Buying a Train Ticket

This post has been updated in a couple of articles later in the blog – see notes below for more info and links to the updated postings. Some of this info is still pertinent in smaller stations, with older kiosks.

This article was written in 2009 and now train stations all over Italy are getting newer kiosks – and the Trenitalia website is accepting more and more credit cards. For more info on the NEW kiosks – head to the updated posting: Buying Tickets in Italy – updated for 2011! As mentioned, I’ve kept this post on the blog because some of the smaller train stations still have older kiosks, which are described in this post.

In addition, the Trenitalia website is becoming more and more accepting for all credit card holders. There are many postings of folks who have had success. You still cannot use an AMEX card as only Italian AMEX cards are accepted. So try your MasterCard or Visa card. See this updated posting, Buying Tickets Online, for help and guidance on using the Trenitalia website.

On many travel boards one of the main complaints, over and over, is how difficult it is to buy tickets online through the Trenitalia website. For many US-based credit card holders, in the past, it’s been almost impossible. In order to purchase their tickets prior to arriving in Italy, many folks turn to “ticket middlemen” such as RailEurope, ItaliaRail, EuroRailways, or Italianrail. Price Markups are high and I, like many folks who live here – or have traveled here – recommended that you just wait and buy your tickets once you get to Italy. You will save some money and this method gives you more flexibility.

Riding Trains in Italy
The FCO Train Station – the Leonardo Express and FM1
Types of Train Tickets You Can Buy
Should I Buy 1st or 2nd Class Tickets?
Roma Termini – The Busiest Train Station in Italy!
How and Where Can I Store My Luggage?

The are few discounts available to NON-EU citizens. Currently, the newest discount out is the “MINI” (effective January 2011). To read more about this option see out posting, Trenitalia MINI promotion. The MINI is quite restrictive during peak periods… so if you manage to get MINI discounted tickets, CONGRATS. The other discoount you may be able to get – and far easier – is the Family Discount.

Trenitalia’s offer for families or groups of from 3 to 5 persons is a 20% discount when traveling together. To qualify, the family group must consist of 3-5 persons of which there is at least 1 adult and 1 child under 12. A family ticket includes booking (free) and provides the following discounts:

• 50% (30% for couchettes and WL) for children of up to 12 ticket
• 20% for others

This offer also has limited seat availability, which varies according to day, train and class. See: Family Ticket

Although it has previously been difficult to book from the US on the Trenitalia site, it is a GREAT source for finding out train schedules. Use this as a resource when planning your trip. I suggest you find your dates, times, and then trains that work for you and then print these out. It’s always good to know your options once you get to Italy.

This link to the Trenitalia site opens in English and will look similar to this:

To begin, you’ll have to enter the From/To information – or where are you headed. In some cases, the Trenitalia site will recognize English entires – such as Rome, Florence or Venice. But you are better off inputting the Italian names, Roma, Firenze, and Venezia. The other challenge will be to find the “correct” station in towns like the three mentioned above. In Rome, you have Roma Trastevere, Roma Termini, Roma Ostiense…. and many more – Notice these “specific” stations would only be recognized in Italian and not English. You may have to do a little internet research to find the Station name (in Italian) where you are headed. For example, to get from the main station in Rome to the FCO Airport, you would have to enter Roma Termini and Roma Aeroporto.

For Americans traveling to Italy, it is important to note that in Europe the date and time formats are different than what you may be accoustomed to in the United States. The day of the month comes first, so you would enter your departure date as DD/MM/YYYY. The time is using the 24-hour clock format, thus 2 PM is 14:00 and 8 PM would be 20:00.

In our example, we will search for a journey from Rome to Venice, departing after 1 PM. After entering these locations, dates, and time to start, my Trenitalia screen looks like this.

Close-ups of above page!

You’ll notice the first train leaving is at 13:45 from ROMA TE. This train arrives at Venezia Santa Lucia (VE S.L.) at 17:33 (or 5:33 PM). MESTRE (listed in red) the other Venice stop. Note, if you’re headed to the city of Venice, go all the way to VE. S.L. The next column tells you the trip will takes three hours and forty-eight minutes. The following column is VERY important. This is your Train # and “name” of your train. The FRECCIARGENTO is a fast train andyour train number would be 9414. You always need to know the train number because this is the easiest way to read the departure boards – See our post on Riding Trains in Italy!

