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DO IT YOURSELF TIPS & ADVICE

For local (regionali) and

inter-regional (interregionali) trains – common between towns and in rural areas – you can buy paper tickets on the day at station

booking counters (if available) or at card-only

touchscreen ticket machines with instructions in English. Validate paper tickets at platform machines (green or yellow) before boarding, or risk a fine

Avoid queues at big stations at counters and machines, and at stations in popular areas such as the Cinque Terre, by buying the same tickets online (see below) to print on A4 or to download. Online local tickets do not require validation but have a pre-set date and a four-hour

validity period

In theory, seats for InterCity

(IC) and high-speed trains (Frecciarossa, Frecciabianca and Frecciargento), plus the similar private high-speed Italo (italotreno.it) trains, are reservation-only so must be

bought and printed or downloaded in advance. Early booking (most services are available four months in

advance) and dynamic pricing mean cheaper fares

In practice, IC and highspeed tickets are often available on the day and can

be bought at the station counter or ticket machines (which issue the necessary seat reservation), but only at full base fare. On-the-day second class tickets from Rome to Florence, for example, cost from €50 (£43) against a cheapest advance fare of €14.90

(£12.80)

Seat selection is available with advance tickets, but costs €4 for Italo services. Note that it is often hard to determine which way seats face. Many trains – in and out of Florence, say – also often change direction of travel during a journey

Buy online at Italy’s official state site (trenitalia.com; no booking fee) but note the English version has some quirky translations – you often need Italian place names for stations (Firenze, not Florence, for example) – and the site has issues when booking for groups larger than five people and journeys to crossborder destinations that

are not direct

Many prefer the interface of italiarail.com (€3.50 booking fee) or raileurope.com and thetrainline.com, which offer Italian rail tickets, will compare Trenitalia and Italo prices for the same

journey, and are recommended for booking non-direct cross-border journeys; both, however,

charge booking fees

Children under four travel

free on Trenitalia trains (under two on Italo services) but must travel in your lap if no seats are available. Fares for children aged four to 11

(two to 16 on Italo) are eligible for a “child fare” but

note that this fare can sometimes be more than an advance-purchase discounted adult fare

Check real-time departures, arrivals and delays at viaggiatreno.it. Search

“Trenitalia Pass” at trenitalia.com to buy three

to 10 journey rail passes (from €129). For more tips on rail travel in Italy, including passes, see the Italian pages

at seat61.com

RAIL JOURNEYS

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https://dailytelegraph.pressreader.com/article/281694028789944

Daily Telegraph