Can you book regional trains in italy

By closing this banner or clicking on "Accept", you consent to the use of cookies. Group Companies. Work with us. Buy your ticket. Manage your tickets. Enter Lost Password. I purchased without registration. PNR: CP: search. Name: Surname: Recovery code: search. Search and Manage your tickets. Call Center. Remove Pass es. Your cart is empty. Regional Trains in Europe.

People on a regional train in Switzerland. A regional train is about to leave Prague. Regional train in Italy. What are regional trains?

There are many advantages of traveling by regional train. Here are a few of them: Go off the beaten track and visit some of Europe's charming towns and villages. Meet the locals, as regional trains are the ones they most often take. Hop on board most regional trains - reservations aren't usually required. Where do regional trains go? You will have to put it when buying train tickets on the app or website. Then, you must show your CartaFreccia to the train conductor. Remember that Cartafreccia is personal, so each passenger must have their own.

Italo and Trenitalia run special promotions mainly on holidays. You only have to enter a code at the time of purchase. Usually, you will find the discount codes on the site of train companies. But only the fastest ones can take advantage of them. You will also find other offers throughout the year. However, you may have to meet some travel conditions.

For example, the offer may only be valid in certain days or groups of people. Italo and Trenitalia have similar promotions. Also, I suggest you subscribe to Italo and Trenitalia newsletter. Often they send promotional codes and coupons. You will be the first to know if there is any new offer as well. It is crucial to choose the right seats for Italians trains. This is why booking train tickets from the operator is better.

There are some seats you should definitely avoid. My family and I had to learn it the hard way. Usually, we travel from Bari to Milan once a year.

After 7 hours of traveling by train, we felt almost destroyed. Firstly, you should not reserve the ones near the transit doors of the carriage. You will hear every five minutes the noise of the doors.

This is because toilets are located at the end of each coach. If you want to see the landscape, you should book a seat with the letter A or D. Though you may have some issues with the air conditioning. Trains often put the temperature too hot in the winter and too cold in the summer. The seats on the rows B and C have a little more space. If you travel alone, the best places are in the Carriage 3 row A of Frecciabianca trains.

Finally, it is better to avoid the seats in the last carriage. The safest coaches are the ones in the middle of the train. Collisions are not frequent, but they can happen. You are very unlikely to face a train strike in Italy. And if something happens, some trains are always guaranteed to work. You can check all the guaranteed trains on the Trenitalia Strikes document. Even if train strikes are not frequent, it is better to be prepared. Thankfully, you can track train shutdowns several months ahead.

Trenitalia will try to find a solution for you as soon as possible. Then you may have to take another means of transport or an Italo train. Still, train strikes only happen a few times a year, and most of them only last 24 hours. Trains are not the only way to get around in Italy.

In some cases, it is better to take other means of transport. For example, renting a car is a better option if you visit the countryside. Buses are also an excellent choice for savvy tourists. They can be more efficient than regional trains.

Most of the time, you will get to your destination faster for less. Also, you could take a flight to travel between Italian cities. However, airlines have strict luggage rules. You will have to pay very high fees for overweight baggage. Trains are still an excellent choice for traveling in Italy. But it is always a good idea to know all your alternatives. You will find all the factors that you must consider to make the right choice. You can ask for compensation on the price of your ticket in case of delays.

Cartafreccia Special fares can only be bought if you have a Cartafreccia card, which you probably haven't. Ordinaria is the regular fare for regional trains. It's fixed-price, you can buy at that price even on the day. In theory this fare is valid on any train but if you buy online rather than at the station it's pre-validated and only valid for 4 hours from the time of the train you book.

Online regional tickets are non-refundable. You may as well buy at the station which leaves your options open. No refunds or changes, specific train only, limited availability, must be bought at least a week before departure. To make Eurail or Interrail passholder reservations simply run an enquiry and choose a train in the search results by clicking on the fares from Now look for an easy-to-miss dark grey button below the list of prices labelled View other offers.

Click this and on the next page change the drop-down box in the Offer column to Global pass. This sort of shenanigan is why I suggest using www. Posto Doppio - Compart. If there's 2 of you, this is what you select for both passengers.

Cuccette C4 Comfort-Compart. To book 2 people together in a 2-bed sleeper you'd select Posto Doppio - Compart. Intero for both passengers. On some international routes they use slightly different sleeper terminology:.