The train category – and there are many types – confirms this is an AV train, a fast train. Then you see 1st and 2nd class tickets listed at €99 and €73. These are the “base” prices. If there was a different amount (LOWER!!!!) than this would be a MINI – or discounted – fare. The other way you might see a lower price is…. if it is a slower train! Look at the train departing at 15:45. As you move to the right, you can see that this is an IC train which takes about 5.5 hours to make this run. But it also comes in costing substantially less at €62.50 and €45.50 for first and second class, respectively.

If you need to see more info – more details – on a specific route, then first click on the Select button on the far right side of the screen, choosing a route. Then, go to the bottom of this page and select, DETAILS BY SELECTION. When you do this, you’ll see a screen similar to this:

Now you have a “summary” of the route you selected. Much of the imformation is repeated. If this is your route, you may want to print this out. The one additional set of info is the accomodations (shown in the close-up box ) . The”R“in a box tells you that this ticket requires a reservation. So those of you who – unfortunately – purchased a Rail Pass would have to purchase a separate reservation for this train. If you buy point-to-point tickets (P2P), then the reservation fee is included in the price of the ticket. In Italy,Trenitalia trains above the regionale or local commuter routes require a seat reservation. This is different than many other countries – which a reservation may be optional. You’ll know your train requires this because when you purchase your ticket you’ll see a seat number and a carriage number. You are required to take that seat in that carriage on that train. If you’re not next to other members in your party, just ask the people in the seats you neede and they will often “switch.” Happens all the time with the crazy Trenitalia seat booking system! If you are on a “slow” train – a regionale with no seat reservations – MAKE SURE you validate your ticket in one of the yellow boxes – again, read Riding Trains in Italy!

But you can get even MORE info on this route. On the far right, click on the Info button and this screen will be added:

This is an important page – especially if you ARE NOT traveling to a destination location like Venice… because this will tell you where the train will stop on the entire route. It can be very important to know the STOP before YOUR STOP. You can see that in Florence, the train is “stopped” for 10 minutes.

If we look at the IC train for this same route, we can see why it takes 5.5 hours!

You can see that this train makes many more stops! One point of interest… the train stops frequently, but often the stops are just for two minutes. If you have a stop at a “pass through” station, like most of those mentioned above, you need to be AT THE CARRIAGE DOOR as the train pulls into the station. Because it will not stay long. For those folks who “locK” their luggage to the luggage racks, you definitely need to know the station BEFORE you station! Be ready to disembark when the train is arriving at your destination – or you may be getting off at the NEXT stop!

Buying Tickets Through a Kiosk

The kiosks are of two types. Those that will only take credit and bank cards (one section); or credit cards, bank cards, and CASH. These are made up of two sections stacked side-by-side. The CASH side is pictured below on the right.

To purchase a ticket, follow this STEP-BT-STEP guide! When you walk up to an unused kiosk, the screen will look like this:

For an English speaker, touch on the British Flag (2nd from the left) and then this screen will often come up:

The machine I’m working on is a credit card and bank card only – NO CASH… and that’s what the first screen shows you (above). If you want a cash screen, just touch on “EXIT” and head for another machine. I’ll touch “NEXT.” Once I do, many times a screen like this will show up.

Always good to be forewarned about the pickpockets in the area. You’ll probably get approached by a beggar or someone pretending to be a “good samaritan,” wanting to help you – for a fee (see earlier postings). Sometimes this screen is in Italian (to tell the folks behind you????) but if so push “AVANTI.” In this case, I’ll push “NEXT.”

Next up is the first Ticketing Screen (Posted ABOVE). For 95% of all your transactions, I recommend you select “TICKET ISSUE” (on the top left of the screen) and that’s what I will do! When you do, up pops this screen.

Here, the default departure in the top slot on the screen is Roma Termini, because that’s where I am standing! If you want to purchase tickets for a Florence to Venice run from this kiosk, simply look down to the bottom right corner and select “OTHER DEPARTURE.” You will head to another screen that will allow you to select a different departure station. Back to our screen… These are many of the major train stations in Italy. For example. some cities listed here have multiple train stations, yet the primary station of the city is listed for Napoli (Naples), Milano (Milan), and Venezia (Venice). Other cities such as Firenze (Florence) have two or more highly trafficked train stations so just the city is listed.

