should i have pre-booked my trains for italy?!?
 

We are leaving in a few days for our trip to France/Italy. We are flying from Paris to Venice and then were planning on taking the train from Venice to Florence; and then Florence to Rome.

I had been advised by friends and fodorites that I did not need to pre-book these tickets. I have recently seen a lot of information on the forum, travel books and other websites that I should have pre-booked being that I am going in August. Our trip begins on Saturday - should I set up tickets? Or do you think it is okay to wait until we are there?!?
What about if we booked our departure trains upon arrival - or the day before we leave.

Sorry I am freaking out :-o and rambling on :-P But I just saw a post in which someone stated they ended up renting a car because they could not get a train ticket.

THANKS for your input....and I hope that I didn't screw up [-o<

Hi b,
Trains between venice and florence or Florence and Rome should be frequent. I would book these on arrival. Paris to Venice I would look into booking since it's a longer trip that may require more planning. Just go to trenitalia's website and check out the frequency of trains to particular areas, if there's only one per day to that particular location I would book it, if there are 3 or more, it's safe to wait.

From what I have read if you are traveling around the Italian holiday (Aug 15 & 16) then prebooking might be wise as every able bodied Italian apparently takes the train to some destination.

THANKS

we will be in Paris from the 12-18 and flying to Venice on the 18.

Train from Venice to Florence on the 21

Train from Florence to Rome on the 24.

So hopefully the 21 trip from Venice to Florence is far enough away from the holiday on the 15!

Hi beph, buy all of your train tickets at the Santa Lucia Train Station in Venice when you first arrive.

ditto, LI.

((I))

Trains from Venezia to Firenze go via Bologna. Even if all the through trains are fully booked, there are trains at least every hour from Venezia to Bologna, so you will always be able to travel, even if it means taking a slower train on which seats cannot be booked. There are similarly lots of trains from Bologna to Firenze.
If you buy tickets when you arrive in Venezia, you should be OK.

Personally, I would pre-book if your travel dates are not that flexible. Yes, you can always manage to get there somehow, but it may end up in a smoking car, assuming they haven't banned smoking on trains. I had to go from Geneva to Paris in a smoking car one time and it was torture.

I never pre-book from the states but do sometimes buy my 'next ticket' when I arrive. The problem being, we often change our trip 'on the fly' so we rarely book train travel in advance.

LoveItaly is right - and by all means use the "automated ticket teller" booths that will take your credit card and reserve seats for you. You could book the entire train itinerary through Rome from that booth if you were sure of your departure time(s). We took the Eurostar 2nd class from Venice to Florence and, aside from the service we found in 1st class on prior trips, we were very comfortable. Have a wonderful trip! I'd like to hear how you planned the inter-city flight leg - well in advance? through your U.S. carrier?

Italian trains all non-smoking.

Buy all of your tickets while in Venice at any travel agency. And, all trains to Florence do not go thru Bologna--most are direct and take just under 3 hours.

Trains run all the time between Venice & Florence, and Florence & Rome. I would simply buy tickets at the train station. But if you are nervous take the advice of buying both sets at once when you first arrive Venice.

I refuse to believe for this particular situation you'd ever have to rent a car because you couldn't get a train ticket
:-)

thanks everyone :-D great advice as always

And Beph, all trains in Italy are absolutely NON SMOKING..so no problem there! Have fun!

I booked upon arrival in the country and had no problems. I went to an AmEx travel place in Florence and it was a breeze.

That was me that rented the car because we didn't prebuy tickets. We showed up Friday at 2:00 to buy tickets anytime that afternoon to get from Venice to Florence, and it was the weekend after Easter which someone told me is a big vacation period in Italy.

I don't know if that experience was typical or not, but I do know at the very least we should have asked about tickets when we first got to the train station four days earlier. I don't think you should panic or anything but definitely don't do like we did and wait til the very last minute, just in case!

Have a great, great time!!

Sara

I would pre-book.. especially if you know when you will be leaving and arriving.. it's just one less thing to do on your vacation.. we did via RailEurope and they arrived at our house before leaving.. it was convienent and no worries about not getting a seat.. I would highly recommend this...

Even if all seats on trains from Venezia to Firenze are reserved, there are slower trains every hour to Bologna on which seats cannot be reserved. These take about 20 minutes longer than Eurostar trains. From Bologna, there will similarly be other trains on to Firenze. There is no direct line from Venezia to Firenze, and every train from Venezia to Firenze stops at Bologna. So, in the unlikely event that all seats from Venezia to Firenze are booked, the worst that can happen is that your journey will take longer, and you'll have to change trains in Bologna. You do not need to think of renting a car.

thank you for all of the advice