I agree.

You should be fine just showing up and buying tickets. Getting from Genoa to Vernazza is easy, but buy your ticket from Vernazza to Rome IN GENOA. Don’t wait till you get to CT because they only sell select regional/local trains at the ticket windows. There is a office there that’s supposed to sell longer distance trains, but it was closed the morning I was there (and needed to buy tickets) and it sounded like that happened quite a bit (the office being closed for no reason, no one knowing when it would open, etc).

You won’t be able to buy tickets online if you have an American credit card. It will be easy to buy tickets at the self-automated kiosks.

There are 2 discount fares available online- 45 euros per ticket or 60 euros per ticket (at least thats what they were last summer). You can purchase 60 days in advance- do so right away, because these fares sell out very fast. I managed to get a 60 euro fare. Call your bank ahead of time to tell them you will be purchasing the train tickets, because often they won’t let the sale go through because of worries of credit card fraud (this happened to me, so I had to wait 2 days for the “hold” on my account to clear so I could buy the tix). I’d hesitate to fly too, because the train is so easy and very comfortable.

Where are you pricing point to point tickets? Travel agency websites will charge global price, which is usually about 30% more than you’ll pay at the station and they sometimes add shipping and handling fees to that. Buy on-line from the individual national rail company websites.

1. You can easily buy tickets at the station on the day you intend to travel. In Italy, there are automated kiosks where the process is fast, user-friendly in English and no lines. Buying at a ticket window in Italy will usually require waiting in line, sometimes a very long one, although October probably won’t be a big problem. One down side is that you probably won’t be able to take advantage of any advance purchase or other specials
2. http://www.ferrovied… is the Italian national rail company website. It will not accept North American credit cards, so you probably can not buy in advance from them, but I would use the site to check for the lowest prices. ItaliaRail (the banner at the side of this page) is a travel agency, so the prices will be higher than from trenitalia. However on the specific tickets I’ve researched it’s been noticeably cheaper than other travel agency sites and it does offer special advance purchase fares, so if you want/need to buy a ticket in advance, it’s probably the best choice.
3. While train tickets in Spain are relatively cheap, the express trains require expensive reservations which can double the price of the ticket. Use the Spanish national rail company website: http://www.renfe.com… to price and buy tickets. I think it will accept foreign credit card.

Have you ever traveled 180 miles per hour through a subtropical scenery? If not, try it!

Definitely book Madrid-Barcelona (roughly 3 hours on the AVE now) in advance on the Renfe site; specials can cut the ticket prices in half.

LOL…I didn’t think about how fast we would be going. It may be a blur ….thanks though!

Absolutely. No reasons to buy a pass for your route, despite the “buy pass” bias of this forum.

This trips is done on a regional train (R or IR in the Trenitalia website “category” column). For those trains, price is fixed, reservation is not possible, seats are un-marked. So you can just go to the station and buy your tickets just before boarding. Just leave some 15 minutes to spare in case you have hurdles with the ticket machine (English menus available). Remember: the city you are going to is Vernazz[b]a[/b].

[b]Trenitalia changed is payment engine and now accepts most (70-80% of American Credit Cards[/b]. So it makes sense for you to buy them in advance. [i]Usually[/i] they will open selling 90 days before date of travel, but not always, particularly around the winter (Dec. 13) and summer (Jun. 14) timetable change. But when you find a suitable train, buy it!

[b]Ticketless[/b] tickets don’t require any print-out. You just need to have the code and seat on the assigned places, the conductor can check your name against his/her system online and handle you a receipt! It helps if you print (at your house) the reservation, just to avoid languages mishaps, but there is no need for it.

Buy advanced tickets on Renfe

There isn’t much to see at 170mph.

There are good cheap flight connections between MAD and BCN too. BCN’s airport has a train station that takes you into city at Sants Station. I think MAD still does buses? Anywho… if price is the issue, look at flying. Probably take about 4 hours when it’s all said and done (transfers, checkin, security, baggage, etc). But if the price is no better than train, I’d train on this one.

Oct. flights currently available from Vueling for $44. However, mind any bag fees, and consider the costs of getting to/from airports, when you compare the total price of flying vs. train.

Thank you so much the info. It helps me tremendously. I have one other concern about the 2 flight reservations I already purchased. When I put my sisters name in I didn’t know she had her maiden name between first and last name on her passport. So I reserved for her with first and last name only. Do you know if they will hassle us when we show ID? The airlines are Vueling and Easyjet. I can change the name for a fee….but hoping it’s not necessary.
Thanks again!

thank you so much. I love this website!

My passport:

Surname line: Last
Given names line: First Maiden (no commas, hyphens or other dividers)

Never had a problem matching with an airline ticket that was “First Last.” Did you use a middle initial other than the maiden name initial on the plane ticket?

No, I only put her first and last name to reserve airline ticket…no initial.