pineisl

It is to early to purchase tickets for our trip, but I wanted to see the cost of the tickets I would need to purchase. I was able to get that info, but came up with a few questions in the process. Any help would be appreciated very much.

1. Choose Your Position - Finestrino and Corridao (might be spelled wrong, it is said when you cannot read your own writing). What is this asking me? is it Window and Aisle?

2. Seat Near To - Enter carriage and seat number beside which you wish to travel. What are they asking here, shouldn't they be telling me what carriage and seat we will be in? There is no diagram for me to chose any thing from.

3. Ticket Delivery - Is the ticketless method via Email the best way to go?

4. First and Second class - On ES is it worth the price difference between the two. The longest trip for us will be Rome to Venice. Maybe I have just answered my own question, go first class to Venice and then 2nd class Venice to Florence. Then I will have my own opinion for future trips to Italy, since everyone says you will return.

Thank you

Rastaguytoday

Some things on Trenitalia. It's one of the better train web sites in Europe (especially compared to France's site).

Think Corridao as corridor. Google up an Italian English dictionary.

If you play around in the Trenitalia web site, it will show you the types of trains, etc.... I much prefer the IC+ to ES. IC+ began service in late 2005, so all of the trains are new, and non-smoking. Some of the ES trains are looking pretty tired.

You may have an extra stop or two, but you can travel IC+ first class for the price of ES second class.

Pick a date within 90 days of now and the same day of the week to see what's available.

I just did a quick check and ES Venice to Florence is 44e 1st and 30e 2nd class. IC+ is 28.5 1st and 21.5 2nd. The trip is about 30 minutes longer. When you look at a train, click on details and then the train # to see the stops.

First caveat: About buying ahead of time, what if your schedule changes for some reason, or you miss the train? I usually figure out when I'm going, within the 90 day window and make a copy of the train schedule for that exact date. This gives me flexibility to sleep in or not, and when the next train is leaving.

Second caveat: Venice has 2 train stations, St. L (Santa Lucia is the train across the causeway in Venice proper. Mestre is on the mainland. You may have to transfer trains in Mestre. Just make sure you allow enough time to get to Mestre to make the train you want.

TravMimi

Yes that's window or aisle.
They will give you seat and carriage number after you book. The area that asks you, is for people who know the seats but mostly if you want to travel next to someone who already has their seat numbers.
I like ticketless
hummm 1st or 2nd? as expected depends on length of trip. Not that much difference. In my opinion it's less likely some odd person might wander in and sit next to you in 1st class.

magee50

It’s nice to know I'm not the only one struggling to understand this website

This question is for Rastaguytoday - is there a link on the Trenitalia website to print schedules or did you just print screen?

I hate to ask a ton of questions - but I'm somewhat confused and hope someone can help.

If you buy one of the Italy Saver Passes from sites like Rick Steves - do you also have to pay another fee on the Trenitalia website or at the train station for your seat assignment?

And if you do reserve your seat on-line - do you select the flexi pass. When I do select flexi as my fare, I’m shown an amount - does this go away when you enter you pass number?

I haven't actually bought a pass - because I trying to determine if it’s cost effective to buy the pass (and if so -the procedure for making a reservation) or just buy point-to-point tickets.

Thanks in advance for anyone's help

TravMimi

Once you get your degree of study in trenitalia.com you'll see it's a fantastic system. As far as passes go, I there a lot and they aren't what they used to be. I use them if it's over a months stay and i'm traveling a lot. I find now with all the discounts and timetable/fare combinations I do much better point to point.

ira

Hi P,

Disregard 1 and 2.

When you pick your train and the number of tickets you will see an image of the seating arrangements.

Click on whether you want aisle or window.

3. Definitely ticketless. You will get a confirmation number. Show that to the conductor. Hoe might ask to see your passport.

4. We always go 2cl for rides under 4 hr.

Enjoy your visit.

kybourbon

magee - As Ira said, a pass is usually not cost effective for Italy. You can price point-to-point tickets on www.trenitalia.com, but you have to enter a date within the next 60 days. The prices will be the same for later dates.

Flexi on Trenitalia has nothing to do with the railpass. It's a type of point-to-point ticket that allows you to cancel/change at anytime. Flexi is also the most expensive choice (they add 20% to standard tix). Most people use the standard. Standard tickets can also be changed, but there are restrictions.

ES train tickets booked on Trenitalia include your seat reservation. Rail passes bought from Rick Steves or other sites do not. If you purchase a seat reservation from one of the rail pass companies they will charge about 15E. If you were to purchase in Italy it would be 3E.

I don't think you can book your seat online for a pass.

Average ticket price for ES train 2nd cl for Rome/Florence, Florence/Venice, Rome/Naples is about 30E per person one way including seats.

TravMimi

Some folks on the rome-florence sitting next to us bought tickets online from one of those railservice sites. They had paid a lot. They had their printout with them. They had tickets alright but no reservations. The conductor was very very nice to them. Best to use trenitalia.com

pineisl

Thanks everyone for your time answering my questions. I think I have got it now, I must be getting closer to my degree in Trenitalia.com. I guess the final exam will be when I sucessfully purchase my tickets. Thanks again.

ssore633

bking

knickerbocker

Just did Venice-Florence 2nd class and Florence-Rome 1st class. More elbow room in first but the biggest PITA is the seat-trays set between opposing seats (presumably to prevent those long-of-leg from putting their feet up on the opposing seats. This applies to both classes. We did the ticketless thing and had no problems whatsoever. All-in-all, I'd say 2nd class is the better value.

ira

>the biggest PITA is the seat-trays set between opposing seats...<

Some people like the tables.

knickerbocker

Let me guess. They're short!

The other thing that surprised me is that, while there was a handy-dandy AC outlet in the table/knee-basher in 2nd class, I was surprised that there didn't seem to be one in 1st. Mind you, it was an early-morning run so you'll forgive me if I was just a tad unobservant.

landlcochran

Excuse me for jumping in on this post. Can I purchase an electronic ticket on Trenitalia from Lausanne, Switzerland to Milan? I get the train schedule; but it is not allowing me to purchase (less than a month out).

Linda

altamiro

Order the tickets at www.sbb.ch - I don´t think the cross-border tickets are available in electronic form.
If you are not travelling on a Friday or Sunday afternoon, just buy the ticket when you are in Switzerland.

kybourbon

International tickets purchased on Trenitalia have to be picked up in Italy. As mentioned above, try the Swiss rail site.

mjf_081007

bookmarking

sapito

Don't waste your money on first class. CROWDED............

cinciapril

bookmarking

Pazza22

sapito - why do you say to not waste your $ on First Class tickets? Isn't 2nd class more crowded since that's what most Italians use? I read somewhere that you'd have more of a chance to sit with "rif-raf" in second class.

Thoughts?