Taking the Train
 

Hi everyone -

I will be in Europe in April and we will be relying on the train to get us from city to city. First Rome to Florence, then Florence to Venice, Venice to Salzburg and finally Salzburg to Munich.

I have not purchase tickets in advance.
My question is this - do we need to purchase our tickets when we first pull into a city and get a reservation or do we just walk in when we want to go and get it then (wasn't sure if they sell out or not?)

Also, can you purchase tickets for another city - i.e., if i'm in Rome, can I purchase a ticket for my Florence to Venice leg there or do i have to wait until i get in Florence?

Hope that makes sense - i think i confused myself while typing :-)

thanks!

It makes perfect sense. Assuming you aren't going from Rome to Florence the very day you arrive you could easily get all the tickets in advance, including the Venice-Salzburg and Salzburg-Munich segments.

If you are taking the Eurostar between Rome-Florence-Venice the seat reservations come as part of the ticket.

You may or may not want seat reservations Venice-Salzburg and Salzburg-Munich. Frankly, I doubt you would need them however that may depend on the time of day you travel. Unless you can get a direct train Venice-Salzburg you will almost have to change at least once (usually Verona) and sometimes a second time (probably Villach). These trains are often not full. There is frequent service Salzburg-Munich throughout the day.

You might want to check schedules at www.bahn.de or www.trenitalia.com

Oops..meant to say you can get all these tickets/any seat reservations AFTER you arrive in Italy.

Hi il,

If you wish, you can buy your tickets online for Rome to Florence to Venice at www.trenitalia.com.

You can buy Salzburg to Munich at
http://reiseauskunft.bahn.de/bin/query.exe/en

It might be possible to buy tickets for Venice to Salzburg at http://www.oebb.at/
but my German isn't good enough to figure it out.

You can definitely buy your tickets within Italy and from Venice to Salzburg upon arrival in Rome, and from Salzburg to Munich upon arrival in Salzburg.

((I))

Thanks everyone!

Has anyone ever done the "ticketless" option on Trenitalia? or the option when you pickup via the automatic self service ticket machines?

Hi il,

You ought to use the ticketless option. It is like an e-ticket on an airplane.

You get an email with a confirmation number.

If it is for an ES* train, this is your ticket.

If it is for another train, you use your confirmation number and the same CC that you used to purchase the ticket to get your paper ticket. This must be punched before you board the train.

((I))

I had a glitch trying to retrieve my eticket at the ATM type machine. There was a reason my cc wouldn't work, but I can't remember the details. I had to go to the window to pick up my ticket.

Anyone know the specifics of what the cc needs to have embedded on it for the automated machines to recognize it?

The self-service machines for Trenitalia are for purchasing new tickets. In my experience,if you buy an e-ticket,you will be e-mailed a reservation number which will serve as your ticket. Print out the e-mail response and you're good to go(literally!)