Two Italy questions: one about Rome, one about trains
 

My husband and I are going to Italy in October (whee!); at this point, everything is arranged except for a few details. My questions: 1) We'll be in Rome for 3-1/2 days at the end of the trip. We have only two specific goals (all the rest will be wandering, savoring, eating, drinking): the Coliseum/Palatine and the Borghese Gallery. (We've been to Rome before, by the way.) We arrive on Saturday afternoon; my idea is to go to the Borghese on Sunday and the Coliseum on Monday. Or would the Borghese be better on a Tuesday, in terms of crowds? Or doesn't that matter since the tickets are reserved?
2) Don't kill me for this; I've read every Trenitalia post and still need to ask: We're going from Venice to Rome on the Saturday. Would it be wise to reserve the tickets now (thinking trains might fill up on weekends)? If we do that, we just get an e-mail confirmation and show that on the train, right? (I am working up the courage to tackle the Trenitalia ordering; it doesn't seem too complicated, but geez, people seem to have a lot of problems with it!)
Thanks so much.

HI K,

If you know which train you want, there is no reason for not buying your tickets now.

The worst that can happen is that you will buy them when you get to Rome.

Enjoy your visit.

((I))

. Or would the Borghese be better on a Tuesday, in terms of crowds? Or doesn't that matter since the tickets are reserved?
IMHE Borghese runs to its own world. If you have reservations that should do it for you. I buy train tickets a couple days before I want to go and have never had a problem.

If you tend to worry about not having a train for your travels I would book it in advance. I did it for our trip last year and found it a peace of mind to have the tickets already in hand.

Each person is different on how they like to travel though. Also, as much it is hard to deal with the trenitalia site once you figure it out it is easy to get the tickets.

Good luck and enjoy your travels.

<If you know which train you want, there is no reason for not buying your tickets now.>

Ira, ira, ira - have you read the litany of frustrated posters on Fodors - zillions of them who after trying to book on www.trenitalia.com are totally perplexed - transactions that they are not sure went thru, etc. - a myriad of problems await.

so try it and if as usual for novice users of the site you finally throw your hands up you will always be able IME to book these tickets at the Rome Airport train station when landing - the worst would be you'd have to go first class and that ain't all bad IME

but booking on the Italian rail site is no easy feat it seems.

But there are helpful FodorFriends like Ira who generously help out if you post your problem and can usually help you resovle it.

Just a couple of thoughts - we were quite disappointed in the Palantine Hill - I would definately advise going on a tour there - it was very hard to get much of a feel on what we were "seeing". The info in the guide book we had (I think it was an Eyewitness book)was not very helpful. Rick Steves had "said" there was an audioguide but that was no longer true. As to the train tickets, as long as you are going to be in Venice severalt days before traveling to Rome you could just get the tickets after getting to Venice. Enjoy!

Thanks to all who have replied so far (and so fast). Since opinion is divided about whether or not we need to purchase our train ticket well in advance, I'll mull that over for a day or two. But assuming I decide to do that, here's another question: what's the story on Rail Europe? Is that site easier to cope with than Trenitalia's? I thought there would be a big price difference, but it's only $10 more for two tickets (unless my math is off -- always a possibility). It's not mentioned often in the train discussions...which makes me nervous.

Thanks again for all your input and advice.

RailEurope will tell you they have to mail the tickets and charge a mailing fee ($18?). People really stress out too much about advance train tickets. Unless you need a sleeper car or you are traveling on a major holiday, you won't have a problem booking Venice/Rome when you first arrive in Venice.

Yes RailEurope can be surprisingly close to in Italy full fare tickets.

The catch - $18 handling fee + $18 mailing fee - mail fee if order is under $399

That's one reason i always advise for any RE product to go thru BETS (800-441-2387), a RE agent who, unless rush orders, doesn't charge RE's $18 fee and also provides expert service where you can actually talk to someone knowledgeable - often impossible at RE, which charges 10% extra for phone orders to begin with then the staffer may know very little more than how to issue a ticket.

But for all the hassles that trenitalia.com potential pitfalls the relatively minor higher total price may be priceless - especially for peace of mind for folks who want to have a paper ticket in their hand and not depend on retrieving an online one through a station ATM machine.
That said i did find the automatic ticketing machines in Italian stations a snap to use in Jan. But putting angst to rest about getting on a train is also priceless.

