Trenitalia
 

Is there any benefit to waiting to get train tickets once in Italy or should I go ahead and book them online now from trenitalia.com? (traveling only within Italy)

Some people like to have their ducks all in a row in advance, and more power to them. If you book in advance (but you can't more than 60 days in advance) you can sometimes pick up specials, so that's one additional reason for doing it.

On the other hand, if it's just a regular journey point to point, and you want to have leeway with your scheduling, buy the tix there. All larger destinations are programmed into the machines so you needn't queue up at the windows, except when it's a train where you have to have reservations, that takes a bit of planning.

WK

We just returned from Italy. Based on info from many posts, we waited to buy our tickets from Milan to Florence. When we arrived at the train station on Friday noon. Every Eurostar train for the day was booked. We ended up taking the Intercity train. Instead of a 2:45 ride it was a 4 hour ride.

Trenitlaia said...Friday from Milan...Eurostar is always sold out.

In the end, we did get to Florence. My kids loved the funky "private" seating area of the IC train.
it was all part of the journey.

If you want a seat for sure....I would book in advance. We did on another trip and had to depart earlier. For a fee Eurostar changed our tickets and we left earlier.

Enjoy!

Hi M,

If you know when you want to travel, you can get reduced fares at www.trenitalia.com.

If its an ES* or AV train, where reservations are required, you can change your ticket for a small fee at any train station, if you do it before your train leaves.

If it's an IC train, your ticket is good for any train, and you will pay about 3E to change the seat reservation, if you had one.

((I))

Long-distance trains in any country are busiest around a weekend. If you have to travel on a Friday or Sunday afternoon, book a few days in advance. In most cases, you do not need to worry about booking trains in advance. Look at schedules to see the frequency of the trains, and consider how flexible you can be. If you book in advance, allow a margin of time: if you want to travel earlier, you may be able to change your ticket (if not, you can wait for your booked train); if you miss a train, you may have a problem (even if your ticket can be exchanged, later trains may be full). In some cases, it may be quicker to use a slower train if it is leaving soon, rather than hang around at a station waiting for a faster train. A long train journey can be an opportunity to catch up on reading.