buy tickets at station or online ???

Zara Arif

Member
Hi

I'm travelling to rome, florence, chianti, Siena, Pisa, Cinque terre and Venice in two weeks.

I've been comparing Beltour, SITA, Trentalia and Euro rail. We are trying to keep as little cash with us as possible so my question is that should i buy the tickets online ? or at the station ? is it cheaper if i were to buy them online ? Also online euro rail tickets are always slightly cheaper than Trentalia's .. how come ??

any suggestions/tips. First time travelling to Italy !!

Thank you,
Zara.
 
Where to Buy Tickets

Buongiorno,

It can be cheaper to buy train tickets online, because it depends if you buy them early or not...but if you pre-buy your tickets you are not free to change program if something special should arise and you want to hang around. I suggest for your bigger moves (to Florence, Venice or Cinque Terre) that you buy online now - I imagine it will coordinate with your accommodations. And leave the smaller day trips to buy at the moment of travel to give you some freedom to change idea - or even particapate in an organized tour which many times can be more for your money since they include small towns, tastings and more which is sometimes hard to do on your own.

You can use a card to by train tickets - and you can buy them the day beore online with a card, so maybe that will help you.

Buon Viaggio,

Donna Denise
 
For train tickets bought online:
you get an e-ticket as a pdf attachment by email after purchase, which has a QR code.
You need to show that - either printed or on your phone or tablet - to anyone who asks for it on the train.

For longer, inter-regional travel, as Donna was suggesting, you can often find deals online. Check both Trenitalia as well as Italo treno. For these, you always have to select date and time and if you already have an itinerary based on accommodation, it makes sense to search and buy online ahead of time.

On the other hand, tickets for regional trains (within Tuscany) are "open ended": there is no date or time on the ticket (unless you buy at self-service machines right before traveling) but can only be used on those regional trains.
For that reason, you can:
1. buy right before traveling - cost is the same, as there are hardly any deals on these trains
2. allows for flexible travel, as you can catch any train you want between your points of travel or catch the next train if you miss the one you were planning to get. It is also super important to stamp them before getting on the train with the current date and time (machines are located at the start of each track) - that date and time "validates" your ticket to be used right after. It is what a controller will look for, particular that the date is for the date of travel and points of destination/arrival match.

Probably more than you needed to know but this information is useful and will be found online ;)
 
thank you so much !! this helps a lot.

Someone also told me that they bought a train ticket from venice to travel to La Spezia. and told the ticker master that they want to stop at Pisa to check out the leaning tower. I will be travelling from florence to La spezia. should i buy two seperate tickets - as in florence to pisa and then pisa to La Spezia is i want to check out the leaning tower ? do the tickets have any time expiration ? can I get off a stop .. explore around and hop on same train to continue the journey.

Please advise.

Thanks,
Zara.
 
Yes, if you want to stop for a few hours in Pisa, then when you buy tickets you need to effectively buy two separate tickets -- from Florence to Pisa and then from Pisa to La Spezia.
While all regional train tickets might not be tied to a particular date, once you stamp then and get on, it is assumed you stay on the train for that travel route. You cannot get off and on along the way and use the same ticket.
 
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