Train from Rome to Florence

Old Sep 8th, 2005, 02:06 PM
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Train from Rome to Florence

We will be in Rome in 6 weeks (i'm so excited!!). We want to take the train from Rome to Florence where we will stay for 4 days and then from Florence to Venice.

Can someone please give me the web site to purchase the tickets online and also what is the best way to do this.

Sorry if this has been asked before but I had a problem searching the site.

Thanks so much.
nickel is offline  
Old Sep 8th, 2005, 02:12 PM
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Did you try raileurope.com or eurorail.com?

~gnr~
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Old Sep 8th, 2005, 02:14 PM
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Also railpass.com

~gnr~
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Old Sep 8th, 2005, 02:27 PM
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rfb
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The best way to do this is
www.trenitalia.com
HOWEVER, don't bother. Check the site for schedules and buy the tickets when you're ready to go. Trains from Rome to Florence run several times an hour.

Italians are notorious for impromptu strikes. If you happen to have purchased tickets on a train that is struck or cancelled for any reason you will then have to stand in a awful line and you'd better be able to speak and understand some Italian to get the ticket reissued on a new train.

There are many ticket machines located in Termini which are multilingual touch screen devices. You punch where you want to go, pick the train you want, pop in your credit card and out comes a ticket. You then walk over to the train, get on and go (don't forget to validate your ticket if you're on a train that is not eurostar).
 
Old Sep 8th, 2005, 02:38 PM
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I agree with RFB--wait until you get there and buy them at the train station. A friend and I traveled from Milan to Venice to Rome to Florence and back to Milan, all by train and we bought all of our tickets at the station. ;-) The Italians do like to strike--we were stuck in Malpensa (which we figure MUST translate to "bad thoughts") for at least 6 hours before our return flight left.
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Old Sep 8th, 2005, 03:06 PM
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I did this just a couple of weeks ago, nickle, went to the Venice train station to see a friend off and then went over to the self-service ticket machine, bought my Eurostar ticket to Rome (the ES train stops in Florence on the way to and from Rome-Venice, btw).

In other words, you don't have to buy your train tickets in advance, in fact, it's better if you don't-b/c when I checked the trenitalia website before I left for trains to Rome on my particular date of travel, they showed no availability on ES trains except for 6:40am. Therefore, I decided to wait and not buy on-line.

I'm glad I did wait. When I went to the Venice train station and used the self-service machine, I found I had about 3 or 4 different times to choose from on my date of travel -including the time I wanted -the ES leaving after 10am. This was 3 days before I traveled at the end of the Italian holiday period in August.

So the upshot is, you'll be better off if you just wait and buy your train tickets when you get there. Very easy to use, and the self-service machines are in English.
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Old Sep 14th, 2005, 12:22 PM
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Thank you all so much for your replies. We have decided to wait until we get there to purchase our tickets. That way we can decide what time we want to leave Rome after we're actually in Rome. We are then going to take the train from Florence to Venice on Oct. 30th. We'll be leaving 5 weeks from Friday --- I just can't wait!!
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Old Sep 14th, 2005, 12:28 PM
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I agree - buy them there. We did the same thing earlier this year and it worked out great.

Also, just a side note. In rome we were quickly approached by someone in the train station that wanted to "help" us buy our tickets at the little kiosks. She kept elbowing her way in and then claimed she helped us and wanted money! very annoying so be careful.

Have fun! i"m so jealous, i'm ready to go back.
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Old Sep 14th, 2005, 01:08 PM
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For anyone that recommends Rail Europe please understand that they charge a hefty sum. I never use them. We either use trenitalia.it or buy the tickets when we arrive at the city we will be departing from in the next couple of days.
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Old Sep 14th, 2005, 01:22 PM
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you can go to the spanish steps and find the american express office they sell train tickets there.
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Old Sep 14th, 2005, 02:14 PM
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Hi nickel, I too would wait to buy your train ticket(s) when in Italy. And if you want you can buy them through some travel agencies. Your hotel will be able to direct you to the nearest one. BTW, when you are told you need to validate your ticket that means that you go to the small yellow machine at the train station before you get on the train. It will day and time stamp your ticket. Have a fun trip!!
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Old Sep 14th, 2005, 04:21 PM
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The electronic ticket machines at Termini station (and others stations) are super super easy; they take credit cards, you can get the info in English, you can book days in advance, you can make a seat reservation (or not, your choice), and often there's no line because many tourists are nervous about unfamiliar machines.
One option is: when you arrive at each destination, before you leave the station, go ahead and buy your ticket out so you won't have to make a special trip anywhere.
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Old Sep 14th, 2005, 04:22 PM
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Heehee, if I go around saying how easy those machines are, everyone will use them and there will be lines.

Never mind, they're HORRIBLE. Don't use them! ;-)
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