But again, Uomo means male, donna means female, intera means you want to book a whole compartment. See the description of Italian couchette and sleeper types above for more information. I recommend changing default Automatic assignment to Select seat. Select seat will be an option if you're booking a Frecciarossa, Frecciargento, Frecciabianca or InterCity trains.

You'll then be able to pick specific seats from a numbered plan. It should be obvious, but the grey rectangles separating some seats are the tables between seats which face each other, see the screenshot here.

You cannot tell which seats face forwards or backwards indeed, some trains change direction en route, for example Rome-Venice trains reverse at Florence but in any case if there are two or more of you I recommend seats facing each other across a table as the most natural and convivial way to travel, and you both then get a window seat.

Select Go on without log in to buy without registering. You can only register if you have an Italian address, which you probably don't have. No problem, simply buy without registering or logging on.

You can still retrieve your booking later if you need to, without being registered. Some people report an error message about incorrectly entered data if they fill in more than names in the 'Passengers' section. The error went away if they filled in just the names of the passengers, leaving email and phone number fields in the passengers section blank, but completing the name, email and contact number field in the 'Contact-Buyer-Required' section. I cannot replicate this error, so feedback would be appreciated!

How are tickets delivered? Alternatively, the 'self service' option means that tickets can easily be picked up from the self-service machines at all main Italian stations, you simply enter your name and booking reference and out come the tickets. Or they can be picked up from the ticket office at any main Italian station.

Note: You won't be offered the 'ticketless' option if any part of your journey is on a regional train, so in this case you can split the booking and book the long distance train separately. Don't buy international tickets starting in Germany or Austria using Trenitalia. It's OK to book direct Swiss-Italian trains as these are ticketless. But most other international tickets booked at Trenitalia.

So even though Trenitalia will happily sell you a ticket from Vienna to Venice, you can't pick up the tickets in Vienna because do I really have to spell it out? Vienna is in Austria and has no Trenitalia staff or ticket machines. And no, they won't accept the booking printout as a ticket on the train, and no, Austrian Railways staff cannot access a Trenitalia booking and cannot help you! So you will have wasted you money and will need to buy another ticket.

So don't use trenitalia. Incidentally, www. You'll usually find it cheaper to book journeys to Italy starting in Austria or Germany at the relevant Austrian or German railway websites.

You can book up to 4 journeys as one transaction. Even credit cards that work can fail to work if used for a second transaction, so book all your trips together up to a maximum of 4 journeys , by adding each ticket to your basket and paying for them all together. Time limit: You must complete your booking s within a rather annoying time limit, about 15 minutes, otherwise the reservations are dropped and you have to start again. Especially annoying if you are trying to book 4 journeys!

Passenger names: Don't worry, unlike airlines, Trenitalia doesn't need passenger names for anyone except the person booking, unless it specifically asks for every passengers' name.

So if it didn't ask, and there's only one name on the booking, that's not a problem. Don't worry if your seat numbers aren't consecutive! The system does normally book all of the passengers on one booking in seats next to each other! For seat numbering plans for Italian trains, see the train seating plans page. Payment problems? If your card doesn't work, it may be your bank blocking the transaction as possible fraud because it's a 'foreign' transaction. Call your bank and ask them to unblock Trenitalia.

In fact, it can be a good idea to call you bank before using Trenitalia. If Trenitalia. Other problems? If you get stuck, you can contact Trenitalia's web team at areaclienti trenitalia. They can handle emails in English.

It's easy to buy tickets at the station, or to make reservations to go with a railpass, using the self-service ticket machines at all main Italian stations, as long as you have a credit card with a PIN 4-digit personal identification number. They have an English language facility, and it's faster and easier than using the ticket office! The machines are pretty self-explanatory, but to give you confidence and so you know what to expect, here's how to use them. Incidentally, you'll sometimes find annoying types who hang around offering to 'help' foreigners, just be healthily suspicious of them and refuse all help, you don't need it as the machines are self-explanatory and you certainly don't need anyone near your wallet or pockets while you are distracted.

Italian stations are perfectly safe I've spent literally hours hanging round them out of professional interest, without any problem whatsoever , but it pays to be streetwise! Touch the UK flag on the bottom of the touch-screen for English To buy a ticket You can also collect pre-booked tickets or change an existing booking, if the ticket type allows changes.