I am so beyond grateful for your thoughtful replies. The last time we were in Venice we bought our tickets a few days before leaving for Rome; the difference was that we were getting a 6:00 am (or some awful hour) train and traveling on a weekday. Weekend plus mid-day train was making me nervous about getting aced out. But I'm starting to be convinced we'll be fine if we just wait until we're there. If not...PalenqueBob, that BETS line sounds like...just the ticket!!!

Again, thanks to all. (I'll probably be asking various little detail questions over the next couple of weeks. It's important to keep the obsessing in full swing right up until we get on the plane.)

"we were quite disappointed in the Palantine Hill - I would definately advise going on a tour there - it was very hard to get much of a feel on what we were "seeing"."

Wow - that's unfortunate and shows me that maybe we had the perfect guide who brought the Palatine Hill to life for us. I feel even more fortunte now that we got Francesca.

Kagoo
We too, are planning an Oct 26,08 visit to Rome.(Our First)Your assistance for the arragments and details will be welcome. We are fricking out at what to do. Thanks.
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izzy, instead of freaking out and posting your questions on kagoo's thread, start of post of your own.

You need to give us specifics about what you want. We can't give you advise until you have an idea of what you are looking for. Click on Destinations above for proposed itineraries and get some guidebooks. Then come back and post questions.

Hi PB,

>Ira, ira, ira - have you read the litany of frustrated posters ...

Of course. However, how many people post to say that they bought tickets with no problems at all?

>so try it and if as usual for novice users of the site you finally throw your hands up you will always be able IME to book these tickets at the Rome Airport train station ....

Isn't that what I said? :)

>what's the story on Rail Europe?

They usually charge more, you have to pay for S&H, they don't list all of the available trains.

I suggest, K, that you register on trenitalia and go through the booking process.

You can always buy your tickets in Italy, at a train station or a TA.

((I))

Kagoo- Keep in mind that the Borghese Gallery (like many Roman museums) is closed on Monday, so you should try for a Sunday or Tuesday morning booking. Buon viaggio!

<If you know which train you want, there is no reason for not buying your tickets now.>

Ira - sorry i guess i was confused by your first statement no reason for not buying now - that was my reaction - there is reason for many after trying the terrible trenitalia.com to give up - and the reason not to go thru all that frustration is that, like you say, you can always buy them upon arrival.

So i agree with all you say just that i took it wrong i guess.

And many people do successfully do trenitalia.com but there are literally hundreds of posts here of people who threw up their hands, sometimes after hours of frustrating efforts.

And if they ask you, Ira, and others usually can walk them thru it.

But i think for the novice user it seems a daunting task. And i'm just saying what i've read from many Fodorites.

IMO the only reason to buy ahead is to get an online discount not available in Italy - a good reason but you will always be able to get a train in Italy, especially if you do so a few days in advance.

And the automatic ticketing machines in stations really are idiot proof so you do not have to wait in oft long lines at ticketing windows.

Just seem trenitalia.com could use the same really simple system they have on those stations machines instead of the, for at least many folks, arduous task they have now.

Having booked advance tickets myself on Trenitalia, let me say one of the most frustrating parts was ending up with two seats that aren't even together. The numbering system is erratic at best.

We turned to going to a small travel agency with a Trenitalia sticker in the window. They will book your Eurostar tickets to Rome and will get you two seats together. Not only will there be no charge for doing so, but you might get lucky like we did and they'll give you an even better "special" price than is announced on the website. As long as you're in Venice for a couple days before going to Rome, I'd suggest this option, particularly if you have trouble with the Trenitalia site.

Izzy, Sandy_travelnut said what I would have said: Click on Destinations on this site; buy guidebooks; get an idea of what you want to see and where you'd like to stay. After you've done some research, do a Search on "Rome" on this Forum and read a gazillion posts; then post a thread of your own with specific questions. I've only been using this site for about two years and am so sorry I didn't find it sooner. The Fodorite community is, for the most part, friendly, helpful, and opinionated in the best way. (And believe me, I'm no expert on Rome; dozens of Fodorites are, however, and will be happy to share with you.)

But do your homework first!! And enjoy Rome.

And thanks again to everyone for your train thoughts and advice! I think we'll just buy the damned tickets when we get there!