train to florence from Rome
 

We speak no Italian Can we have our hotel buy train tickets for us to avoid confusion at the train station. We will go to Pompeii on a day trip from Rome and will do a four day trip to Florence, returning to the Hilton at the airport. Trip is May 3. Please advise.

There are many machines at Italian train stations with English instructions. And ticket counter staff all speak English.

Or you can purchase your tickets online at www.trenitalia.com. It also has English.

vumit, I don't know about your hotel but you can buy train tickets through most travel agencies in Italy. In Rome there is the American Express office (by the Spanish Steps) that will sell you train tickets also as they handle travel arrangements.

I would print out and highlight the trains, dates, time you want from the trenitalia website and take that with you. Although most Italians that work in the hospitality business speak very good English having your train information in writing should avoid an misunderstandings and errors. Best wishes and have a wonderful time in Italy.

Your hotel may be able to buy them, but don't worry as the staff at the train station ticket offices are multiligual and from my experience all speak very good English. Otherwise get your travel agent to buy and book them before you leave. Most countries have European ticket agencies or on the net www.trenitalia.com sells tickets.

If you buy your train tickets through the trenitalia website vumit be SURE to call the credit card company you are going to use for the ticket purchases so they will not assume this is a fraud purchase. There have been some fodorites on here recently that have had a lot of stress and problems with trying to purchase tickets via the trenitalia website, one being daisy58. You can put her name in the search box and pull up her thread from a day or two ago. Obviously people have do have good luck with trenitalia but not everyone does, for whatever reason. If I were you I would purchase them in Italy.

ttt

Hi V,

One thing that is helpful is to go to the trenitalia site and print out the train schedules for your point to point tickets and take them with you.

Then, just in case you do find a ticket agent who either doesn't speak English (not all do!), or a crabby agent who refuses to (happened to me at Naples) then you can just show them which train you would like from the print out.

Buon Viaggio!

We bought all our tickets from the self-serve ticket machines at the train stations. They are super easy to use and you can pay with your credit card. We never bought them ahead of time and had no problems with the train being full. You can also purchase your tickets in advance on the Trenitalia website and then pick them up at a ticket machine in a lot of the larger stations - there is a list of stations on the website.

THANKS FOR THE GOOD ADVICE