If you want one of these, select the city by touching it and the kiosk moves to the next screen. But if your destination is NOT THERE you’ll have to use the “OTHER DESTINATION” button on the bottom tight… let’s do that and see what happens – Push “OTHER DESTINATION“.

Now you must enter the name of the town or train station above. Another good reason to have printed out train routes! Let’s go to Orvieto. So I’ll touch the O – R – V

Once I do the computer enters places starting with O, then OR, then ORV as the screen above shows. I would then select “ORVIETO”

Up next, the screen asks what day are you traveling? If you select “OTHER DATE” you will be prompted to enter the date. We will choose the top selection which is “TODAY”

Once you pick the 9:05 train, the next screen shows you details! This is train #2308 and is a Regional Train – denoted by the cursive R over the train number. It leaves at 9:05 and arrives at your destination at 10:23. The services the train has are listed next. From left to right: It has both 1st and 2nd class seating (yes – even Regional Trains have 1st class!), is wheelchair accessible, and you can bring your bike!

***** Now let’s go all through booking a ticket to Firenze (Florence) – We will pick up AFTER we’ve selected Firenze as our destination and a date NEXT WEEK as the date of departure. We selected the 9:00 train… and thus,we are now at this screen

This shows us that we are seeking to book a ticket on the 9310 Eurostar Train (ES* – denotes Eurostar) and it will arrive in Florence at 10:39. The symbols in the service area show that this train has 1st and 2nd class available, Tickets must be reserved in Italy, the train is wheelchair accessible, and it has a dining car. At this point we want a ticket issue, so I select “YES”

Now we get into the class of tickets. There are several types but primarily you will use “BASE” or try to buy an Amica class ticket under “PROMO.” You can read about the others on the Trenitalia website! We’re going to limit our discussion to point-to-point tickets. So I want to see if the Amica tickets are still available for this run. I select “PROMO”

UUPDATE – UPDATE – UPDATE – Effective April 15, 2009
Trenitalia has given new names to two of its fare categories, which you see pictured on the above screen. First the “Standard” fare ticket is now called the “Biglietto Base”, or the “Base Fare” and is listed on the screen as BASE! The “Flexi” fare is now called the “Biglietto Flessibile”, or the “Flessibile Fare” – although you probably will not buy this one anyway! Your best bet, if you are buying on your date of travel, or one or two days before, is still to try for MINI fares under PROMO – although now only available on limited runs…. or use the BASE key.

When you select “PROMO,” the available promotional fares for this train will come up. If the MINI class tickets are sold out, then that choice WILL NOT be displayed. At this point, your best option will be to return to the previous screen and select “BASE.” The following pictures were taken when the AMICA ticket was still available to Florence, so for these pictures, substitute MINI for AMICA and we’ll assume it is still available! You WILL NOT be able to get the MINI ticket for most trains you need – sorry! Again, shooting pictures of a kiosk in the post-911 era is “frowned upon” by the Italian authorities…. so I have not yet been “able” to update these photos. You would go BASE – then BASE for almost ALL tickets you will buy. Hopefully I can get back to a Train Station and update these photos……

Now it asks how many passengers. I will press the “+” sign as I want to purchase two tickets! Then I select ” NEXT”

Now you see that I have requested 2 seats on the ES 9310 train from Rome to Florence and it is asking me where do I want to sit. On our previous example to Orvieto that was a regional Train with OPEN seating so NO seat choice was required (or available). Here on the Eurostar we must choose our seats. If you select ” ANYONE” it will put you in the next two available seats in the system… DON’T go this route if you want to sit together! On the right you have “NEXT TO.” You are only allowed to purchase 5 seats at a time; if your party is 6 or more, than you would select this choice and it will ask you what carriage (train car) and seat your party is located at… and try and get as close as possible to where you wish to be.

Since there are just two of us, let’s choose “SELECT SEATS.” When we do so, this screen opens up:

Now you choose your seats by touching where you want to sit. We like to sit across form each other (leg room is sometimes tight)…so I will pick the two window seats!

