PalenQ

kybourbon is a font of info on Trenitalia and Italian train tickets - Q - is that true of each and every online ticket - I thought some folks had to retrieve tickets but maybe that was dated info?

Just checking with the expert for affirmation and from what you wrote I guess it is yes - even IC trains or full-fare tickets - ALL tickets - even regional train tickets (which you should never order online as explained above.

I mean you can't get a paper ticket printed at home - I'd feel better with an actual ticket than just some codes and am sure others would be too!

Thanks!

ssander

Did anyone mention that you can pick up carnets of Paris Metro tickets at any tobacco shop...of which there are probably a half-dozen within three blocks of wherever you are staying.

SS

kybourbon

>>> Q - is that true of each and every online ticket - I thought some folks had to retrieve tickets but maybe that was dated info?<<<

You've only had to retrieve tickets at kiosks (used to be only major stations in Italy) for tickets from Italy to other countries. Even that may be going by the wayside as I think the Thello/Trenitalia Milan/Nice give email codes now (I haven't used them, but have seens a few posts about it).

Tickets within Italy only need the email codes (print what they send and take with you). Just show your print out on board.

>>>I mean you can't get a paper ticket printed at home - I'd feel better with an actual ticket than just some codes and am sure others would be too!<<<

We've evolved! You do realize that plane tickets were pretty much done away with years ago and you just use the emailed codes? Why should trains be any different?

Many Italians just get it sent to their phones and show their phone to the conductor on board just like many air travelers do these days instead of carry pieces of paper.

***The Trenitalia electronic ticket
Ticketless is the purchasing solution that lets you board your train without having to pick up a printed train ticket. It operates for all trains both in 1st and 2nd class as well as for the Couchette, Wagon Lits and Excelsior services.

Ticketless tickets can be bought conveniently on this site, by calling the call center ((+39 06 68475475) or from the certified travel agencies- thus avoiding waiting times for picking up at the self-service tellers or for buying at the desks.

How it works

For on-line purchases you will be sent an e-mail of purchase confirmation with all the information on your journey
For purchases through travel agencies you will be sent your booking code (PNR) and, if requested, your Booking Change code (CP) along with indications of the carriage and the place/s assigned. The payment receipt will be sent to your e-mail address, if given it in or to the e-mail address of the agency.
For purchases made through the Call Center you will be given the booking code (PNR) and, if requested, your Booking Change code (CP) with the indications one the carriage and places assigned. You can also be sent a payment receipt to the e-mail address given, if you request it.

In any case you can receive, free of charge, an SMS directly on your mobile phone with the journey details. Once you board, simply notify your Code to the on-board personnel, who will print out your payment receipt if it has not been previously requested or will register your presence on board. ****

PalenQ

kyboourbon - thanks SO SO much for taking time to lay that all out. I think RailEurope may still be issuing paper tickets but that would seem to be, if so, the only way to get a paper ticket - I'm comfy without but some old school folk may not be. Or maybe RE just gives a code out now?

Anyway thanks a bunch for helping me and others understand the changing things involved in train ticketing.

Cheers!

PalenQ

kybourbon is SO SO great for helping so so many folks grapple with Italian train fares and especially that often flummxoing stie trenitalia.com - Fodor's is so so lucky to have her (think it's her) and others too who take the time to outline all the many nuances of train travel and fares here - others have commented that she had helped them save zillions of euros on discounted tickets. Though we disagree on some things like the value of first class I have learned so much from her and value it greatly!

Thanks!

RT2015

So all this information may have already been provided, but I recently went to Rome, Paris and London as a first time visitor to Europe and found it all really easy.

I didn't buy a metro pass for Rome and only used the metro once - on the way to the Vatican, and then I walked back anyway. The rest of the time I walked and caught cabs three or four times in the four nights we were there. We stayed near the Villa Borghese and walked to the Trevi Fountain (got a cab back because we had a huge day and walked for more than six hours by this stage); then we walked to the Colosseum and got a cab back after another long day in the hot sun.

In Paris I bought a five day visitor's pass (I just asked a nice man at the information booth at the station I went to first) and I am pretty sure you can get three day ones too. I found I would walk for more than six-eight hours a day in Paris but would still use the metro two or three times a day - it was fantastic to have both my feet and the train.

And in London I bought an Oyster card - so easy you literally buy it at a machine in the station and it spits it out for you. I topped it up with a weekly pass for zones 1 and 2 because I was staying in Clapham and then added another 10 pound to get me to Heathrow at the end of my stay.

PalenQ

Yes I usually walk more than take any metro or bus - most cities have sights located in a compact historical city centre - like Florence - I can't fathom how anyone would need to take the tram or bus in Florence - all major sights are in a few square-mile area (well except Piazza Michelangelo or Pitti Palace but even those are short longer walks or bus rides.

PalenQ

I often say that it's what I stroll by between the big sights that is often the most interesting - the way there can be as interesting as what is there in some cases - like in Paris when I saw a confrontation over parking with a van driver blocking a young lady in - wow - such dirty language the guy yelled at the girl.

RT2015

So true PalenQ! It's great to have a metro pass in Paris and London as while you can certainly walk through the most touristy areas and historical sites, there is lots further afield too, plus after walking allll day long, it's good to have the option to jump on the metro, as well as to get to dinner somewhere not local etc. But no way in Florence. Even Pitti Palace is easily reachable on foot not far from the main sites too. We even walked to Piazza Michelangelo, but that one does depend on your mobility as it's up a hill. And by walking through Florence we found the 'local' shopping scene, an amazing coffee and cigarettes bar and a wine bar for dinner. That's testament to the value of going in the opposite direction to the tourist strip too (as hard as it was to turn my back on the Duomo!!) as much as it is for walking in itself.

suze

No need for any special pass just to go from Venice, Florence, Rome (doesn't matter the order). You'd just use point-to-point tickets.

lmh2588

Thanks to everyone for all of your help.

