Which Train website is better to purchase tickets????

Trenitalia or RailEurope???? I have been looking at Rail Europe, but just saw that their was Trenitalia as well. Any help would be great.

Thanks in Advance

Trenitalia is cheaper. Where are you going in Italy?

Trenitalia is the actual train website and you deal with them directly although it can be a bit confusing and prone to have log in errors. Rail Europe is a "middle man" and is probably more expensive but maybe easier to navigate.

We used Trenitalia with minimal problems and had an easy trip.

The trains are all the same and they are run by tenitalia. Rail Europe is a company in the US that resells tickets at higher prices. You should be fine buying tickets once you get to Italy unless you want an overnight train (they do sell out in advance) or you must travel on a specific train on a major holiday.

Hello treebones09. You will not be going to Italy until April 2010. You cannot buy tickets via the Trenitalia website until 60 days before your first ticket(s) is going to be used. Having said that it has been reported many times here on Fodor's that the Trenitalia website will not accept US credit cards. Perhaps by next say February that problem will be solved. But in any case usually (excluding holidays etc. as nytraveler posted) you can just buy your tickets when you arrive in Italy. No need to worry about your train tickets right now since your trip to Italy is not until next spring. But do have fun researching and planning your itinerary!

Thank you everyone for the helpful input I will probably just purchase the tickets when we arrive in Italy. If I were to purchase the tickets in advance; would I get the tickets via mail or pick them up in Italy??? We are super excited for our trip!!! This is the possible itinerary(not sure how long we will b there, but it will at least be 8 nights).......We would like to take a direct flight, but the only directs from NYC are to Rome or Milan. We are not going to Rome so it is possible we can fly into Milan and maybe fly home from Florence....Anyways say we fly into Milan we will probably start our trip in Cinque Terre for 2-3 nights(can't wait to hike through the 4 towns!!!!!) Then take the train to La Spezia and pick up our rental car for a 2-3 night stay in the southern Tuscany region. We will probably drive into Florence and drop our car off(should we drive into Florence or drop our car off somewhere else and take the train to FLorence???) Stay 2-3 nights in Florence then fly back home. How does this sound??? Keep in mind we dont like being layed over in some random place for 3-4 hours, so the extra money we would spend on trains would b fine.

Thanks in Advance for any help you can give
TBONES

There are direct flights from JFK to Pisa, an hour from Florence, on Delta.

"Cinque" means "five" in Italian, but you're entitled to skip any one of the five towns during your hike.

You can buy your tickets when you get here unless you are traveling during Italian holidays (like Easter).

What would be the best route if we landed in Milan and wanted to start in Florence???? I found a flight out of Boston for $600 to Milan(round trip). This way we end in Cinque Terre and aren't too far from Milan for the flight home???? We don't mind the traveling. We probably will only be able to spend 2 nights in Florence,3 in Montepulciano, 3 in Cinque Terre and spend our last in Milan. Believe it or not it saves us a bunch of money flying out of Boston into Milan.

Thanks in advance

There is a bus from Malpensa Airport that goes directly to Milan's Central station in slightly less than an hour, where you would catch a train to Firenze.

Trains from le Cinque Terre go to the same station in Milano (sometimes with a switch in Genova), and buses to the airport begin at 5am or slightly earlier. There is also a bus from Genova's Principe Station that goes once a day to Malpensa (I don't remember what time.) It is not early enough to catch your flight and I don't recommend staying at the airport your last night. Staying your last night in Milano can be a lot of fun. I always enjoy the flat sidewalks after a week of stair climbing.