Rome Travel Answers

What date are you travelling?

Sounds too close for comfort. The solution with tickets not sellable just means that it is a local train with no pre assigned seats. Grab something to eat at the station or do a little window shopping and wait for that later train. We were just on a number of Italian trains from Rome up to Stresa and point in between a few weeks ago.

We will be going September 22nd

You do not need to buy your ticket in advance online as the chances of either train being entirely full and sold-out are miniscule. You need to look at the same day of the week next week for fare information. September is too far away; few European railway websites hold all data so far in advance. I can see no 1010 train on the official Italian website: trenitalia.com/homepage_en.h... even if I click 'all solutions'. Where did you see the information? I appreciate that the 0910 train is a better option, as it takes less time to make the journey. But you will have to a) have your fingers crossed that the 0900 arrival is not delayed and b) that you are able to zoom off the train, find the right platform and get onto the train within 10 minutes. Termini is not a huge station but it is often very crowded indeed.

OK - realistically you are not going to get the Verona train departing at 0910 hours. You cannot buy tickets for the 1010 departure as one or two legs of this service are just not available as part of a prepaid ticket. The first leg is from Rome to Florence, arriving at 1133 hours, then departing again at 1135. Then you will go from Florence to Bologna, arriving at 1212 hours and departing again at 1215, eventually arriving in Verona at 1305 hours. There is no need to change trains. You will be able to buy through tickets for this service at Termini Station.

Domenico...any ideas why can't I see that 1010 departure on Trenitalia or fsitaliene?

Leics, Not a clue - I went straight to it

It's driving me potty...I've even removed all relevant cookies. Still can't see it. Grrrrrrrrr.......

There's one at 0945 though (change at Padova) which might be a better option than the 0900.

for September, 22nd, it seems for the Freccia at 10:10 the chances to catch train THAT train are null as it is entirely full and/or sold-out. if it is said "that" *travel solution with one or more segments not sellable* you can't buy it and FYI there is reservation requested on "freccie". you can take the freccia argento one hour before at 49.00 € (mini fare) or the one hour after, with change *and it takes longer* at 39.00 € (mini fare). I had a look to see something alternative, there's no way to take the FRECCIAROSSA leaving Roma Termini at 09:46 and arriving to Bologna Centrale at 12:07 and catch the FRECCIARGENTO 9466 in Bologna, frecciargento is sold out.

Termini is a large station. Unless you have your ticket in hand, your train arrives exactly as scheduled AND your next train is guaranteed to be on the next platform you are risking missing a shor connection. I would take a later train to be safe.

10 minutes are enough to change train, also in Termini... it's not clear from where OP will be coming to Termini at 9... if it's from an other train, 10 minutes may be a short time between two train, first one could be late.

Sorry to keep you waiting for my response back. What I saw was on the Trnitalia site which showed the #9466 Freciarcento train leaving Rome at 10:10 and arriving at Verona P.N. at 13:05 without a price to book just the words Travel solution with one or more segments not sellable. It could'nt possibly be sold out already could it? And if not why would they not allow me to buy tickets for this time when I could at other times of the day?

it could be sold, as 9/22nd will be saturday it could be out of service for scheduled maintenance (like airplanes).. who knows? Freccie are always bookable on line, if you can't you cannot really do.

That was my next thought that maybe it will be out of service. Thanks for your help.

leics is right that you are looking way too far in advance. The Freccia website (from Trenitalia) reports this solution, but with the message of "Travel solution with one or more segments not sellable"...while at the same time, the German website (www.bahn.de) which uses the same HAFAS database reports no such train at 10:10, but a series of solutions that change in Padova after 10 a.m. The right answer is that the train schedule for September isn't fixed yet, and you are wasting your time trying to work with it. As leics says, we normally advise that you look at the same day of the week in the next week for the schedule and figure that the schedule in September will be similar. In any case, you see that there are - even now - lots of apparent solutions, so you have no need to try to reserve these tickets now. Wait until 60 days out (late July), and look again, and you are much more likely to get intelligible results... Bill

Yes, I agree with Bill. Just wait a little while longer and you will see exactly what trains are available....and use the official Italian railway website to get info: trenitalia.com/homepage_en.h... There really is *no* need to panic about booking tickets so far in advance. There are lots of potential departures per day and the chances of them all being completely full (even if you waited to buy your ticket at Termini) are miniscule. The chances of any September train being full now are even smaller.

Eeeek I think you are taking a big chance with those times! Rome Termini is HUGE!! It may take you 10 minutes to get off the train and get to the end of the platform depending on which one your train arrives. Then you need to find your bearings, find which way it is to the next platform you need, maybe move through large crowds, validate your ticket, THEN you get on your train. I think 10 minutes isn't enough time. Hayley :) P.S I've missed trains in Italy before by not taking into consideration the size of the train station and the amount of people who may be there. Go for the 10.10 train.

Since you will be arriving in Roma by train, have you considered buying your Roma to Verona ticket at whatever station where you are starting your trip to Rome? Tickets do not need to be bought at the origin station. You can buy a ticket with reservation for the 9:10 train, but if you miss that you can take a later one, provided it is a "BASE" tariff ticket. I'm used to navigating big stations, and would not worry much about changing trains in 10 minutes in Rome. But then I'm a seasoned traveller.

