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30% discount on Eurail Italy pass? Is it worth it? Where are great 1/2 day trips from hub cities?

Posted by on

Hello,
Eurail has a decent discount going for late December. 15% off an Italy Rail pass; traveling with my wife, another 15% off the group rate, so a 4 day flex pass comes out to $166 a person. I know some say don't go with rail passes in Italy because they often aren't economical when you include to $10 or so reservation fee. 40 bucks a day (+10 for a reserved seat) between the larger hubs (Verona-Florence, Florence-Rome, Naples Pisa) seems reasonable. I know if I book tickets a few months in advance, I can get a better deal through italiarail, but how about a few days ahead of travel? Are the prices the same? We'll be traveling in late May, early June. 3 weeks.

A month ago, I decided against the rail pass, but with a 30% discount, it's looking a bit more attractive mainly for day of hub city arrival, chucking the bags at the hotel, and taking half day trips out of town, namely from Florence, Rome, and Naples. What would you recommend are some great sites 1.5-2 hours from these towns, be back in the hub towns by 8 for some wine and dinner? Thanks for your insights.

Dave

Posted by
27092 posts

It all comes down to what trips you want to take. You can't answer the value question in a vacuum. You can look at real-world rail fares on the Trenitalia website.

Posted by
3812 posts

Yesterday I purchased a ticket from Turin to Bologna on a bullet train leaving tomorrow morning at 8:20 am. 36 € per person, one way. It's still cheaper than a day on a pass plus the 10 € reservation fee, isn't it?

Italiarail is a re-seller. On-day prices and discounted fares up to June 9 have already been uploaded on official sites: you do not need to wander if the last-minute fares are more expensive than passes or not. You can check and do the math.
Today, italotreno's lowest walk-up fare (called Flexi) from Firenze to Roma costs 39.9 €. I've checked now at 9:14 am for a train leaving at 9:52.
Trenitalia's walk-up fare (called Base) on the same route costs 48 € on a train leaving today at 10:48, in less than 2 hours. Incidentally, note that there are tons of seats left.

Posted by
15802 posts

To add to acraven and Dario's good advice, Eurail passes will not work for day trips to certain destinations for which local/urban transport is the best or sometimes only choice. For instance, for Herculaneum, Pompeii or Sorrento from Naples, you'd use the Circumvesuviana or Campania Express trains, and Eurail passes don't apply to those. Tickets are dirt cheap, however.

Prefer a ferry from Naples to Sorrento? The pass won't work for that either.

For Fiesole from Florence you'd use local bus, and for Ostia Antica from Rome you'd use urban train; again, Eurail passes don't apply.

I believe they're also not accepted for Italo trains, which can be good choices for fast-train travel between the major cities and often offer more attractive fares for the same journeys on Trenitalia trains. They also are not accepted - or last I knew, anyway - for express trains to/from the airports.

Posted by
3112 posts

I've had good success buying discounted Italo tickets for travel between major cities just a few days in advance, so don't overlook that option.

Some less than 2 hour (each way) day trips are:
Florence - Siena, Pistoia, Lucca, Pisa, Arezzo and Bologna
Rome - Orvieto, Ostia Antica and Viterbo
Naples - Pompeii, Herculaneum, Sorrento, Capri and Caserta

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