suchda

Need some help with your suggestions regarding train service from Venice to Rome. Is there any website that I can purchase my tkts in advance or it will be Ok on the day to purchase. Thanks !

bilboburgler

trenitalia.com
Cheaper if earlier.
You buy anywhere in the world and print them off when you get to a train ticket machine in italy with the card you used and the secret number you get given.
seat61.com for advice

bvlenci

You can also get e-tickets on the web site and print them at home.

kybourbon

>>>Is there any website that I can purchase my tkts in advance or it will be Ok on the day to purchase.<<<

For the fast trains on Trenitalia, you can snag discounts purchasing in advance. You can also buy tickets after you arrive in Venice, but the discounts might be gone and you would pay full base fare. If you want to buy walk up right before departure, that particular train could be sold out and you might have to take a later train (likely hourly departures on this route). Summer schedules start 2nd weekend in June and if they are already loaded (might not all be) you can purchase 120 days in advance (fast trains, not slow regional trains).

sarge56

As noted above, buying in advance can save you quite a bit. If you're traveling in peak times, then you are better off buying in advance, too.

The "bullet" trains (look for "Freccia..")are great. You don't need to print your ticket. You just need the 'PNR' number (Booking Code). You can even have it sent to your phone and just show that to the conductor on the train.

Seats on the bullet train are reserved. 2nd class is perfectly fine. www.trenitalia.com. You want to go from Venezia S.Lucia to Roma Termini.

Good luck!

flanneruk

Italy isn't a Marxist state like America or France, where the only option for railway passengers is to use the trains the government provides. Though many posters on this forum seem incapable of getting their heads round the idea of competition.

Italotreno does pretty much exactly what the bureaucrat-run Trenitalia does between Venice and Rome- only with funkier trains, (for some) a more convenient station in Rome, and as often as not lower prices

It makes no sense at all to book blindly on Trenitalia without comparing prices at www.italotreno.it

Unless you nurture a sense of nostalgia for the days socialists ran Europe's passenger trains.

kybourbon

>>>Italotreno does pretty much exactly what the bureaucrat-run Trenitalia does between Venice and Rome- only with funkier trains, (for some) a more convenient station in Rome, and as often as not lower prices<<<

For the majority of travelers, the station Italo currently uses in Rome is certainly not more convenient. Italo uses Tiburtina which is further out of the center, further from the airport, etc. than the main Rome station that Trenitalia fast trains use (Termini). Tiburtina is really only convenient if you are connecting there to a long distance bus as it does have the bus hub for that or some other bus.

I have not found Italo to be any cheaper either. Their prices and discount tickets pretty much match Trenitalia's prices/discounts. When Italo started a few years ago, they did offer much cheaper tickets to attract customers. That has ceased.

PalenQ

Yes trenitalia.com is where you should start - many many more trains and prices the same and you use the muchmore centrally located stations

- and you can IME always always get on trains just by waiting until say Venice to buy your tickets though as kybourbon says you'll likely pay full fare - but you will also have full flexibility to chose which trains to take once there.

The worse scenario would be that if by rare chance all trains for that day were booked in 2nd class you'd have to pay a bit more to go first class, which IMO is always worth the extra for people carrying around often too much luggage.

discounted ticket inevitably have restrictions on changes and refunds, etc. But booking practically in stone weeks or months in advance can save money albeit at the cost of flexibility. Forloads of good stuff on Italian trains check www.seat61.com - good info on discounted tickets - and www.budgeteuropetravel.com and www.rivcksteves.com.

Peter_S_Aus

If you are not going to buy your ticket in advance, then it is a good idea to buy your ticket the day before travelling. Trains can sell out - we travelled Florence to Venice yesterday, 9th May, and the train was almost full.

I like that there is Wi-Fi connection on the trains.

PalenQ

and the train was almost full>

even in first class? Curious.

but good advise from Peter - when you arrive in a city and have an idea of when you will want to leave make a booking and with a full-fare ticket I believe it is simple to change it anytime without charge or a minor service fee perhaps.

PalenQ

anyway in my years of riding Italian trains with a first-class railpass (Eurail not Italian one) I have always gotten space on any train I ever wanted - one advantage of first class over the much much more full 2nd class.

Peter_S_Aus

Pal, we are sort of second class / tourist / coach / economy / back of the aircraft sort of folk. But your point is well made - if you cannot get second class seats, and you must travel at that time, spring for the extra few euros.

Trains are great in Italy.

kybourbon

>>>discounted ticket inevitably have restrictions on changes and refunds, etc. But booking practically in stone weeks or months in advance can save money albeit at the cost of flexibility<<<

That's not really the case. Base, which is full fare, can be changed (change multiple times plus it can be redfunded), but so can Economy (change once - no refund). The difference is when you change an Economy ticket, it bumps your price to full Base fare. Both have to be changed for the same class train at a later departure time. Supereconomy doesn't allow changes or refunds.

So someone might want to take a gamble on the Economy ticket at the cheaper price. Even if they end up having to change, you just end up paying full price. If you don't change the ticket, you've saved money.

ECONOMY
****Booking/ticket changes
Changes are allowed once from the issuing date up to train departure, only at ticket desks or at the issuing travel agency (with the exception of web agencies), in accordance with the opening hours of same. The departure date or time can be changed only for the same train category or service purchased, subject to a change fee (which is equal to the difference to the corresponding full Base price).The new ticket (called "e;Economy ticket change"e has the same characteristics of the Economy ticket.****

PalenQ

Thanks bourbon for that - I'll try to incorporate into my postings. I guess one is never sure though of even getting on a train in 2nd class by changing if that train is full, which some posts here indicate is not unlikely.

lmhornet

"Italy isn't a Marxist state like America or France"

This is the single finniest and stupidest thing I've every read on any discussion board anywhere anytime.

PalenQ

This is the single finniest and stupidest thing I've every read on any discussion board anywhere anytime.>

For flanner that was mild!