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Determining the need for rail passes

Posted by on

Hello,

My wife and I plan to visit Italy and France for our first anniversary (first time to either country for both of us :)) and I'm trying to understand whether we should purchase rail passes as the passes don't seem to cover all the trains we would need to take?

Here's our rough itinerary (any comments or suggestions are appreciated! We don't plan on driving and consider ourselves foodies):

ITALY

  1. Day 1: Fly into Rome (Mon)
  2. Day 1-4: Stay in Rome for 4 days, 3 nights (Mon-Thurs)
  3. Day 4: Take train to Florence (Thurs)
  4. Day 4-9: Stay in Florence for 6 days, 5 nights (includes day trips to Sienna and Cinque Terre) (Thurs-Tues)
  5. Day 9: Leave luggage in Florence station. Take train to Modena (Tues)
  6. Day 9-10: Return to Florence and take overnight train to Beaune (Tues-Weds)

FRANCE

  1. Day 10-12: Stay in Beaune for 3 days, 2 nights (Weds-Fri)
  2. Day 12: Take train to Paris (Fri)
  3. Day 12-18+: Stay in Paris for 7 days, 6 nights (Fri-Thurs)
  4. Day 18: Fly back to USA (Thurs)

From what I've read, it seems like the pass would present a marginal value and convenience at best, since we would have to pay extra for the overnight train, advance reservation fees, etc.?

Thanks in advance!

Posted by
16895 posts

No, a rail pass does not pencil out to save any money for these few train trips. The Italy-France night train does not accept passes. It also doesn't stop at Florence or Beaune, so that trip would include two connections, like this:

Firenze S.M.N. Tu, 15.09.15 dep 21:00 ES 9558 EuroStar Italia, Direction: Milano Centrale

Milano Centrale Tu, 15.09.15 arr 22:40

Milano Centrale Tu, 15.09.15 dep 23:05 EN 220 EuroNight, Direction: Paris Gare de Lyon

Dijon Ville We, 16.09.15 arr 06:15

Dijon Ville We, 16.09.15 dep 06:37 TER17803 Train Express Regional, Direction: Lyon Part Dieu

Beaune(Chagny) We, 16.09.15 arr 06:56

Posted by
7175 posts

3 decent journeys over 9 days would best be booked well ahead, directly on trenitalia and sncf when tickets become available. Rome => Florence => Beaune => Paris

In general, passes are best saved for when you plan everyday movement using regional trains.

Posted by
3 posts

Thanks David! Do you have any insight or comments about using Euraide's services?

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