Train reservations
 

Traveling to Italy in October, Is it important to have reserved seats? We will be on a time schedule. Florence to Venice to Milan

Well yes - - to be sure that you have an assigned seat - - though your chances of grabbing an unassigned seat are pretty good. And it is permitted to stand, without a seat.<BR><BR>Keep in mind that you can probably get a reservation 48 or 24 hours in advance at any train station. Or 2 hours. Or 20 minutes.<BR><BR>Best wishes,<BR><BR>Rex<BR>

We did the same route in October 1999. We went to American Express in Florence (near Duomo) on our second day there and bought/reserved the Florence to Venice segment. First class, Eurostar, non-smoking, no problem. On our second day in Venice, we went to American Express (near Piazza San Marco) to buy/reserve the Venice to Milan segment. Although we were leaving four days later, we could not get non-smoking seats in first class on the train we wanted. We survived, but I wish we had purchased the Venice to Milan portion the week prior when we were in Florence. I think if you know your time schedule, you should reserve/buy all the tickets you'll need as soon as you arrive in the first city.

Hi Mike<BR>I think you will find all the information you need on the following page:<BR>http://www.italywithus.biz/main_page..._transport.htm

topping<BR>

Rex:<BR><BR>You are wrong. you can't grab a reservations 2 hours or 20 mnutes before the train's departure. Bookings close down 3 hours before the train's departure from its oriinal stations. This means that oif you are in Milano and you wnat to book a seat on a trains that leaves at 18.00, you will have to book before 15.00. If you are in Florenc and you want to book a seat on a train that leaves fom Florence at 18.00, but which originates from Milao, leaving Milano at 15.00, you will have to place your booking not at 15.00, but before 12.00. Also, there are no unassigned seats on Eurostar trains, these trains' tickets are sold exclusively with a booking, so you can't buy them at tehe last minute, you have to buy the ticket and book the seat a few hours in advance.

I am not saying that this is wrong, but it makes no sense. Are you saying that the train will leave, with unsold seats left empty, just because they were not sold 3 or more hours before departure?<BR><BR>And leave people standing on the platform?<BR><BR>This cannot be right.<BR>

Italy is injust. Do you have any idea of who is our prime minister?<BR>Now, getting back to the train subject, since I am an Italian train traveller I can tell you this: Eurostar trains will fill up no matter how: they are too fast and too good not to be used, but if you want to buy a reservation when the train has left, you have to buy the ticket for another later train, than beg the current train conductor to let you take an unoccupied place (if there is any). Only that the onductor does not have a plan of the occupied seats, so he may direct you to a seat that is empty, or at least it was until your departing city, but it was booked thereafter, so you will ahve to stand up and the conductor will have to fine you, and in case you refuse to pay the fine he might even call the polic hnad have you leave the train at the first station 8even if it is not a scheduled stop of the train. Is it injust? Well, maybe, but this is Italy. And in case you think because of this that italy is a suilly country, well, you know nothing of how silly can this country be, so please leave us Italian, the people who daily have to fight with this land of nonsense, to complain, because you have just started to see the tip of the problem.

We are arriving in Milano at 9am and want to take a EuroStar to Venice at 11:50am.<BR>1. Will we have enough time (if the flight is on time, etc.) to get to the Milano train station for our 11:50am train?<BR>2. If I can't buy the ticket on line at the present time is there another alternative for getting the ticket and a seat reservation ahead of time (from US)?<BR>3. Is InterCity a reasonable option? Can I get a ticket and a seat for the next available train while at the train station?<BR>4. Am I sounding like a 5-year old?

ES service from Milan to Venice is infrequent, whereas IC service runs every hour and only takes 16 minutes longer. You can see the complete schedule at www.trenitalia.com<BR><BR>The info above about the 3 hour cutoff is news to me - - I could have sworn that we got seats on ES just prior to departure, Verona to Rome last fall - - just prior to departure, but maybe my memory is faulty or something has changed.<BR>