nvl325

does it make sense to buy tickets ahead for these trips? Wasn't sure if savings, if available, would be worth it. These are not in a row- train to Bologna for 3 nights, then on to Rome. This is for May, for four of us. thanks!

J62

You can get a substantial discount if you purchase in advance. Check www.trenitalia.com for what's called the "mini" fares.

qwovadis

seat61.com/italy

Booking fast train in advance might saave a small amount usually not due to credit card hassles shipping costs etc.
Been a bunch train a bunch trained in May going again in April I always just hop regional trains like a local at the station last May each of you legs was under 10 euro per person for me and my wife. Best deal I remeber paid 4.5 euro Ovieto to Florence but they were all cheap. Fst trains were not too bad my wife likes those we paid 38 euro for one of those at her insistence.But I am a big fan oft raining like a local for fun economy freedom and flexibility. You do have to stamp(convalidate) any ticket without a seat reservation fines
if you do not but after that for 4 euros I had a giant compartment all to myself I loved it what a deal.

Good luck!

kybourbon

>>>Booking fast train in advance might saave a small amount usually not due to credit card hassles shipping costs etc.<<<

This is inaccurate. The Mini fares on Trenitalia can save you as much as 60%. There are no shipping costs and you just print your own ticket confirmation. You can find Mini fares as cheap as 19€ on this route for the fast AV trains if you book in advance. Regular price is 45€. This Trenitalia link lets you search for discounts easier. It doesn't show the slow R trains and you must enter the Italian spelling of the towns.
http://www.fsitaliane.it/cms/v/index...003f16f90aRCRD

>>>Been a bunch train a bunch trained in May going again in April I always just hop regional trains like a local at the station last May each of you legs was under 10 euro per person for me and my wife. Best deal I remeber paid 4.5 euro Ovieto to Florence but they were all cheap. <<<

Inaccurate also. You will not find a regional train from Florence to Rome for under 10€. The price would be 17.15€ (cheapest price available) and it would take almost 4 hours as opposed to the fast train which takes 90 minutes.

GAC

The cheapest "MINI" fare on the Intercity (IC) train between Florence and Rome is 12 Euros! However, most Intercity trains depart from and arrive at Firenze RIFREDI station. You must take a connecting regionale train from RIFREDI to the main station of Firenze SMN. By contrast, the undiscountable regionale train (which goes to Firenze SMN) costs 17.15 Euros, without an advance purchase.

easytraveler

Are these two train trips the only times when you will be going by train?

Or will you be travelling by train in other parts of Europe/Italy?

Just trying to determine if some kind of railpass would work better for you.

nvl325

These are the only two trips (Venice to Bologna, and then Bologna to Rome). Was already looking at the trenitalia site, also looked at the link provided for the Le Frecce section of the site. Not sure what that means- a different type of train? Mini prices did not come up for our dates in mid to late May- too early? In fact only one price came up- for the slow train.

With Mini, you're not given the option of different classes? Which is ok, just trying to understand the options. Also, would it be better to select "all stations" instead of specifying one?

I do see the virtues of buying ahead, and am fine with that, but any other light you all could shed on navigating the website would be helpful! (i.e. different classes, trains, etc.)

ellenem

The slowest R (regionale) trains wil not show properly on the schedule more than 7 days in advance. Use a date within the next week to search for slow train possibilities. For me, on my vacation my time is just as valuable as my money, so I am ready to pay more to take the fastest trains.

Will the savings mean that much to your budget? If not, then just wait until you arrive in italy to purchase your tickets. If you buy the tickets as soon as you arrive in Italy, you might still score a discount, though there is no guarantee.

nvl325

oh my, I didn't mean to say that I wanted the slow train! Was just saying that for May, that one was the only one that came up...

nvl325

just remembered I hadn't yet checked seat61.com, and I see that will answer a lot of my questions... thanks, seat61! Also, my May dates are shy of the 90 days ahead rates; that's why there's not much there. So- I'll persevere- thanks to everyone!

kybourbon

>>>In fact only one price came up- for the slow train.<<<

>>>Also, my May dates are shy of the 90 days ahead rates; that's why there's not much there<<<

The 90 days is not the reason. Winter schedules start around Dec. 12 and run thru about June 12. You are supposed to be able to book 120 days in advance on Trenitalia. For some bizarre reason, Trenitalia has a big black hole for the schedules in May after May 6. If you select a date in May before that you will get the correct schedules. I don't know if they might be planning to start summer schedules earlier than normal this year (typically June 12 or so until Dec 12) or they were planning to add some other type of saver fare. Someone at Trenitalia dropped the ball and didn't load the schedules properly.

There are 4-6 fast AV trains (Le Frecce) per hour from Bologna to Rome. Travel time varies between 2:02 to 2:17. I would keep checking back to see when they get their programming error fixed.

>>>With Mini, you're not given the option of different classes?<<<

Yes, there are mini discounts for 1st and 2nd classes. Only for the AV (Frecce), ES, ESCity and IC trains. No discounts for the R trains. Your travel time is only 2 hours. 2nd class is perfectly fine. This is what 2nd class looks like on the Le Frecce AV trains (ES trains are similar too).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Fr...ssainterno.jpg