Train ticket questions....
 

I will be traveling to Italy in early July and I'm trying to purchase mini fares through the tranitalia website. I am having some issues trying to find times that work with my itinerary. For instance, I would like a very early train from Florence to Salenero (would like to leave around 7am), so that I could be in Positano by early afternoon, but the only option that is available is a 10:30am ticket getting me to Salerno at 1pm. This will get me to Positano after 2pm...if we get on the Sita without any issues!

So, my questions are:
1) on the trenitalia website, when it shows "segment not purchasable" does that mean they aren't for sale yet, or does that mean they are not pre-purchasable?
2) if it only shows one option, does that mean they are sold out of all the morning time slots?
3) should I be booking my train tickets in advance? or will I have more options at the train kiosk and just get them when I arrive at the station?
4) do they offer mini fares at the station?

Any help would be greatly appreciated! This will be my first time in Europe, so as you can see I have no idea what I am doing!!!

Thanks!

The link below is to a very well known blogger, that is respected. It's a beginner's guide to train travel in Italy, including purchasing tickets at the station and online.

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

This should answer some / most of your questions.

Here are a few answers to your questions:

1) "segment not purchasable" usually refers to Regionale train tickets that can only be bought online within 7 days of traveling. Because they never sell out (no assigned seats), there is no reason to pre-purchase Regionale tickets online.

2) Schedules for "after June" may not yet be posted for specific routes... so you might have to wait to see the complete route options. All schedules through December will be posted no later than mid-June.

3) You can always buy tickets at the station. The advantage when buying in advance is you can get discounted fares like the "MINI ticket."

4) You have to buy MINI fares approx 2 days before traveling so if you try and purchase tickets on the day of travel they are not available. Since Trenitalia controls the number of MINI fare tickets, usually they tend to "run out" as the travel date nears.

Hope those answers help you. To supplement the great site mentioned above you might look at these articles on train travel. Train travel in Italy is easy and can be inexpensive!

** http://tinyurl.com/riding-trains ** http://tinyurl.com/trenitalia-online ** http://tinyurl.com/ticketless ** http://tinyurl.com/buy-tickets-2011 ** http://tinyurl.com/MINI-fare

maybe i was doing something wrong-- but when i was scouting fares at their web site, i couldn't get any good fares to show up until i registered with them. once i officially registered with them, the mini-fares and such started to show up. have you registered and signed in as an official user yet?

What you have looked up is a direct train which limits your options.

If you go to www.fsitaliane.it and look up Firenze SMN to Salerno, you will find earlier connections via Napoli Centrale.

Why are you going to Salerno if your destination is Positano? Why not train to Naples and switch to the local train to Sorrento and then get the bus on to Positano? I think that would take less time.

Trenitalia isn't showing the earlier trains because of some programming glitch so it's only showing the train with no changes at 10:14. You can find the other connections on Trenitalia's LeFrecce link, but then it's not showing the prices. All of the earlier trains require a change in Naples.

It seems Trenitalia is still tweaking their system/fares for summer which start in a couple of weeks (mid June). Where they were showing Mini Fares at a glance on the LeFrecce link, they no longer are. You have to select the train and on the next page you will only see the base fare listed. Click on base and you will see mini which can be selected. After you select, a mini fare will pop up if still available. It's also clear all the trains between Naples/Salerno aren't loaded yet.

There is a 7 am train that arrives Naples at 10:10. I would buy that if you want to depart that early. If not, book the 8 am train. You can buy the Naples/Salerno leg later or take the local train/bus via Sorrento. The IC train between Naples/Salerno is only 7.50€ and takes 30 minutes.
11:58 NA C.LE 12:30 SALERNO 00:32 551 Intercity 9,50 € 7,50 €

Wow, thanks everybody for your replies!!! This is a great help! One more question...if I buy a mini fare a couple days before the trip would I be able to print out the tickets? Or, do I have to pick them up at the train station?

Mini Fares can sell out. They may not be available a couple of days before your trip.

I would keep checking on Trenitalia. They should finish loading summer schedules in the next week or two.

As for tickets purchased online, read this:
http://www.trenitalia.com/cms/v/inde...003f16f90aRCRD

bookmarking. thanks!