Thank you for your reply but I do have one more question. Why would I be able to purchase a 10:10 am ticket on the Raileurope web site up until August 25th for a price of91.00-$119.00 yet it says on the official Trenitalia site that it's not sellable for the exact same date and time. Do they have more preference for some trips then Trenitalia?

I'll let others answer the Rail Europe part of the question since from what I remember other VT members saying is the Rail Europe is just a ticketing agent and will charge more for tickets. I looked at your solution for August and also a solution for the same train at the end of June. I saw that statement you had been mentioning. I also remember that statement when I was trying to book trains too far ahead of when they were going to depart. However as I got closer to our scheduled dates I looked again and everything was available. In our situation buying tickets about 5 to 6 weeks ahead of time worked out well as we were able to get some Mini Prices for some of the high speed trains. I was worried about not getting tickets well ahead of time, but I think if you wait a bit to purchase your tickets you should be fine and might even get some better pricing.

Raileurope is indeed a ticketing agency only, not a rail operator. I am entirely bemused as to why it is showing you a 1010 departure when the official country railway website lists no such departure. Which website database would I trust to show me accurate departure times? The official country railway website i.e. Trenitalia (also known as fsitaliane). I would *always* trust a country's official railway website against *any* agency website. I would also note that the excellent and entirely reliable bahn.de, which carries train times and details for almost all European trains, also does not show a 1010 departure for the date I have used on all 3 websites (May 30th). So my advice remains the same. Wait a little longer...be reassured that trains for late August will *not* sell out immediately they become available...and check departure times on the official railway website before you buy a ticket (preferably through the official railway website rather than a ticketing agency).

What RailEurope would have done is sold you the ticket for a price in US dollars, then waited until after the expected rail database update in the second week of June to find out when the exact time would actually be, then sent you an email notifying you that either your train had been changed to a new time or that your ticket and reservation had been changed to a new train. Because RailEurope would have received the fare from you in US dollars with some padding built in, even if the fare changes slightly, they haven't lost money on the deal. Really, really, you don't have to worry until the rail database is settled in June or even July...or, really, until a few days before you want to go... Bill

Except for those high speed trains. The one we were on between Rome and Florence did not appear to have any empty seats. We got tickets for that about. 5 to 6 weeks prior.

Oh, Rich, I don't doubt that you can find your given train to be full or nearly so. The thing about Rome to Florence is that there are some 4 direct trains of various types every hour all day long, so unless you desperately needed to be on the train at 10:10 or else your vacation would be ruined, most people would be able to get on the train they wanted or worst case, a train in the next 30-60 minutes. Italians know this, so unless they're hunting for a Mini fare or other discount, they don't tend to reserve all that much in advance anyway. Rome to Verona is also going to have plenty of choices during the day. Note what K_V_B said - if the OP is coming to Termini from another station, then there's no reason they can't have bought the entire ticket at the previous station anyway. And if indeed the OP is in Italy a day or two prior to the planned Rome to Verona trip, then the simple solution is to stop by a travel agent in Italy who sells Trenitalia tickets (there are thousands) and handle the entire exchange then (note: to get a Mini fare, you need to buy it at least 2 days in advance). Bill

True enough. But I do love a bargain. And when those mini fares came up I was one happy camper.

Wow! I just read a lot of bad reviews about experiences people have had with RailEurope. I so appreciate everyone writing in to help, it really got me thinking as to how to book and who to book with. I'm so glad I found this site! I can't wait for our trip.

Well maybe that wasn't quite fair of me to say because they did have some good reviews too. My apologies to them. I'm sure they have been quite helpful to many people.

Raileurope is absolutely fine for people who feel happiest when they have all their tickets booked way in advance, and for those from outside Europe who find it hard to understand that booking way in advance is neither the norm for Europeans nor actually necessary in the vast majority of cases (other than for sleeper/couchette accommodation). It *can* be beneficial to book tickets in advance for those countries which do offer advance online discount fares. Germany, for example, has some excellent deals (it's the only European country for which I've ever bothered booking in advance) and Italy now has Mini fares on some routes/dates/departures. Otherwise, Europeans generally just buy tickets on the day or a day or so in advance from the station (in the UK there are cheaper advance tickets available up to 6pm the night before travel). The US is not the same: I was very pleased I had booked my train tickets well in advance because US fares seem to rise as departure nears and demand increases (European fares do not) and trains can get full-up (many European trains cannot get full-up). As Bill (macalpin) notes, the chances of every Italian train being entirely full on the day you want to travel are miniscule. I suggest you leave it a few weeks, see if Trenitalia has a 'mini' fare available for any of those Rome>Verona departures, then try booking through the official website.

Generally speaking I book train tickets in advance in two cases: - Sleepers. - Long distance day time trains where there are good deals to be had booking in advance. In most other cases I just book onward travel on the spot. Sometimes if convenient I will book a few days in advance. For example my last trip to Italy looked like this: Booked in advance: Sleeper Bern - Rome, and Palermo - Milano, EC Milano - Bern. Bought on site: Rome - Napoli, Napoli - Sorrento, Sorrento - Pompei and back, Sorrento - Napoli and Napoli - Syracusa. Syracusa - Palermo we did in a rental car that I also just organised on site. The only hotel I booked in advance was the one in Rome. Sometimes just making things up as you go is half the fun. I also passed through Italy on the way back from Croatia last summer. There I booked Ancona - Milano - Switzerland in advance to take advantage of the 2 for 1 deal Trenitalia offers on Saturdays.