Originally Posted by
Yisitalwaysu
NEVER buy tickets in advance through Raileurope or Trenitalia. NEVER.
Buying tickets in advance will cost you 25% to 40% more than the face value of each ticket, and you will have to pay a delivery charge on top of that.
This is not accurate. Trenitalia is not a 3rd party agent like RailEurope and thus does not add a service and/or delivery charges. In addition, Trenitalia now has a variety of advance purchase options that reduce the price well below the walk up/date of departure cost.
Originally Posted by
Yisitalwaysu
Wait till you get there. Trains in Europe do not operate like airlines in the USA. Filling the train in advance is not an objective of European trains. Except on short, local, commuter routes, you will have many empty seats on your train.
Having a train be "full" is something you do not need to plan around, at all.
Again, this is not accurate. ES Trains most certainly do sell out in August and on certain holidays (esp. Easter and May 1).