Select a destination By default, the origin is the station you're at, but you can modify this to buy a ticket for any route in Italy. Choose a departure from the timetable list The system defaults to the immediate departures at the current time, but you can change this to book for later today, tomorrow, whenever Touch Promo to see if there are cheaper fares, but for immediate departure it'll only be the standard Base fare for mainline trains or Ordinaria for regional trains.

You probably haven't got a Cartafreccia card, so ignore these fares. This seems to be permanent as it is still the case. You now have to go to the staffed counter, you cannot make reservations at the self-service machines - or you can make passholder reservations online on a computer, tablet or smartphone with Italiarail.

Enter your railpass number Then go through the timetable screens to select a departure and buy a reservation. Paying for a guidebook may seem an unnecessary expense, but it's only a fraction of what you spend on the whole trip. If you have a decent guidebook, you see so much more and know so much more about what you're looking at.

I think the Lonely Planets or Rough Guides are the best ones out there for the independent traveller. Alternatively, you can download just the chapters or areas you need in. It is essential for regular European train travellers and an inspiration for armchair travellers. Published since , it had just celebrated years of publication when Thomas Cook decided to pull the plug on their entire publishing department, but the dedicated ex-Thomas Cook team set up a private venture and resumed publication of the famous European Rail Timetable in March You can buy it online at www.

More information on what the European Rail Timetable contains. See an extract from the map. Buy online at www. You can usually book with free cancellation - this allows you to confirm your accommodation at no risk before train booking opens. It also means you can hold accommodation while you finalise your itinerary, and alter your plans as they evolve - a feature I use all the time when putting a trip together.

I never book hotels non-refundably. I have also come to trust their review scores - you won't be disappointed with anything over 8. Tip: It can pay to compare prices across multiple hotel sites: HotelsCombined. Though if there's not much in it, I prefer keeping all my bookings together in one place at www.

AirBnB is a platform which connects hosts with guests, so you can now book a room in people's homes, or an apartment, flat or house which people want to rent out.

It can be nicer than a hostel, cheaper than many hotels. Hostelworld has online booking of cheap private rooms or dorm beds in backpacker hostels in most Italian cities and elsewhere in Europe, at rock-bottom prices.

Always take out travel insurance These days, check you're covered for covidrelated issues, and use an insurer whose cover isn't invalidated by well-meant but excessive Foreign Office travel advice against non-essential travel.

An annual policy is usually cheapest even for just 2 or 3 trips a year, I use an annual policy myself. Don't expect travel insurance to bail you out of every missed connection, see the advice on missed connections here.

Here are some suggested insurers, I get a little commission if you buy through these links, feedback always welcome. If you have a pre-existing medical condition or are over 65, see www. You can use www. Get a Curve card to save on foreign transaction fees Banks often give a poor exchange rate, then charge a currency conversion fee as well.

The balance goes straight onto one of your existing debit or credit cards. And you can get a Curve card for free. How it works: 1. Download the app for iPhone or Android. Curve does the currency conversion and puts the balance onto whichever of your debit or credit cards you choose. You can even change your mind about which card it goes onto, within 14 days of the transaction. I use a Curve Blue card myself - I get a little commission if you sign up to Curve, but I'm recommending it here because I think it's great.

Get a VPN for safe browsing. When you're travelling you often use free WiFi in public places which may not be secure. And lastly, you can select the geographic location of the IP address you browse with, to get around geographic restrictions which some websites apply - for example one booking site charges a booking fee to non-European visitors but none to European visitors, so if you're not located in Europe you can avoid this fee by browsing with a UK IP address using a VPN.

Back to 'Rail travel to Europe' general page. Back to home page. The Man in Seat Home About News Contact Guestbook.

Train travel in Britain Scotland by sleeper Cornwall by sleeper Buy tickets online. Travel tips How to use Trenitalia. How to use Trenitalia self-service ticket machines My favourite hotel search site: www. Europe by train introduction. How to buy European train tickets Train operators in Italy:. Trenitalia Ferrovie dello Stato www. Buy Italian train tickets:. Circumvesuviana Railway Naples-Pompeii-Sorrento : www.

Beginner's guide to European railpasses Buy a rail pass online. Currency converter. Finding accommodation in Italy Escorted tours to Italy by train. There's no check-in, and no hassle. Sleeper in day mode, beds folded away, washstand closed. Standard Italian sleeping-car on the Milan-Sicily train, with 12 compartments, each configurable as 1st class Single, 1st class Double or 2nd class 3-berth. How to use these machines. See video tutorial Solution : Wait till bookings open!