Train travel in Italy - questions

[bobalink]

I am a newbie to train travel in Italy so I am grateful for advice from you more seasoned train travelers.

 

I have received great information on these CC boards.

 

I have always checked schedules on the Trenitalia site. It took me some time to figure out how to properly search dates, stations, etc.

 

I had never checked the Italiarail site until today when I read a post on another thread. (Can't understand how I missed the Italiarail site before.) It does seem to be much easier to navigate, and from what I can see on my initial finding, the prices in US $$ are pretty close to Trenitalia prices when you do the Euro conversion.

 

I haven't gone all the way to "purchase" on either site.

 

My main questions:

 

• What is the biggest difference between Italiarail and Trenitalia?
  
• Is there an advantage to using one over the other?
  
• Is it a good idea to purchase tickets ahead of time?
  

 

After arriving at FCO we will take the train to Chiusi. Later in the week we will go from Chiusi to Florence, then finally, Florence to Venice to spend a few days before boarding the ship.

 

Thanks for any suggestions, advice, etc.

 

( I did ask this question on another thread, but I think it will get "lost" due to the thread title, so decided to start a new thread.)

[riffatsea]

Prices on the Italiarail site will be slightly higher than on the Trenitalia site even considering the conversion issue.

The advantage to using the Italiarail site is that the site itself is easier to use. The only tickets worth buying ahead of time are long distance ones for which you can find a "mini" discount fare. Otherwise you can just buy your ticket at the station or a day ahead when you are IN Italy. You can also buy at Travel Agents IN Italy who display the Trenitalia logo and who do NOT charge a fee to purchase them.

Staff at the main stations will speak English and there are machines in the stations that also sell tickets and have English instructions. You can use euros or your credit card to buy.

The disadvantage of buying tickets ahead of time with the mini discount is that IF you want to change to a different train you have to do it 24hrs. ahead and there is a change fee sooo you'd only buy them if you are SURE which train you will take.

[KayAnnie]

We bought our tickets ahead of time on the ItaliaRail site, mainly because it was so streamlined and I could understand everything that I was doing. (Even the small print makes sense. And I speak some Italian, but I just like to know exactly what the restrictions are etc) We probably paid similar to what we would have paid in Italy. One thing about switching tickets/ taking a later train... if you book a regional train through ItaliaRail, you can take any train that does that exact route up to 2 months after you book it. For example, we took an earlier train into Venice than we had booked, but a later train to Padua. As long as it is a regional train and runs the same route, you don't have to be on the EXACT time you booked. Now, if you book seats/reservations etc, then it does have to be that train. I found the site user friendly and was pleased. It just depends on what you are comfortable with.

[riffatsea]

The slower regional trains are the ones for which you do NOT need a res soooo no need to buy ahead of time.

The fast long distance trains for which there are discount "mini" fares are the ones that require a specific seat res(like on a plane) and for those there are change fees or are not changeable.

[iancal]

We have never purchased train tickets prior to arriving in Italy. We have never had an issue getting on a train. We buy them when we arrive just in case our schedule changes-which often happens.

[KayAnnie]

Prepurchasing tickets can have an added effect of protecting against the dollar dropping against the euro, but you can never know for sure. In our case, it saved us some money.