Trenitalia "Self Service' Ticket Delivery Option
 

I am trying to purchase ticket for a June train trip from Rome to Levanto. The ticket delivery options for this trip do NOT include the ticketless options. Apparently this is due to the LaSpezia-Levanto leg which is an 'interregionale' train. The only option is the 'self-service'.

Copying from the website regarding the 'self-service ticket delivery:
Before boarding pick up your ticket from one of the self-service machines at the stations. Take a printout of the e-mail you received after making your purchase:pick-up your ticket, type in the name, surname and booking code (PNR) indicated.
If you need an invoice, after selecting this pick-up option, you can request your invoice to be issued at the ticket desk immediately after picking up the ticket.

Anyone have experience with this self-service option?

Do we still have seat reservation in the first leg on the Eurostar train?

Is there any advantage to making this 2 seaparate ticket purchases-one separate purchase for the Rome-La Spezia so we can get that as a ticketless-then the La Spezia- Levanto as a self service option?

One more question- if we make this 2 separate ticket purchases- will we need to stand in line very long in La Spezia to print out the tickets? We are a group of 8- our connection time is about 20 minutes for the next train.

BTW- I did not intend for the happy face to show up in my post-not sure how it got there.
Mary

My suggestion is to just buy the ticketless Rome to La Spezia portion. Then buy the IR ticket from a machine or booth at any train station, manned counter or machine, Rome or otherwise, after you arrive in Italy.

Hi Mary - No need to buy online - wait until you get there.

If you arrive at Rome airport you can purchase the tickets at FCO airport station for your day of travel.

ES tickets include reserved seats.

Hope this helps ...

Steve

Thnaks rk

Is there any advantage to buying the
La Spezia-Levanto leg in advance?

If we have the email for this on-line self service purchase- we use this to get the tickets printed at a station.

Can we print out the tickets for the La Spezia-Levanto leg at any station, e.g. can we print these out in Rome a few days in advance?

Are the automated machines for self service tickets different from those for purchases made AT the train station?
Are lines shorter for these machines?

The main reason I'm buying advance is to get seats together for our family of 8.

I have already had great success buying trenitalia tickets online for Eurostar trains- these offer the ticketless option. I can't get a ticketless option for regionale trains.

You can't reserve seats on I, R, Ir, or D trains. Most (perhaps all?)of the trains on this route will be this type of train so you might not get a seat at all if the train is crowded. My group of 6 adults were given "group discounts" by purchasing from a ticket agent in Italy for the R, I and D trains.

Exactly. Because you need reservations for the Eurostar, and you cannot get one with the IR if you want to.

Is there any reason at all to buy tickets in advance for the IR trains? Is there any point at which ticket sales are cut off and having an email confirmation of advance purchase would be an advantage? Maybe I'm not clear on these IR tickets-are the tickets for a specific train-or for any IR train running that journey on any day?

I thought I read on the trenitalia website that group discounts for smaller groups(under 10) were recently discountinued-when did you travel with the discount?

Any train. You get a general ticket, you validate it at a machine, you get on the train and look for open seats (or stand, depending on how crowded). Therefore, no need to buy tickets ahead of time.

Is there any advantage to buying the
La Spezia-Levanto leg in advance?

no absolutely none IMO - why hassle with retrieval when in seconds on the idoit-proof machines you can buy this ticket in LaSpezia or any station - probably regional trains or with no reservations possible so can be used on any train.

Thanks so much for your patience with my neophyte questions. Your advice is much appreciated. I think I get it now. We will buy the ES online and wait to buy the IR in Italy.

marymarathons,

I just returned from Italy using the rail system. Now, this is my fourth trip using trains and I still made a mistake.

I booked the tickets online as Bologna-Stresa. The reservation for both legs of the journey was on ONE ticket with one PNR #. ES train Bologna-Milano, and EC train Milano-Stresa with a 26 minute connection time.

When we arrived in Milano Centrale we had to hustle to the far end of the train station for the EC train to Stresa and I completely forgot about the instructions on my paper ticket as follows:

Ticket will be collected by Mr. & Mrs. Kane. Use the self-service machine and follow the instructions: Key in the PNR number, surname and forename and wait for ticket dispensation.

We boarded the EC train, and when the conductor asked for our ticket she told us about our mistake. Luckily, she was very nice and told us to enjoy our trip. I think we got lucky with her.

kane

So many details to remember!

Would you have had time at Milano Centrale to wait for ticket dispensation?

I am concerned that we will not have time for this at La Spezia but if we can buy IR tickets in advance at any Italian train station- this sounds like the best option.

Mary - These trains are frequent (3 per hour until later in the afternoon)so no problem if you miss one. Just catch the next one.

Mary - If you do buy the IR tickets separately don't forget to validate them.

Steve

We are healthy, in good shape to walk briskly; however, not knowing that the EC train was parked on the left side of the terminal and it was the third train down the track, I can't tell you if we would have had time to use the ticket machine.

How long do you have between trains? I remember a few years ago changing from the ES Rome-La Spezia and then a regional train from La Spezia to Santa Margherita, but at that time we used DER Travel and had cardboard tickets. That too was a short connection time - something like 15 min.

I sympathize with having a travel party of eight - we had 10 last year and it takes careful planning.

Steve
Thanks for the reminder to validate tickets.

Is there usually much of a line at the machine to validate?

I never remember having to wait in a line to validate a ticket at the machine. Only problems we had were having to change platforms in Bologna because the scheduled train was either late or cancelled, and booking particular seats on a ES train from Perugia to Rome, and discovering that the train that arrived was not an actual ES train, and the seats were configured a different way.

>That too was a short connection time - something like 15 min.

15 min are definitely not a short connection time.
In many cases, you have 5-8 min. And you would manage it too.