Originally Posted by
stut
Regionale trains only have walk-up fares, so the pricing you get is the same if you buy it at the station.
You can search on trenitalia.com for fares on these trains. For example, Venice-Bologna is €10.75 and Milan-Venice €17.95 (may need a change in Verona - which is well worth a stop in if you're there). These are very good fares, IMHO.
As noted above, though, you can beat them with advance purchase fares on the ES services, if you can find the availability and buy in advance.
Correct. I wouldn't take a regional service from Milano-Venezia however as it will take a long time and you may not get a seat.
For short hops like Venezia-Bologna- regional train is usually almost as fast (within 30 minutes) and is just fine as it is a short ride.
Last point- be sure to understand which train you want (study the schedule on the website)- as the operators may sell you the more expensive ES fares and also the automatic ticketing machines tend to default to the more expensive options (surprise-surprise). Example- I was heading from Vicenza-Desenzano (1 hour)- and I didn't pay attention to the automatic machine. I ended up paying 17.40 EUR instead of the 6.4 I could have payed for a train that arrived 15 minutes later. The reason? ES (Eurostar) vs. Regionale train- hardly relevant for a trip of ~100 km!