train from Venice to Verona

[CruzinNoony]

I have a question about the train from Venice Santa Lucia to Verona. Everything I read says the earlier you buy the tickets, the cheaper they are. We know which train we want to take in the morning to Verona, but unsure about what time we will want to return. If you buy the 5:20pm ticket, can you use it earlier? Should we just buy the morning one and then buy the return one when we get there?:o Also, there are different prices on tickets for the same time and train. For those who have done this, which website did you use?

[compulady]

It's just a local train. I just bought tickets when I went to the station. I pre-purchased Trenitalia tickets for Venice to Florence and Pisa to Rome but for a local train where the ticket cost about €10 or €12 I wouldn't worry.

[euro cruiser]

If you take a Frecce (one of the high speed express trains) you can save significant amounts by purchasing up to four months in advance. If you are using a local train (regionale) there is no benefit to purchasing in advance.

 

If you purchase a reduced fare ticket you have little or no chance to change it or use it on another train, so it's best not to buy unless you are sure.

 

The best place to buy in advance is directly from Trenitalia on their web site: https://www.lefrecce.it/B2CWeb/search.do?parameter=searchAdvInputViewer&jSessionID=OIoMQMQ65mW1

[CruzinNoony]

Euro Cruiser - Thank you so much for your help. I went to the website you gave me and it would cost 76 euros for 4 tickets. Will it be the same price when we get there? The train that we want is the 8:50 one out of Santa Lucia. Is that a regional or a high speed train? We will take your advice and buy our return trip when we are ready to go.:cool:

[euro cruiser]

The 8:50 is a Frecciabianca, which gets you there in half the time. It does make sense to purchase this ticket in advance as you can find it for as little as 9 Euro (vs. 23 Euro purchased day of travel).

 

Start looking to purchase four months prior to your travel date.

[CruzinNoony]

We have only two months before our cruise. Right now the price is 19 euros pp. Am I correct that you can't even book the regional trains until 7 days before travel? :confused:

[Hlitner]

This is one of those cases where it just makes more sense to grab one of the low cost regional/local trains. It is only about 70 miles between Venice and Verona (we have driven it in less then 1 1/2 hours). It is seldom a problem to get tickets on a regional train when you get to the station. No need for reservations. You can even get the ticket out of a ticket vending machine (but it sure helps to have a Chip/PIN credit card).

 

Hank

[euro cruiser]

If that's the train you want, go ahead and grab it at the 19 Euro price. If you decide to go on a regional train there's no reason or need to purchase in advance (regional trains do not have seat assignments and they do not sell out).

[hitch-04]

Just be cautious - if you book a specific train time on an express train, they aren't technically transferable to a different time. Now, having taking the train between Venice (Venezia) and Vicenza multiple times (on the same line as to Verona), I can tell you that the conductors don't always check. But if they do, and you're on the wrong one, you can be asked to pay a huge fine on the spot. I saw someone fined 200 Euro for having the wrong ticket for the train he was on. It seems like extortion to most Americans to be expected to pay on the spot, but quite routine in Italy from my year living there.

Also, what time does your ship arrive in port? If you say you're traveling in 2 months, you're looking at October, and weather can start to be iffy. Rains can cause lots of fog around Venice, so if you're just in port for the day, you may get into port late. And then you'd have to buy a regional ticket anyways. Honestly, the local train from Venezia to Verona really isn't that slow, and it might be better not to risk being out of the money for a pre-booked ticket if you're delayed getting into port.

And yes, be prepared with cash Euro on hand for the kiosks, my experience was that many of them cannot handle the magnetic stripe of American style credit cards. Most Europeans have the PIN/chip technology (incidentally, much more secure than magnetic stripes) and the card readers are set up accordingly. Paying with cash in the machine is a much more guaranteed successful payment method than American credit cards.

[CruzinNoony]

Thank you all so much. You've really helped me. Our ship will be in Venice overnight (Royal Princess), so hopefully we can get off whenever we want. The problem with the regionale trains are the times. Of course, the fast train has the most convenient time!!;)