Booking Italian train tickets?

Question

I will be going to Italy from 19th to 26th December this year. I intend to book my train tickets from the trenitalia website. However, when I checked the train schedule, it only showed full schedule until 12 December. Anyone know why and when will the schedule for the second half of December will be posted? Can anyone explain to me if it's better to buy online or buy at the station itself, especially for the period I will be going to Italy. Thank you.

Answer 1

Best Answer - Chosen by Voters

Contact the nearest office of ENIT, and ask if they still sell rail passes. There was a time in which tourists planning to visit Italy could buy discounted rail passes there. That would save you the burden of buying tickets on-line...

Source(s):

http://www.enit.it/dovesiamo.asp?lang=UK

Answer 2

I think you have to wait for the second half of November in order to see the schedule for the second half of December...

If you bought your ticket on-line, it could be quite useful because it allows you to avoid all the queues that you will find in the stations, and in some stations they are really long, especially in the main ones... But a disadvantageous point could be that if your ride is deleted (due to some problems or strikes), you will have to buy another ticket and this could be really unpleasant.. There is a refund but it is lower than the price of the ticket:

http://www.trenitalia.com/cms/v/index.js…

Then another unwanted aspect could be that, if there is a long delay, you will be forced to wait for that train (if you don't want to pay for another ticket) even if there are other trains (which depart earlier) that could be useful to you... Instead if you bought your ticket in the station you could be able to choose the best train for you in that moment...

The problems that I mentioned don't occur so frequently (in fact many people buy their tickets on-line), but sometimes they can occur...

Source(s):

I live in Italy

Answer 3

Crogiolo dei Mondi is correct. The winter schedule goes into effect in early December and the website hasn't been fully populated yet. This is common at this time of year. A date for when the full schedule will be available really isn't predictable but it should be within the next couple of weeks.

I rarely buy tickets in advance here, but the period around the holidays is one time when it might be advisable.