I went on the Trenitalia website to get tickets, and I'm confused. I entered the date (November 15) I wanted to purchase a ticket from Rome to Florence, but the search shows November 14 as the date, but most of the times have an asterisk beside them that says solution applies to next day?

Would I need to actually select November 16, or is the asterisk meaning that my ticket would be for the 15?

Thanks in advance for anyone who can help clear this up. I definitely do not want to purchase a ticket for the wrong day.

kybourbon

What time of day are you trying to book? It appears you are trying to select a late night train and Trenitalia is rolling over to the next day. Trenitalia defaults to the time you load up their website so if you access at night (8pm), it will default to 20:00. If there aren't any trains that late or only one or two, it will load up the next morning early trains also. When you get on the site, select your date (15-11-2015) and change the time to 7 or w/e time you want to depart. Keep in mind, if you want to depart after noon, you will enter 13:00, 14:00, etc. (not 1:00 or 2:00 or that might make Trenitalia think you want the next day).

lmh2588

I tried and it's doing the same thing, but now coming up as the 14th instead of the 15th. The time I selected was 6:00, but the search pops up all of the trains beginning from 0:30 and so forth. Could it be possibly a temporary website glitch or maybe because I'm looking at it on my mobile phone instead of my desktop?

lmh2588

It seems to keep bumping me back to the previous day, and if I use the desktop site, it's showing different fare rates. Does the asterisk saying solution applies to next day matter, or as long as I'm booking a ticket on the date I want, I should be okay?

lmh2588

The rates on the desktop site are different (more expensive) than the ones of the mobile site so I would like to book it on the mobile site if I can figure out what is going on with it. Thanks again for any help anyone can provide.

kybourbon

I don't have that problem. Are you using a computer or phone? Might be a browser or app issue. Is this the website you are using? What stations are you selecting?

http://www.trenitalia.com/cms/v/inde...005817f90aRCRD

When I enter your date (Nov 15) and cities (you should be choosing Rome Termini/Firenze SMN) along with changing the time to 06, I get trains starting Nov 15 at 6:03 am (a regional veloce train is the first on the list). My screen shows 10 train departures through 8:35 am). If you wanted later in the day, at the bottom of the list you would select next solution.

Surfergirl

Because I use the Metro & Bus service multiple times during the day and evening when I'm in Paris, I found the Mobilis (as Christina mentioned) the best bang for the buck. It can be purchased in most Metro stations.

In London, because I'm always based outside of London and take TfL rail off peak into London, then use tube and bus once in town, I get the off peak travel pass that runs about £12. since I start in Zone 9, and that takes me all over. Instead of tapping the Oyster, I insert the travel card into the machine, going in and out of the tube station, but for bus use, I simply show the pass to the bus driver and get a seat. I think in some instances, getting the travel pass may be a less expensive option than using the Oyster card.

lmh2588

Hi KyBourbon,

I'm using an iPhone and the mobile Trenitalia site.

The initial train from Rome to Florence I was looking at is an Intercity 590 train priced €9 that leaves from Rome Tiburtina and arrives at Firenze Refredi.

Obviously I was very attracted to the price point on that, which is fine because my mobile site is showing tickets are available, but that train and price point doesn't seem to show up on the desktop site?

Also, when I do that search, that's when it bumps the date back (in this case, to November 14), and everything is marked with an asterisk that says solution applies to next day, so I'm super confused if I need the date at the top to read the date I want to depart on, or if the asterisk is indicating that it is for the 15th in this example.

I just want to make 100% sure before I purchase a ticket that I purchase it for the correct day.

Thanks for all of the help you've provided so far, and any further insight anyone can provide on this for me.

PalenQ

Bourbon is the person to ask - awesome patience in explaining everything to novice user of notoriosuly fickle and flummoxing trenitalia.com - she (?) has helped so so many thru that morass.

also try http://www.italotreno.it/en - a competitor to Trenitalia - spalshes cheap fares on their home page - just as good trains or about and just as quick - may use secondary stations like Tiburtina which to me is great because that stations is much les chaotic on first encounter than Termini can be - metro goes from there to anyplace it does from Termini.

kybourbon

I've found it. Did you want to leave at that time of day (there's an earlier IC for 9€ (departs at 10:30)? Enter Roma (tutta le stazioni) as your departure and Firenze (tutta la stazioni). The train you want departs at 12:41 so enter 12:00 as your departure time.


Departure 12:41 Roma Tiburtina
Arrival 15:36 Firenze Rifredi Duration 02:55
Train Intercity 590
Offer Super Economy Price 9.00 €

Do know that these IC trains take twice as long as the fast Frecce trains (3 hours vs 90 minutes). They don't have the amenities the fast trains have (no bar car or dining car) and most are cramped compartments with 6 people in a compartment (3 facing 3, no tables and difficult to place your luggage in racks overhead in the compartments). 1st class on these IC trains will be the same crappy seating (3 facing 3) as 2nd class, but perhaps a better fabric on the seat. Here's a pic of the compartments.

http://www.seat61.com/Italy-trains.htm#InterCity_trains

The other pic in the link is an old ES train they are now using as IC trains (open cars like Frecce trains with 4 facing 4 with tables on each side of the aisles). You can tell which your train is by making sure you click the "select your seat" box.

I'm not a fan of the IC compartment trains.