When you pick your seats they go to red, and you can select others by just touching another seat, then when you’re ready press “NEXT”

Now we are prompted to select 1st or 2nd class seats. This is for 2 tickets so 1st class is 43.20 each and 2nd class is 30.40 each. I’ll push the 2nd class choice!

Next it asks if you want to make a donation….. your choice… I would push “NEXT”

Now it’s time to pay. Remember, we jumped on a credit card or bank card machine so those are our only two choices. If you want to pay in cash, then you would have to be on a different “2-banked” unit as described above. If so, Press “EXIT” and go find a “cash” machine. But we will pay by credit card which is the choice on the left. I press the picture on the left to select credit card payment.

This Trenitalia’s equivalent of a frequent flyer card. For almost all of you, select “NONE”

Now it is asking you to confirm before payment. You can see the date, time, class, and number of the train you will be riding . (All will be printed on your Eurostar ticket.) Also you can see your departure terminal (Roma Termini) and your Destination (Florence’s Santa Maria Novella station). It tells you that you have a 2nd class ticket – and tells the conductor too!!!! – on the Eurostar and then it will tell you where the 1st seat holder is sitting… which would be Car 8, Seat #25. To see the other seats you will be purchasing, select “NEXT PERSON TRAVELING.” Do not be alarmed if the numbers are not sequential… many of the seat numbers wind through the carriage and also depend on the seating configuration of the car you’re riding in… Just make sure they are close and you’re in the same train car!

Then press “NEXT”

This is the purchasing screen, one last chance to “EXIT” and cancel this transaction. If you like what you see, the “slot” on the credit card machine will be flashing. Insert your credit card face up, stripe to the right (as the picture shows) and the transaction will happen. On the screen, it will send you several message,s the last being a printed ticket.

In older machines, with a credit card you will get a receipt – for you… and your ticket. So TWO PIECES OF PAPER. Make sure before you leave you have two print-outs. They both look like tickets, but one is simply a receipt. in NEWER machines, you will only get ONE PIECE OF PAPER – your ticket!!! It serves as your credit card receipt also!

(If you pay with cash, you only get your ticket, not a receipt). And YES, they put both bookings on the same ticket — and they do that for up to five passengers on a single ticket. So you only have one piece to show to the conductor. As mentioned in a previous posting: BE CAREFUL! get all your credit cards, change, tickets, receipts out of the machine before leaving.

The clear plastic window that pushes back is where the tickets print to. You’ll see many folks walking through the terminal “pushing” these in machine after machine. They are looking for that unfortunate soul that left his ticket or his change in the machine – This happens ALL THE TIME. If it’s a ticket, they will then take it and cash it in. For a first class ticket, they could net 75-100 euro. So be careful and take all your belongings with you!

You can also go to a ticket window and talk to a real person to buy your tickets. Often the lines are long (especially during the busy season) and the agents can be abrupt. If you do get in these lines, make sure you know what you need when you get to the window…. You can also buy tickets at no additional charge at any travel agent shop with the FS logo on the window! Do also remember, whether you purchase at a kiosk, travel agent, or ticket counter, if you will be changing trains midway through your journey, get a ticket for EACH leg of the trip.

You can purchase train tickets and reservations up to two months in advance of your actual trip, so if you are in a busy city during the peak summer travel season, you might pop into the train station a couple of days before your actual travel date in order to purchase whatever you need without worrying about missing your train.

Now you have your ticket and you’re ready to ride the train. We’ll talk about train riding in another post… but do remember, If you bought a Regional or local ticket and were NOT asked about seat assignments, you MUST validate your ticket at one of the the yellow boxes. If you have assigned seating, like we just did, no validation is necessary.

Congratulations, you’re got your ticket and you’re ready to to ride!

Traveling by train can be a great adventure – and these train travel books can make your European journey more enjoyable! Click on any of these for some “train-support” in your travels through Italy! Or head to our Amazon.com Travel Store for more information and travel items for your upcoming European vacation.

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Let Me Coach You, if you’re looking for travel assistance or some help creating an iitinerary! If you want to build your own vacation, please feel free use the information in the articles of the Ron-in-Rome website to help plan your next trip. If you need consulting, head to the Coaching page; For a list of all articles on this website, head to the Postings page. Or use the SEARCH Box, on the top right of each page!

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