Rome Travel Forum

I just read a thread on trains in Italy and need further learned opinions that would apply to my situation. We're from Montreal and will be landing in Rome next wednesday. We're so excited and we can't wait, but that's besides the point. After 6 days in Rome We're planning to take the train to Sorrento spend 4 days there, then a train to Florence (3 days there) and off to Rome's Airport(by train again)to catch our flight to Warsaw.

We have all our hotels and apartment reservations done and dealt with. My question is: when do we buy the train tickets. A couple days before leaving Rome or on the spot when at the stations at time of departure? Or do I buy them all at once, or when we arrive in Sorrento for the Florence leg of the trip and when we arrive in Florence for Rome airport?

Thank you in advance

The tickets can be purchased all at once if you wish at the train station at Rome airport, except for the Naples to Sorrento(Circumsuviana train) portion of the journey.
However, this doesn't leave you any flexibility if you want to change schedules.
For the routes you are traveling there are many trains,so I would purchase at least 24 hours in advance.
An advantage of purchasing at least 24 hours in advance is that you may qualify for the 20% Amica discount on the tickets. This is based on limited availability of the discounted seats.
Have a look at www.trenitalia.com for the schedules and pricing. Print off the schedules which apply to your journeys, then bring them to Italy with you as a reference when purchasing the tickets at the train station. In many cases the tickets may be purchased in the station at automated kiosks which accept credit cards. If you any reason the machines are not working then take your schedule to the ticket window and point to the train you want.
Enjoy!!

Everything Rick says is quite right. Note that along the Florence to Rome to Naples line, there is a variety of types of trains. The premium (and faster trains) (ES, AV, TBiz, ICPlus, etc.) require reservations and give you the possibility of the Amica fare (20% off for the same seat - why not?). The regional trains ('R') take much longer, do not require a reservation, cost much less, and there's no discount fare.

Most people, I suspect, would rather take the 1.5 hour train rather than the 3.5 hour train between Florence and Rome, but I don't know your particular situation, and the slower train is a lot cheaper.

Anyway, like Rick says, have a look at the Trenitalia website (www.trenitalia.com/en/index.html takes you straight to the English pages, which is unfortunately not very obvious on the home page), and get a feel for the different types of trains and their fares, as well as the time and duration info...if you need it, I have written up a lot of this train info in the Transportation Tips on my Italy page...

Bill