Train tickets Napoli-Roma. Buy in advance or not?
 

Hi!
We are leaving for our long awaited trip to Italy tomorrow. Yay! :)
We will be taking the train from Napoli to Roma on Saturday Sept. 24th.
Should we book in advance by the Internet or we can do so once we are in Naples (we are staying there 3 days).
Mille grazie!

No need to book in advance, unless you're aiming for one of the discounted "MINI" fares (with very limited ability to make changes). Otherwise, simply buy tickets when in Naples, either at the train station or at an authorized travel agency. There are hourly Frecciarossa AV trains, and (nearly) hourly Intercity trains, between Naples and Rome, so there is plenty of availability throughout the day. The Frecciarossa costs 45 Euros and takes 70 minutes; the Intercity costs 22 Euros and takes two hours (both fares are unrestricted second class). Even cheaper are a handful of unreserved regionale trains, which take over two hours, but cost merely 10.50 Euros.

It depends on which train you are taking. EuroStar can become filled, local slower trains seldom in my experience fully booked. Big Price difference. ES takes appx. 1.10-15min 58e lst, 45e 2nd. local 2 to 2.5 hours 29e lst., 22e 2nd There is also the super cheap 13.5e but you have to hit it just right to get this fare and the times are odd.

If you take the Regionale you do not need to book in advance. The train starts loading about 30 minutes before departure. If you are one of the first to get on, you will find a seat and be able to store your baggage in the rack above you with no problem. But the Regionale is much slower than trains that require reservations.

Hi Jo,

If you know when you want to travel, you might as well buy a discounted ticket in advance.

Enjoy your visit.

((I))

This is the first I've heard that the faster Eurostar (ES) actually fill up. With trains every hour all day long that surprises me. Sounds like more people are traveling these days. Thank you for updating us with this new info Joanne.

Just did the FrecciaRosa fast train leaving hourly

in May to/from trains were not full then

just bought from fast machines at station.

Piece of cake wonderful ride easy 40 euro.... seat61.com

Credit card hassles and shipping costs preclude booking

out of the country for me.

monitor travel alerts new austerity measures are causing

some srtike talks travel.stat.gov good site for this

insuremytrip.com wise...

Have fun,

This is the first I've heard that the faster Eurostar (ES) actually fill up. With trains every hour all day long that surprises me. Sounds like more people are traveling these days. Thank you for updating us with this new info Joanne.

Perhaps I need to be clearer here - trains at the most popular times do fill up, I was making a general statement based on that - if you want one super early am or later at night most likely you can get ticket at any time.

Have to say that we've been using the line for a decade now, and have never been unable to just walk up and buy tickets....

Indeed I recollect seeing Trenitalia announce that they'd put on four extra trains between Milan and Naples during the busy summer period, when loads of extra people come down this way for their vacations - although that's perhaps finished by now?

Peter