Travel Tips: Trains

The trains in Italy are a great way to get around, but only if you plan ahead. There are some things to be aware of, like strikes, delays, and pricing schemes that I will go into so you can have a stress free travel for the best price.

There are two train companies in Italy, Trenitalia, and Italo. Both run high speed trains but Trenitalia also runs regional trains (regionale and trenord).

First thing you need to do is make a CartaFRECCIA and X-go account to get deals. I frequently got coupons sent to my email to use throughout the semester.

The best deals you can get is FrecciaYOUNG and FrecciaDAYS.

FrecciaYOUNG, which allows you to travel on high speed trains for just 19, 29, or 39 Euros depending on your route. This is only available for standard class and for CartaFRECCIA members. This has to be booked at a minimum of 12 days in advance.

FrecciaDAYS is valid on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays, and you can get super discounted (60% off) train tickets on high speed trenitalia trains in 1st and second class and in any service levels. They have to be booked 25 days in advance at the minimum. This is my favourite deal as you can travel in business class for less than a regularly priced 2nd class ticket and its a nice experience. Combine that with some discount codes and you can literally get a Business class ticket from Florence to Venice for 20-25 Euros.

Because I love those deal schemes so much, I only rode on Italo once, but their regular tickets are cheaper than Trenitalia, so its worth looking into as well.

Strikes

follow some Italian travel sites and read your advisor at LDM's emails! they will tell you when strikes are coming up and its important you plan around them. Sometimes they have small participation but its honestly not worth it. If there is a strike on Trenitalia you can get a refund, its probably the same for other companies.

Delays

You will quickly learn that Italians do not run on time. Delays are very common, so don't schedule a train that arrives 20 minutes before your class starts because I would bet money on it getting delayed at least a few minutes. Also, just know that the busses are the bane of my existence. If they're early, they leave the stop early. If they are late, they leave late. There are no bus trackers, so you have no idea if your bus has already left or not. And some only come once every 45 minutes. So I would really plan ahead if you are going to take the bus and be flexible with waiting for the next one. I try to avoid the bus at all costs tbh as most places its faster to walk or take the tram within Florence.