2

If you're traveling together as a group of 6 or more, you can get a small discount. However it appears that discount is NOT applicable on the Eurostar trains -- okay for InterCity & the regional & directo trains.

thank you

While it may be true that RailEurope's prices may be more than Trenitalia, I found it next to impossible to use Trenitalia.

What I do is use RailEurope to find the schedules and choose the trains I want and then buy my tickets at the rail station when I am there.

It is very simmple to purchase your tickets at a ticket machine in the station. Alternatively, you can go to any travel agent who displays the trenitalia logo and get tickets at no extra charge. I do not know how rail europe can justify the fees they charge.

"I do not know how rail europe can justify the fees they charge."

Gee, the answer is very easy. Because thousands and thousands of people continue to book that way.

One thought about prebooking on Trenitalia, though. There are lots of discounts. Depending on when you book, dates of travel, etc. you can even get first class Eurostar from Rome to Venice for 39 euro. I used the site for the first time this year to pre book tickets and I didn't have any major problems. Yes, it took a couple of tries, but I got through it. Some advice from this site got me through it.

And it is not always so easy to book when you get there. I've stood at the windows for hours -- or in the special pre-booking room when trying to book a couple days ahead. Rome was the worst, Venice can be pretty bad too. I finally gave up and went to a travel agent instead. I've seen people miss their train because of the delays in line at the windows. And many cards will not work in the machines to buy tickets. I'd personally rather book in the comfort of my home in advance than worry about all the complications (and there CAN be a lot of them) booking when I get there.

>What I do is use RailEurope to find the schedules and choose the trains I want

You do know that RailEurope doesn't show you all the trains, do you?